Don Quixote
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Odyssey
The Great Gatsby
To Kill a Mockingbird
Is it not a marvelous wonder, being able to “time travel” through a book? Sometimes what was present for the writer, is now a wonderful window into the past– a way for us to go back in time. For George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four was a futuristic literary expedition. With a book, you can be in any moment of time, provided you have an imagination.
I admit it took me a while to grasp that concept. As a kid, I was taught to read proficiently (for which I’m mighty grateful), and I was encouraged to do a lot of it. Alright, let me be really honest, I was MADE to read. Yes, it was like pulling a hen’s teeth the older I got. I know that some of my former teachers can probably vouch for this. I just had other things on my mind, like shooting hoops or playing out in the woods. Those were the things that made my imagination soar. Somewhere along the way, though, I was able to find out that reading books fueled my imagination as well, and that is when the magic happened for me. As a young adult, I finally learned to love reading a good book. That is not to say that I did not read any good books during my formal education, I had some great literary instructors who saw to it that I did! It just took me a while to develop that LOVE for curling up with an interesting book. I am a vocal advocate for pleasure reading, even though I was later to the party than some of my peers.
So, if you feel confined, if you wish for the ability to visit any moment of time, you need only to do one simple thing.
Read a book!
