Why I Love Books

There are many books and bits of lit out there that really inspire me. Blogs inspire me, too. I like words and how they go together. I like unusual words used in the place of ordinary words. I like to play with words. But, more than anything I like to read them, over and over.

Will's mom lent me a few books written by an incredible British writer, Rosamunde Pilcher. Her stories stole me from reality. I ate her books for lunch and dinner and breakfast, and often for a midnight snack, taking a big bite from a favorite scene and chewing on the words until I had my fill. I haven't lost that much sleep over books since the last Harry Potter. And, that's saying something.

I like to get lost in a book. No, I like to get stuck in a book, when breaking the force between your eyes and its words is like ripping off a band aid too slowly.

I will say to myself,


"One more paragraph. Just one more."


"Ok, maybe one more page."


"Well, I think I'll just finish the chapter."


Right now, I am reading a book by a Southern writer, Jocilyn Jackson. The book is called The Girl Who Stopped Swimming. I can honestly say that I would have never picked this book off the shelf, but my mom sent it home with me and it was next on the stack.

I read the first paragraph late one night after Will had been called into work. I was determined to stay up until he returned safely back to our warm bed. I was snuggled under the covers and assuming my late night reading pose, when I turned to page one. It was like taking a cold shower. After the first chapter of that book, I was worried that I would be able to sleep at all. I was completely freaked out, but soaked in her language. I was drowning in prose just as the ghost of the drowned girl revealed herself to the main character and led her to the body floating in her pool. Ghosts, sleep walking, dead bodies. But, language and images that flew past my eyes and I was there with her, dragging the cold body through the water, lifting her chin to clear the airway, knowing it was too late.

I've been hooked ever since. And, there is nothing in this world that makes me want to write more than reading beautiful writing.