For the Love of Reading

Before starting as a college freshman four years ago, I dreaded the thought of reading and writing poetry. In my mind, poetry was this mysterious genre that didn’t have a clear and blatant message. It was up to the reader to determine what the writing meant. I kept thinking, “What is the point? What is the point if the author can’t pick out or notice the moral or the meaning behind the writing when they initially read it?”    I later realized that is the whole point of poetry. It is meant to be beautifully ambiguous, so that its readers can determine what it means for themselves. There are always more than one way to interpret well-written poetry.    So, I thought I would try a little exercise for this post, and I am going to do a short interpretation/analysis of the poem  Florist’s Root Cellar  by Theodore Roetheke. I see the theme of this poem as Survival/Struggle because of lines 9-11.  “Leaf-mold, manure, lime, piled against slippery planks. Nothin...

Who out there loves to read? Okay, well that might be a silly question considering you are reading this article on a book lovers’ blog. The real question is... Who out there loves to read, but feels like they never have time to actually sit down and read?  This is one of the major things that I have been struggling with since I started as a Freshman in undergrad. It was, hands down, one of the biggest changes I went through because books went from being a huge part of my life to being nonexistent because of my busy, rigorous schedule. The crazy thing is, even when I had free time during my college years, I rarely found myself picking up a book for pleasure. Why? I had a hard time picking up a book to read for my own enjoyment because I had just been required to read all these books that I wasn’t exactly thrilled or excited about reading for college.  It really wasn’t until the global outbreak of COVID-19 and the shutdown, where I took the time out of my day to read again. Redi...

Have you ever thought about why we can connect and relate to the books we read? Is it because the characters are going through something we have? Is it because the story events remind us of our own memories? Is it because we see ourselves in the characters of our story?   Or is it simply because words in front of us speak to who we are?  An Abundance of Katherines  by John Green said it best, “Maybe our favorite quotations say more about us than about the stories and people we’re quoting.”   Here are my favorite quotes and why they speak to me and my character.   “It’s the imperfections that make things beautiful.” – Jenny Han,  The Summer I Turned Pretty o     Life isn’t perfect, but instead far from it. But we live in a world that constantly pushes us toward finding perfection that simply doesn’t exist. We are imperfect, but life is about finding the beauty those imperfections. To love who we are as individuals and find our place in this bi...

o     Books Are An Escape From Reality: A book is supposed to be a place where a person can go and just let their imagination run free. It is a place where you can live vicariously through the characters in front of you. I love that feeling when you get so lost in the story, that you are completely obvious to the reality that surrounds you.   o     Books Are A Realm Of Endless Possibilities: In a realm of endless possibilities, there are no “What if…?” questions. Books grant us the ability to explore the options that reality doesn’t always present us. In books, it is not a matter of “What if…?”, but instead a matter of “When…?”.    o     Books Are Diverse: We all have our favorite genre. My favorite is Young Adult Fiction. Just because I know what I like doesn’t mean that I am bound to that one genre or type of writing. The options are limitless! One day, I might be craving a good love story, which I often am, and so I reach fo...