Read, read, read! #amreading #amwriting #romance #timetravel #fictionmatters

What does one say…
to the comment: “I don’t read.”

When I hear those words spoken I’m struck mute. Dumbfounded incredulity quashes my brain and my tongue.

How does one respond to that comment, or even comprehend the mind that has never thrilled to the travails, adventures, and beautiful mystery found in stories, novels, essays, and poetry?

The statement, “I don’t read novels or literature,” must be a misstatement. Surely, no one escaped even a rudimentary education without exposure to novels. Have our schools failed so completely? Have they battered the allure of literature with the heavy hand of rote memorization and unthinking repetition until students emerge to adulthood no longer possessing a hunger for the lush depths of exploration found in reading novels?

These reader cynics must read something. Or is it possible we’ve reduced all reading to brief quips and acronyms found on social media? That can’t be right since most of those acronyms stand for several hundred different terms or phrases. Who would want their reading or writing reduced to such vagueness and possible misinterpretation?

No! Reading should always fall in the same realm as all other pleasurable and engaging life pursuits. It must absorb our whole focus. Name a topic or activity that engages your enthusiasm, and then find a novel that spotlights that subject. You’ll be amazed how quickly the text absorbs your attention, exposes your mind to new levels of exhilaration, and widens your perspective of something you already profess to enjoy.

Better yet, pick a novel in a field or genre you’ve never considered, and marvel at the thrill of imagining yourself in that environment, walking or running in those characters’ shoes as your imagination explodes.

Read, read, read! The words, locations, and characters found in novels will take you out of your mundane existence into both extraordinary other worlds, and even more importantly, into the internal world we so often avoid in our life.

What are your thoughts on reading?

Any recommendations of great books or authors I should be reading?