What is a book?

Alright. I’m a sports gal, so I’m going to break it down with a classic sports analogy. A book is an NFL football game.

Seems farfetched and stupid, but then again, doesn’t reading a classic novel on a blinding white, killer of book ambiance Kindle screen seem a little stupid as well?

So let me break it down for you. Play by play.

I’m going to ask a series of questions that I want you guys to ponder over:

1.       Would you rather A) Take the chance of a lifetime and go to The Superbowl to watch your favorite team, or B) Watch the game at home while watching all the fans having grand old times without you?

2.       Would you rather A) Watch Tom Brady break a record or watch Ray Lewis do his last intro dance live, boasting to your friends, “That I, (insert name here), was there. I am a part of history!!!” Or B) Watch it from your home and say, “Oh yeah, I saw that on TV.” Well congrats, bud. So did 20 million other people.

3.       What do you get at a live NFL game that you don’t get while you’re slothin’ it up on the couch at home? The ambiance of it all, of course. The smells, sights, and feelings are such a rush that just watching the game at home almost feels like a betrayal to the team. You’re not alongside screaming fans. You’re not 10 feet away from your sports idol. You’re not hugging AJ Green as he leaps up into the stands. You’re not there.

Need I say more?

Books are exactly the same way. They are once in a lifetime opportunities. You’re a part of history by reading this book. And of course, the ambiance. Nothing says heaven to me more than curling up by the fire with a yummy hot beverage and reading a classic Jane Austen novel. The sights, smells and feelings associated with a physical book are such a rush that reading from a Kindle almost seems like a betrayal to the author. Nancy Jo Sales said it best when she said that “There’s something about the physicality of a book, the way it looks and feels and even smells—the notes written in the margins—that makes it a living breathing companion.”

So, dear Kindle companies, if you ever get rid of books completely, why don’t ya just get rid of fans going to NFL and other professional games while you’re at it?

Post #1: Why I Read.

R...E... A... D.

Four letters. One word. Yet so much meaning.
Growing up as a little girl with her nose in book every day, yearning to learn new words-- "big words" like: "gregarious," "precocious," and "ubiquitous,"it's funny that one simple, four letter word would come to mean so much to me. Just as simple as the word is, the reason I read is quite simple as well. I read to escape. To imagine. To live in a world--at least for 300 pages--that was bigger and better than my own. I read to clink champagne glasses with Jay Gatsby. I read to cast spells alongside Harry Potter. To adventure the streets of New York with Holden Caulfield. To play games and run away from Boo Radley with Scout.
I'm aware that this is quite cliche. But it's the truth. Authors pen worlds that I aspire to create myself--which is quite cliche in itself. And yet, it is the characters that I admire in books that teach us to appreciate the cliche. That good is better than evil. That love conquers all. That imagining something cliche is better than not imagining at all.