Reading is Awesome

I love to read. I have for as long as I can remember. I don't necessarily want to read to learn stuff, but I have if it's an interesting topic. I prefer more to read for an escape and entertainment...and it honestly BAFFLES me when people say they don't like to read for that reason.

I was with a group of college aged women when I was in my mid-20's and they were discussing books. They were anti-Harry Potter without having read them, which I do NOT respect. (If you're going to hate on something, have the decency to know what it is you hate. Read/watch/listen/etc whatever it is you don't approve of first, then I'll respect your right to say it's awful.) I made a comment that I loved Harry Potter. I didn't really need to,  I was wearing a HP shirt. The only other woman my age just shook her head and said she didn't like to read unless it was to gain something spiritually.

To me, that's boring. Sure, read a devotional, read the Bible, read educational stuff to help you in your faith. Whatever. But that's ALL you read? You are seriously missing out. Like...unbelievably so.

I love a lot of different kinds of books: historical, memoirs, biographies, fantasy, romance, young adult, action, mystery, children's books, future/dystopian, combinations of any of the above. And I switch back and forth between worlds so often sometimes it makes my head spin.

And. It's. Awesome.

Without books, I never would have been to Middle Earth or Narnia or Panem or Hogwarts. I never would have met Jay Gatsby or Jane Eyre or Lennie or the Trask family or Anne Shirley, I wouldn't have ridden a raft down the Mississippi or wandered through a cave with nothing but a magic ring and thread to guide me. I wouldn't have solved mysteries or laughed or cried nearly as often. My world would be so small. And I know a lot of you won't get some of the references above and that's ok. Those are just some of my favorite ones. I never would have fallen in love with authors Rainbow Rowell, J.K. Rowling, Robin McKinley, Janet Evanovich, Mark Twain and John Steinbeck. I wouldn't have the right to say, definitively, that I DESPISE Wuthering Heights. That book could be burned and I'd be ok with it. Totally and completely. I'll even get over my fear of matches to light the fire.

I don't know what to do with kids or people who don't like to read. What...what do you DO with your spare time? My niece stayed with us one weekend a while back and when she asked what she could do (we're boring people, we don't do much) I commented I had a whole bunch of books she might like. She glanced through them and said she didn't really like to read. I was flabbergasted (thankfully she seems to have gotten over this). She'd brought a couple books with her and read those, but I had the horrifying thought that it was somewhat possible that my own children wouldn't like to read. Can I disown them for that? Is that ok? I think I'd want some kind of refund for a child who doesn't like to read. So far, they do. Books are awesome to them.

Long rambly rant....end result is...I don't get people who don't like to read. It confounds me. If you can't read well, listen to audio books. You'll be amazed at the worlds you can visit, the people you'll meet, and the things you'll do. And some of them will hang out in your head forever.