You only get to experience reading a book for the first time once, which is something that I find to be highly unfortunate. There is nothing like getting to know a character and experiencing what they go through alongside them. If I could erase my memory after finishing a really good book, I would in a heartbeat just so that I could experience it for the first time all over again. I've never been able to understand people who don't like to read, because living a whole other life through a character and learning, loving, and hurting with them is an experience that will always fascinate me. Getting lost in a book is so important because it allows you to take a step back from your life and live a completely different one. You can be anyone when reading. You can do anything and achieve goals beyond your imagination.
When you open a book, you're not just reading a bunch of words on a page. Instead, you're entering into a completely different world than the one you're used to. You discover whole new worlds and form attachments to characters as if they were real people in your life. You grow to care about these worlds and these people, and you're almost left heartbroken when the story is over. With reading, there's so much more between the covers than you might first assume. What looks like a couple chapters can actually be a whole lifetime.
I've always been an avid reader, and while I know there are people out there who don't find reading to be a thrill or don't think they have time for it, I will always be a reader, despite how much time I have. There is always time to read if you make time. I'd never be able to give up going on adventures without even having to leave my home. Reading is an experience that I never want to give up, and I only hope that other people feel the same way.
George R.R. Martin once said, "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. A man who never reads lives only once." I've always found this quote interesting because of how much truth rings behind it. I cannot tell you how many lives I have lived, and how many lives I will continue to live in the future.
