Comfort Food for the Soul
Reading is my general escape from life. If I’m stressed, upset, or just need to shut my mind off, I pick up a good book and disappear into someone else’s life. Things have been a bit stressful for me over the past few weeks, so once I again I turned to reading to calm my mind. But, try as I might, reading just wasn’t bringing me relief. I couldn’t force myself to pay attention, and the normal “lostness” I experience when I read wasn’t there. I had been forcing myself to not feel anything, which bled into my reading. That is, until I picked up New Moon.
I’ve read the Twilight series four times, so you would think that reading it a fifth time wouldn’t provide the type of escape I needed. I mean, I can almost repeat many of the lines word for word. Anyway, I had started NM months ago and then put it down in favor of reading new books. So, I flipped it open to where I left off and started reading. Within a matter of a few paragraphs my mind was totally shut off from the outside world. When I finally finished reading, I felt content and went on to fall asleep without worrying about the real life junk bringing me down.
What is it about reading a book that you know by heart over and over? I don’t know if it’s the familiarity of the story; to me, reading the Saga is like wearing my comfiest pair of jammies or that I just hadn’t read it in awhile, but it made me feel so much better that as soon as I finished it, I moved on to Eclipse.
It’s been said that Stephanie Meyer isn’t the best writer in the world, which I agree with 100%. What I love the most about her writing is her ability to capture emotions. She writes in a way that makes you feel whatever the characters are feeling. My heart beat picked up when Edward kissed Bella for the first time, I lost my breath when he touched her face, and I felt my heart tear in two when he left her. Though each chapter, I could feel myself actually experiencing Bella’s emotions as if I were really her. To me, that is one of the things what makes a book great. The Twilight books might not be literary classics, but darn it, I love them all the same.
I think, after forcing myself not to feel anything for the past few weeks, I needed the release of experiencing emotions. And, when it comes to emotion, there are no other books I can think of that immediately suck me in like the Twilight saga. So, I’m happy to say that although I’m still stressed, I’m finally finding escape through reading. Who knew that it would just take picking up a book I’ve read many times before.
What books do you read when you need to shut away the world? Let me know – leave a comment below!
Harry Potter, baby. I <3 those books. Despite being catered toward "young adults"/children, they're the ultimate escape for me. If I know I can open a book & read Ron & Hermione arguing or Harry obsessing over his connection to Lord Voldemort, the world seems like a sane place to me.