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It’s hard to see it now, but there was a period of darkness in my life several years back.
No, it wasn’t a depressive period.
Though, it was a time when I wasn’t myself–and I didn’t fully realize it.
I grew up with a book in my hands. Book characters were real to me, and so were their worlds, their lives, and their stories. I’ve written about my childhood trips to the bookstore where I would save up my allowance each week in order to buy a new book. Hello, Nancy Drew.
Reading was, quite simply, a part of my identity.
Until it wasn’t.
And that brings me back to that aforementioned darkenss. At the time, I didn’t realize I was living in a world where the colors were fading, slowly. I didn’t realize that I was closing off a part of myself and not allowing her to breathe. I didn’t realize that my world was diminishing because I wasn’t exposing myself to all those other countless worlds in the pages of books.
I have what’s termed intractable migraines. They can be utterly debilitating. They’ve been a presence in my day-to-day life since before I was a teenager, but they began to rage in full force in my 20s. Life became smaller and smaller, and partially that was because, with the extremity of my migraines, I simply couldn’t pick up a book and read. My ability to reach into other worlds by turning the pages in a good book was taken away from me.
Some days I could read a page, or two. Others I couldn’t read at all. And especially not after a day of working when I work with words all day long on a digital screen.
And so, I stopped reading for pleasure.
Reading became something I did, not something I wanted to do.
I’m not even sure how long this went on, but I remember the moment that I realized I wasn’t feeling like myself. I missed always having a novel to think about while I was doing the dishes, and the nighttime routine of reading before bed. I missed falling in love with fictional people and writing quotes down so I didn’t forget them. I missed stepping into another world, even if for a moment or two. I just…missed the magic.
And that’s when I stopped myself. Written word? Yes. Important. I’m a freakin’ writer, afterall. Writing is sacred. But what is writing? It’s communicating. When I write, I’m telling a story to the reader and all I care about is that they hear me and they connect with me. That my communication, or words, hit their heart and land in their lives when they need them most.
Storytelling isn’t just for the written word. Hell, it never has been!
And so I borrowed an audiobook. And another one. And another. And I slowly, very slowly, began to feel the pieces of myself fall back into place–one story at a time.
Now I read again, voraciously, but I read in the way that I’m able to read: by listening to the story that the author has written to share with the world.
On April 27th, 2024, on Independent Bookstore Day, I’ll be buying an audiobook from an Independent Bookstore in my hometown. By doing so, I’ll be supporting a local business, contributing to the local economy, and feeding my own love of books, in all shapes and forms.
You can do the same. Or, you can pop into your local indie bookstore and give them some love. We need these beacons of light in our commnities now more than ever and they won’t surivive without our help.
And that darkness? It’s lifted. But only in hindsight did I realize it was there.
Books lifted it. Books lift us. Books and their stories are locks and keys to the human experience.
Need a little more convincing? Here are 19 quotes, in no particular order, to remind us of the magic of reading:
“Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.” ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafón
“Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.” ~ Jane Smiley,
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” ~ Dr. Seuss
“We read to know we are not alone.” ~ C.S Lewis
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” ~ George R.R Martin
“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” ~ Charles William Eliot
“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” ~ G.K. Chesterton
“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.” ~ Mortimer J. Adler
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” ~ Stephen King
“No matter who you are, no matter where you live, and no matter how many people are chasing you, what you don’t read is often as important as what you do read.” ~ Lemony Snicket
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” ~ Mason Cooley
“The best moments in reading are when you come across something–a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things–which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours.” ~ Alan Bennett
“Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.” ~ Joyce Carol Oates
“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Books must be treated with respect, we feel that in our bones, because words have power. Bring enough words together they can bend space and time.” ~ Terry Pratchett
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” ~ Harper Lee
“Books, they offer one hope–that a whole universe might open up from between the covers, & falling into that new universe, one is saved.” ~ Anne Rice
“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.” ~ Jhumpa Lahiri
“There are some awful things in the world, it’s true, but there are also some great books.” ~ Jo Walton
And a bonus quote about audiobooks:
“I’ve never listened to an audiobook before, and I have to say it’s a totally different experience. When you read a book, the story definitely takes place in your head. When you listen, it seems to happen in a little cloud all around it, like a fuzzy knit cap pulled down over your eyes” ~ Robin Sloan
~
AUTHOR: MOLLY MURPHY
IMAGE: @PEDRAKIMOU/INSTAGRAM
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