Top Ten Tuesday- Why I Love Reading

Top Ten Tuesday is a really cool original feature/weekly meme created over at The Broke and The Bookish. Each week they post a new Top Ten List that bloggers join in on answering... and today (June 7th) I'm one of them :)

Today's Topic

Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Reading

• I've been a "reader" since as far back as I can remember.  I used to beg my parents and their friends to read to me before I knew how... and when they got sick of it, I found the joy of books w/ cassette tapes.  I would sit for hours listening to all the different stories-- pretty much until I taught myself how to read.  In school my favorite days were book fair days & standardized test days (because if you finished early you were allowed to read at your desk).  I've loved reading for so long, that I never really thought of the WHY of it.  I just love it, ya know??  But today I'm trying to put to words my WHY, and here's what I've come up with:

1.  Escape- I love the feeling of getting lost in a story until it's like REAL LIFE doesn't even exist anymore.  It's the best kind of escape IMO.

2.  The Feeling and the Smell- My favorite part of reading is when it's time to start a new book.  You're holding it in your hands and it's so full of possibilities!!  Then you crack it open and you get that wonderful book smell!!  And suddenly everything is okay in the world again.

3.  The Feeling- Different kind of feeling here.  I mean the FEELING you get when the characters you were hoping to get together finally kiss-- the FEELING you get when something amazing or wonderful or hopelessly sad or beautifully painful happens.  I love the way books make my heart FEEL.  There's nothing like it.

4.  It Makes Me Feel Less Alone-  C.S. Lewis said "We read to know that we are not alone." and I couldn't agree more.  I can't tell you how many times I read a book and started crying, not because it was sad, but because something happened in the book that made me realize that the way I feel inside is okay.  To know that other people go through the same thoughts, emotions, rejections, self-doubts, insecurities, and experiences that I do makes life a little bit easier.  It makes me feel more connected to other people.  It's by far my favorite part of the reading experience.

5.  Did You See How Pretty They Are???- Books are fucking beautiful.  I don't know how non-readers can walk past these beautiful covers and not want to own the books just to look at.

6.  Relaxing- Books are my #1 form of entertainment.  Sometimes, yes, I can get pretty stressed out while reading a thrilling mystery... or I can get worked up and emotionally drained while reading a book like I'll Give You the Sun.  BUT-- it's still the way I entertain myself and relax.  There's just something about reading beautiful words that makes my real life stress go away.

7.  The Originality- ANYTHING can happen in books, ANYTHING.  The only thing that limits what happens in books is the author's imagination.  And THAT is magical.

8.  You Can Do It Anywhere- You can read inside, outside, on the beach, in the car, whether you have battery power or not (if it's a physical copy).  Basically as long as you can SEE, you can read.

9.  It's So Damn Fun- There is nothing more fun than reading a book that makes you LOL.  Or that feeling you get when you finish an amazing book that you loved?  THAT feeling is SO fun.

10.  Books Are My Rock- Reading is the one constant in my life.  Books will always be here-- they aren't going to get mad at me, or think that I'm not good enough, or pretty enough, or smart enough, or successful enough.  Books don't care what stage I'm at in my life.  They don't care if I have my shit together or not.  They aren't going to forget about me.  All they do is give me hope and sense of belonging.  As weird as it sounds, books are there for me in a way that people could never be.

So those are my reasons for being a Reader.  What lists did you guys come up with for this week?