“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who doesn’t read lives only one.”
-George RR. Martin
Bibliobibuli
(n): Those who read too much
The term was coined in 1957 by H.L. Mencken, who said “There are people who read too much: bibliobibuli. I know some who are constantly drunk on books, as other men are drunk on whiskey or religion. They wander through this most diverting and stimulating of worlds in a haze, seeing nothing and hearing nothing”.
Books.
They mean many things to different people. For some, they are a source of knowledge, to aid in furthering their mental growth and education. For others, they are a haven to turn to for comfort and curiosity, to escape reality.
Reading could be a pastime; while travelling to work, on a beach on holidays, something you do because there is nothing else to do. Reading could be academic; for college, school, may be seen as a chore to be accomplished. For me, reading is something I turn to whenever I feel like delving into the imaginations of another, a world so much more than my own.
“I love books. I love that moment when you open one and sink into it – you can escape from the world, into a story that’s way more interesting than yours ever will be.”
-Elizabeth Scott
How do people become readers? Now, I don’t mean those who read because they have to or those who read rarely. I mean, how does someone go about becoming, for lack of a better term, a book addict? It’s an interesting question really. Some people are reared on books, encouraged by their parents from a young age. Curiosity may have been the factor for others, walking past a shop and spotting an intriguing cover that leads to them picking up their first book. I asked my friend why she started reading, and she answered that she just picked up a book, adding jokingly that she “was a little nerd.”
My grandparents were the ones who nudged me into reading when I was twelve. I’d been injured at summer camp and couldn’t do any more sports because of a broken collarbone. They’d bought me the last Harry Potter book and reluctantly at first, I read it.
“I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.”
-J.K Rowling
It says something about the capabilities of an author who is able to enthral a reader from the first sentence. J.K Rowling has this ability. Her works have captured the minds of millions worldwide and I was no different. From the first line of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, I was captivated, “The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane.” I needed to know more. Who were the men? What was happening? Were they friends or enemies? Full of questions and the urge to read on, I did. I read the book.
It became the first of many books that stole my attention for multiple hours a day, that kept me up all night despite my promise that “I’ll sleep after I finish this chapter.” One chapter led to two, then to three, and before I realised it, there would be no more chapters and I was left craving the next book.
Books are powerful things. They contain the thoughts and feelings of their creators. Authors write with emotion, with care. They spend hours fixating on that one paragraph, scrutinising over a single word in order to create that one sentence that coils around your mind and sticks with you long after you’ve forgotten the plot.
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
-Haruki Murakami
As a reader, you have so much to choose from. There is an endless supply of novels at your disposal. Countless different genres for your fancy. Though no person is supposed to love the same as another, no one is meant to only care about the books their friends care about. Read what you desire, be that sci-fi, romance, fiction or even fanfiction. That is how your love for reading will grow.
You will never learn to enjoy a book if someone else makes you read it. This is, what I believe, one of the reasons I did not enjoy reading when I was younger. I was told what to read when my class made weekly trips to the local library. We were restricted to a certain section of novels and they were not to my taste. Due to that, I found that I did not read what I brought home. They would sit in my room, still in the bag, untouched. That is not what a book is for. It is meant to be read, to be lingered over, to have its pages dog-eared, the spine rippled from being read over and over.
A worn old book always looks more appealing to me. It’s the symbol that someone else has cherished the novel, they’ve spent hours reading it, delving into its world and loved it enough to go back to it again and again. It’s a sign that the author’s work has been treasured, that their words have had an impact on the reader. And in the end, isn’t that what all writers want?
“All the secrets of the world are contained in books. Read at your own risk.”
– Lemony Snicket
LisasLittleBlog 