I want to meet J.K. Rowling some day and give her a massive hug.

from my Pinterest board "book love"

I'm still completely astounded by the number of people that I know who would rather sit on a couch, controller in hand and oblivious to the world around them whilst staring at a screen than pull an oft-loved volume from a shelf, curl up (with a purring cat snuggled beside them, little mooch-cat) and fall headlong into another world altogether.

Even more astounding is that the people who would choose option #1 over a good book are in my own age group, many of whom are my friends.

I don't get it. At all. 

Yes, my hand-eye coordination needs work. I completely lack patience and the last time I played a video game on a regular basis was when I was about 10, and played Spyro for an hour every... three days? Maybe?

Then again, I've also missed out on the social interaction that a lot of kids get from an early age with their friends. Not because I was particularly antisocial, but because... well, I didn't have many (read: any) friends as a child.

Which would explain perfectly why I was (and still am) such a huge book-lover. When J. K. Rowling published Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone in 1997, there was no way she could have known at the time just how much of an impact her imagination would have on the world around her.

She turned an entire generation of youth back into a world set between the covers of a book. And inspired millions of people... and many other aspiring authors to share their own worlds with the rest of us!

Admittedly, some of those other authors need a bit of help (and maybe a reality check or two, especially when it comes to what they're teaching prepubescent girls about what constitutes a healthy, loving relationship and what should really constitute a total restraining order...), but overall? I think that the world has reaped many, many benefits from this.

Of course there are people who could beg to differ... and then there are those who just like to complain that "you have too many books, Andraea, you really don't need to buy more!" (uhm, yes I do. I read many of these at least once per year and have read Ender's Game so many times that I've already worn clear through one copy and have almost destroyed a second -- if you ever buy me any books PLEASE buy a paperback!), but those people tend to be the ones who lean towards escapism in digital virtual reality form.

Not to bash gamers at all, mind you... my boyfriend is a gamer and most of my friends are! But I still prefer the escapism in a book, endless variations and all.

For the record, I fully intend to write a massive post (or maybe even series of posts!) on my love for Harry Potter, maybe even diving into other series that I love as well. But not today.

... This could take a while.

So. Are you a reader? Have any books "changed your life", as it were? Tell me in the comments below!

edit: After posting, a friend posted a link to this article on the VicPD's "The Beat" blog wherein police responded to what they thought was a domestic disturbance gone horribly awry and violent... only to discover that the man screaming obscenities was, in fact, sitting in front of a video game with a headset on, oblivious to his volume levels and the worried neighbors who had called the cops. Ha!