Thursday, August 7, 2008

Books > Real Life

So I finished reading Breaking Dawn last night -- and now I don't know what to do with myself. I literally spent the last two days sitting on my couch devouring this book, only taking breaks to eat and go to the bathroom. I pre-ordered my book on Amazon, being the deal-loving gal that I am. I thought my book would arrive on August 2nd, the same day everyone else was getting there book....but nooooo mine didn't arrive at my doorstep until August 5th at approximately 3pm. I almost attacked the UPS guy when he finally brought me my book. After I got my book I was totally useless until I finished it because my life could not go on until I knew the fate of Bella, Edward, and Jacob.

Now the real point of this post is not to pontificate about my hopeless devotion to the Twilight saga and Stephenie Meyer's amazing writing -- the point of this post is for me to talk about my devotion to any book I read. Whenever I get a new book I can barely put the thing down. It's not like I'm even reading anything that intellectually stimulating -- I tend to stick to lighthearted chick-lit most of the time. (I've read the entire Shopaholic series at least four times. Sad...I know) I get so into what I'm reading and I get lost in the world that the characters live in. For however long that I'm reading a book I become a part of that world.

For the most part when I finish a book I just move on to a new book that same day or the next and get lost in yet another world of fictional characters. However, when I'm reading something particularly fabulous, say Harry Potter or Twilight, I'm kind of a mess for a few days after I finish the book. It's not like I lay in bed all day with the covers over my head, sobbing over the fact that my book is finished -- it's more of a feeling that I'm still stuck in that book world and reality just isn't quite as interesting.

What I'm wondering is if anyone else ever feels this way -- or am I just completely crazy?

My obsession with books always reminds me of this line from You've Got Mail when Meg Ryan is writing one of her adorablely insightful emails to Tom Hanks.

"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Well, not small, but valuable. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void."

I totally understand how she feels! I'm not complaining about my life or anything, I'm extremely blessed and have a great life...but isn't life always so much cooler in books? And maybe like Kathleen Kelly I don't really want answers to any of the questions I've posed in this post. Rather I'd just like to see if anyone else feels the way I do about reading. So get to commenting my dear friends.

1 comment:

Emily said...

Hey Kaitlyn,
I realize you posted this a month ago, but I figure your literary question still stands out in the universe waiting for an answer. And I have the answer! Well only the one that pertains to my own love of reading and my own habits. I'm quite the same way. You can often tell how much a book means to you by how distracted you are afterwards. Breaking Dawn definitely being one of them, not necessarily because it's great literature, but just a fascinating story line that I did not predict. Same with Harry Potter. I've still been meaning to reread the 7th one to get a better understanding on how the piece to the puzzle link together. So I have to ask... were you more of an Edward or Jacob fan?