The Wonder of Books

Recently, a friend and I went to a big-scale bookfair to see what books we could buy with great discounts. I myself am crazy for books, and despite my mother's protests -- she says my books take up precious space at home -- I still believe that books are the greatest treasures one can have. My friend, on the other hand, had just discovered the joy of reading and was eager to buy more books to satisfy her literary hunger.

Staying in the teachers' quarters one level below mine, her only entertainment at home is a TV that can only receive about three channels, and which come in poor quality. So, to avoid boring herself to death, she watches drama series on CDs, or reads books. That's how she discovered that reading is actually not such a boring activity after all.

I started reading at a young age; around 5, actually. That was when I fell in love with books. I could shut myself off to the outside world for hours and immerse myself in the world of make-believe characters and their wonderful adventures. I could feel them coming alive in my mind, and they were how I imagined them to be. That's the wonder of books -- they take you to places that you don't get to go, and they let you see life through the eyes of another person.

I'm guessing also that my friend is preferring books over movies or TV shows now, or if she isn't, she'll soon be. Watching a movie is less fun, because most of the time, you do not see what goes on in the minds of the characters. We interpret the movie mostly through the characters' actions, and for a person like me, this is only half of the story. We may even make wrong guesses. Whereas by reading a book, the author allows us to enter the minds and thoughts of that character. This is much like our personal encounters in life; we observe and experience what goes on around us, and we process them in our minds. And of course, a movie dictates how we see a character, i.e. their appearances, reactions etc. but a book allows more room for imagination, making it more dynamic and fun. So, if there's a novel version and a movie version of a story, you bet that I'll make a beeline for the novel version first!

Well, I get it that some people prefer the visual experience, so they would choose a movie over a book. And there are also people like me who prefer to "watch" the story unfold through words, which is why I prefer books. But this doesn't mean I don't watch movies at all, and likewise, those who prefer movies should also spend some time reading novels and get in touch with their imaginations.

Besides, as a teacher, I should point out that reading has a tremendous effect on our language learning process, introducing us to new words, expressions and sentence structures, all while we are enjoying the story. All these are registered subconsciously in our minds, so most of the time, we do not even realise that we are learning these things. This is way better than learning a language consciously in a classroom, which needs more effort on our part to remember the words or grammar items, simply because we are learning them out of context. Of course, don't expect a miracle to happen after just reading a few books. It has to be developed into a habit and practised regularly for it to make an impact in anyone's life. As they say, Rome is not built in a day, right?

So, try reading today... it may change your life!