Bookworm, I'm a bookworm

[agt_spooky]

John and I are still doing our spring cleaning and yesterday I came across my favorite bookmark, which I thought I'd lost, but it had simply slipped between some pieces of paper on my desk.

Anyway...why is this my favorite bookmark, you ask? It's nothing fancy. Just light blue with a simple yellow flower on it that I got for free at a bargain bookstore many, many years ago. What made it my favorite was the quote that was written on it...

"To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life." - W. Somerset Maugham

I was really struck by those words, because for me, that's completely true. I've used books since I was a child to escape from real life for a little while. To forget my troubles and go on an adventure with the characters in the pages.

What about you? Does that quote ring true for you, too? Or has reading never been about escaping, but just pure enjoyment? Do you have a favorite quote that pertains to reading?

Comments

[audreyava.livejournal.com]

A proud bookworm here as well:) As long as I can remember books were always my window to the world. Yes, they help me escape; I can forget everything else and just go along on an adventure with all the characters!

I love that quote; it's so beautiful! And it rings so true for me as well. Doesn't matter what kind of mood I am in, a good book always makes me happy, it brings a sort of peace.

One of my favourites is this one by an anonymous speaker: "Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book."

[digitalwave]

When I was a little girl I had a pretty noticeable speech impediment, one requiring speech therapy for the first three years I was in school. And, kids being kids, it made it kind of rough at times until I learned how to control it. Books were my friends and my escape during that time and my love to read continues to this day. All in all the trade off was more than worth it because it helped make me who I am today. :)

[greenwoman.livejournal.com]

Books were an escape for me, but that was just a part of it. They were also a way for me to learn about the world, when I returned to it, and how to cope with it. Most of the moral code I have had through my teenage and adult years came from The Lord of the Rings, and Stranger In A Strange Land. I have also mostly preferred non-fiction to fiction, and so read hundreds of biographies and history books while growing up.

So: escape, education, moral compass. That's what books have always been for me.

[trillian276709.livejournal.com]

What a fantastic quote and it resonates with me too. When I was smaller I was having to be physically pulled out of my books. Calling my name never worked, teachers and family had to put a hand on the book or shake me slightly to get me out of one world and back into another. :)

I am also convinced that I'm going to be a crazy old person who still insists on a paper book. Reading on a screen will never be quite the same for me. Heh.

[ann-tara.livejournal.com]

What about you? Does that quote ring true for you, too?

Absolutely true, a perfect quote. I've always loved to read, and we're surrounded by books in this house. So many that I periodically have to weed through them to give to the library or Good Will in order to make room for more - and yet, I almost hate doing it. Even books I ended up not liking seem still to have their place; but if we didn't "spring clean" on a routine basis to include the bookcases, we'd end up on an episode of Hoarders or something. ;)

I love how reading expands one's mind - I honestly don't believe, for instance, that FOX News is aimed at people who read - as well as the sheer literary value of the habit. But, it is also very true that during times in my life when I've been most down, especially in recent years, I've found my appetite to read to increase because it is the simplest, cheapest, and safest way to escape. Reading is my drug of choice. :)

[bluewolf458.livejournal.com]

The fiction world inside my head has often been more real to me that the real world... and once my head is buried in a book, a bomb culd go off under me and I wouldn't notice.

[morganslady.livejournal.com]

Love the quote.. I also used books as an escape as a child,since for me alot of RL activities were difficult.

[khek.livejournal.com]

Books are my Life! Er, kind of literally. :)

I don't even dare tell you how many I own. On my bookcases, in boxes in my basement, my attic, my parent's attic, my parent's barn, my sister's storage shed...

(And that doesn't count the 3,000 (approximately) I buy each year for work...)

Certenely

[winchesterwoman.livejournal.com]

A good quote. But, I don't read books :O hahaha! I think the only ones that I have read because I wanted to, and because I desesperately wanted to read, was Harry Potter!, Of course I have read many books, that I was obligated to do. But, Instead of that I like to watch movies, or do something else to scape from this world. And, nope, I don't have a quote. :S