Thursday, January 24, 2013

A World Without Books Or why reading and writing are vitamins for the brain

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Overnight Sensation
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By Desiree Holt
I remember reading book from the earliest age. Books were a staple in our household. My mother and my sister read constantly. Mostly mysteries, I think. My first books were things like The House at Pooh Corner and The Jungle Book. Books that took me to faraway and mysterious places. Books that stirred my imagination and made me create my own stories. As I grew into my teen years my reading expanded. In high school I read a YA romance called Seventeenth Summer that to this day still stays with me. It was such a beautiful story of teenage love and what happens when summer is over. How we grow from such a relationship.
Older still I began to read the mysteries my family loved and as I read them I found myself getting lost in the wonderful stories. These were classic mysteries, like Ellery Queen and Nero Wolf and all the books by the master of suspense, Agatha Christie. From there it was a short step to the queens of romantic suspense, Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt. Their books are such classic that they are now being reissued both in print and as ebooks, so new generations can enjoy them.
I’m still an avid reader as well as now a writer who loves creating stories. My tastes cover everything from romance to thrillers to paranormal. In the pages of every book I read or write I can lose myself in a new adventure, a new romance, a new experience.  On a bad day when I need comfort I turn first to my books. Where would I be without them? Where would any of us be?
How would we learn about chemistry and economics and history and mathematics? How could we appreciate people like Shakespeare who have had a profound effect on theatre and drama or Emmanuel Kant and Sigmund Freud who have had a profound effect on our thinking?
Many, many years ago I saw a movie titled Fahrenheit 451. That’s the temperature at which paper burns. The movie was set in a world where the destruction of all books had been decreed, all opportunities for people to learn or think anything opposite of what the rulers dictated. But a dedicated group gathered all the books they could and carried them to a secret place. These people then memorized every book, reciting them to each other to instill them in their memories and pass them along to their children who, hopefully, would live in a different world where the books could be converted to readable material again.
That’s how important books were and are.
They are a refuge, an escape, a resource. Without books we’d have no libraries or book clubs or authors to share their ideas. Books are the food of the mind. Let’s keep feeding it.

Leave a comment and tell me what your favorite book of all time is. One lucky commenter will win a copy of her choice from my Decadent Publishing backlist. Be sure to leave your email addy in your response!

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8 comments:

Susan W. said...

Several books have stayed with me for different reasons. Terry Trueman's Stuck in Neutral is probably one of my favorites because I have recommended it to several of my students who don't like to read and it's been the book to kick start their enjoyment of reading. It's great to see kids who didn't like reading looking forward to library day so they could find a new book to read!
suz2(at)cox(dot)net

Anonymous said...

I think reading is better than xanax. It transports you to another place where you can worry about someone else's troubles and know there is a happy ending! Books are my friends!

Michelle V said...

I don't think I could ever pick a favorite book of all time. I have so many favorites and I'm constantly adding new favorites to my long list. I have always been a huge Stephen King fan since I was a teenager. My favorite of all of his books and one of my all time favorites is Misery. Another favorite is called Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I have so many favorite romance novels that I wouldn't know where to start, and several of Desiree Holt's books are on that list!

Michelle V
michellevasquez2001 at yahoo dot com

Kim Reisdorf said...

Man i have read so many books, but i guess i would have to say Gone with the wind. It's been years since i read it, but i still love it. Kimmotzer@hotmail.com

Brenna Zinn said...

Always love reading your books. My favorite book of all time?? The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart. I was about 9 when I read that. Opened my eyes to what kinds of books are actually out there.

Thanks for a great post!

Unknown said...

Choose just one book? Yikes! There r so many I love! I really love books by Nora Roberts , her latest trilogy is amazing, "The Boonsboro Inn". I also love the "Wolf Tale" series by Kate Douglas. Email is vmilizia@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Oh, Margie, Nancy Drew? That's what interested me in mysteries. And Brenna, I didn't know anyone I knew except me read Mary Stewart. My fave of hers is Nine Coaches Waiting.

Jessica E. Subject said...

Oh gosh! I don't think I can pick one particular book that I love above all the other fabulous stories I read. Today, I just finished Shades of Earth by Beth Revis, so I'll pick that one. Oh, and I read Fahrenheit 451 in my high school Science Fiction class. LOL

All the best, Desiree!
~Jessica
jessicasubject.writer at gmail dot com