“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.” — George R.R. Martin

When I was growing up, I was introduced to the journeys and the lives of historical icons, symbols and figureheads. The great James Cook and his expeditions springs to mind. The great pioneers of the past fascinated me — not the pioneers themselves as much as the journeys they embarked on. Sailing through storms in the middle of the ocean, hiking through tall unknown mountain ranges and crawling through cave systems.
However, the journeys of the pioneers are of the past. Nowadays the journeys for most people are long, tedious journeys to and from school and work. Journeys that are repeated every day in the same fashion with the ‘exciting’ occasional delay here and there.

However, there’s an escape from this boring reality, the ability to live a different life, not just one different life, but a thousand different lives. The ability to freely live in a world in which you travel across the deserts of northern Africa in search of treasure. In a world in which there was a third world war. A world in which you lead a life where you can rebel and can be free without any negative effect on the present. This escape is offered through books.
There is a world in which there was a third world war. There is a world where tyrannical fascists rule with an iron fist. There is a world where social justice is in light of an unjust government. There’s a world where individuality is suppressed by the government. This is the world where the great anarchist ‘V’, a masked revolutionary who systematically and elegantly broke down the tyrannical government organization called the Nosefire and an extremely knowledgeable and fearless man, lived. This is the world that was described by the extremely skilled and eloquent writer, ‘Alan Moore’, in his book, V for Vendetta.

I decided to read this excellent piece of English literature for I had not had much previous experience with reading graphic novels before and because my friends — who love this book — used to start raging debates about books but this book and its themes, in particular, now and then, and I wanted to understand what they were talking about and include my thoughts into the discussion. For example, my friends were talking about what the meaning of the Guy Fawkes Mask worn by the character V was. Since I have read and understood this graphic novel, I now understand that the Guy Fawkes mask is a symbol for anarchism, revolution and disobedience to the overpowered government. However, it is also a symbol of anonymity and tells the reader that anyone can turn into the anarchist V and anyone can take arms against a strong controlling force.
This book, at times, was challenging and hard to follow. Not because of the writing style but rather because of all the minor details that were focused upon too much. For example, I feel as if Alan Moore, when explaining how V had to leave Evey in the city by herself at the end of Book 1, had dived into too much detail and expanded on what was happening too much and for too long which made it quite hard to follow the storyline and what was going on in the scene. The book, at times in scenes like this, often became confusing, however, the overall storyline of the book was marvellous, hooking and simple to follow and understand.
The themes in this book, such as anarchy and rising against a strong controlling force, and the idea of having freedom, and the absence of a government, relates to my life to some aspect and on a broader sense, to the world. Although my life is not ruled by tyrannical dictators and fascists, to some extent, my parents are very controlling over my life, I believe. However, the theme of anarchy and abolishing a governing system, if far too extreme for me to be able to relate to. On a less extreme scale, I believe that my parents should still have the power to control what I do, however, I should be freer and I should be allowed to do little things such as going out and spending quality time bonding with my friends more freely. Furthermore, in countries such as North Korea, we can see that the tyrannical dictatorship portrayed throughout the book, is very similar to the style of government in North Korea. Both governments rule with an iron fist, they both follow the extreme right-wing doctrine of fascism and they both believe that they should have absolute power.

This book has made me contemplate the question of whether V’s anarchist actions and terrorism were the right things to do to rid the government of its power and free the society of slaves. Although V was seen as the revolutionist who was hell-bent on gaining liberty and releasing society from the constraints put in place by the government, he was not seen as a character with an especially high set of morals. For example, V uses more aggressive methods of gaining freedom from the powerful government such as terrorism and ruthless murders, rather than using peaceful methods such as protesting on the streets of London. In essence, V gains social justice through immoral means and unlawful acts. However, the government is no better. The government instilled the use of ‘resettlement camps’ or in other words concentration camps to send homosexuals, Jews, minorities and political opportunists and any other people who would prove to be inimical to their system of order. This raises the questions of whether V was a better representation of justice than government or not and whether V was a hero or a villain. They both preformed shady acts to get what they wanted. However, unlike the government, which wanted absolute power, V was fighting for the people’s rights and social justice when committing these immoral and unjust acts.
I would certainly recommend V for Vendetta to anyone who loves mystery novels or reading graphic novels, loves thinking about deeper questions and in general anyone who is looking for an excellent story to read and follow. V for Vendetta is, in my opinion, one of the best books I have ever read. Its full of action, the storyline is magnificent, the drawings and artistic aspect of the book are enough to put any good cartoon to shame as it sends out deeper messages when reading the story. This book can be interpreted in many ways depending on who reads it. For example, for the people of Britain during the 1970s and 1980s, when the government were facing troublesome times, the book could be seen as a warning as to what could happen in the future. However, if a 21st-century child was to read this book, they might be able to relate the themes of tyranny to their over-protective parents to some extent. This book overall will mean something slightly different to everyone and I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves graphic novels, a good mystery or just loves reading.

The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, was recommended to me by my uncle who said that I’ll love it and told me it will teach me important life skills — the most important being, never giving up — that I should learn now, while I’m young, growing up and progressing on with my reading journey and my life. The Alchemist let me lead the life of a young shepherd boy named Santiago. The boy has troubling recurring dreams every time he sleeps under a tree growing out of the ruins of an old church. The frightened and puzzled boy consults a gypsy who informs him his personal legend is to journey to the pyramids of Egypt where he will discover a great treasure. However, his journey to the great pyramids is filled with deceit, hardship and mysteries.
The writing style of The Alchemist is certainly simplistic for an intelligible lyricist and novelist such as Coelho and if refined, could make the book better. However, I believe Coelho was fully aware of this and wrote in a simplistic style intentionally so that children and teens on the cusp of adulthood specifically can understand this literature for they benefit the most from the life lessons taught in this book. For instance, the most important life lessons and the central themes of the book is the pursuit of personal legends and the risks of fear.
The pursuit and importance of personal legends is a major theme in this book. We see that Santiago, a young shepherd boy, must sacrifice everything and leave the girl he loves, Fatima, his flock of sheep and put himself in harm’s way to pursue his personal legend of travelling to the pyramids of Egypt to get his treasure. However, once his personal legend was achieved and pursued, Santiago was able to enjoy wealth, happiness and fulfilment and the other gifts of the universe. However, the merchant, who Santiago had to leave behind to follow his personal legend, refused to leave his shop behind and did not commit to his personal legend and was unable to receive the same luxuries Santiago received at the end of the story.
Furthermore, Alchemy is a symbol for pursuing one’s personal legend and the outcomes of committing to one’s personal legend. Alchemy is a process in which a slab of lead can be turned into gold, leaving everything behind and becoming a confused state during the process however, in the end turning into gold. Before fulfilling your personal legend, you are exactly like the lead, however, after fulfilling it by letting go of your fears, you are showered in life’s gifts, refined and ‘turned into gold’.

The risks of being scared is also a major theme portrayed in the book. The story follows how fear can dominate people’s lives and stop people from achieving their personal legends. For instance, the crystal merchant Santiago left behind was fearful of leaving his shop for he thought that he would end up with nothing. However, in the end, he lost because he was held back by his fears. However, Santiago was willing to lose it all, let go of his fear of gypsy women and to leave his life behind to fulfil his personal legend. The lesson taught is that being afraid is risky and dangerous, without fear one can accomplish his life goal and personal legend.
This book is certainly aimed at younger audiences as they have their whole lives ahead of them to apply what they learned through this book. Therefore, I would recommend this book to children and teens on the cusp of adulthood.

The book, To Kill A Mockingbird, written by famous writer Harper Lee, lets us live the life of Scout Finch, in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the great depression. Scout lives with her brother Jem and single father and lawyer Atticus. The family is living well off despite the conditions, and the great depression. The book follows the story of Scout, Jem and their new friend Dill as they become fascinated by their unseen neighbour Boo Radley, while Scouts father defends an innocent black man accused of rape in a racist white community.
The writing style of To Kill A Mockingbird is intelligently structured in a way to reflect the reality that Scout and Jem are maturing. The writing style is straightforward and able to portray the point and purpose effectively, however, also can easily create tension and suspense. Through imagery, Lee can create vivid pictures in the reader’s minds.
The book explores many themes, a major theme being good and evil. The story explores how both good and evil can coexist with people. Atticus believes people aren’t purely good, however, aren’t purely evil either, although eventually, the good will outweigh the evil and prevail. This idea of goodness winning over evil led Atticus to fight for what he believes in and fight for Tom, the accused black man, to force the racist white community to change their perspective and live in other’s shoes. At the start of the book, life for Jem and Scout is happy for they believe that goodness has prevailed in everyone just as it has in them at the moment. However, as time pass, they start to understand and become saddened by the fact that goodness has not prevailed. This change in their attitude is the result of observing the trial of Tom — the clearly innocent, accused rapist — and seeing the evil within the racist white community around them. Being exposed to the fact that there is true evil in their society scares both Jem and Scout. They are affected the most when the evil comes after both Jem and Scout directly when Bob Ewell attempts to murder them because their father is defending a black man, However, they are saved by Boo Radley, showing Atticus’ belief to be truthful that goodness always prevails.
The mockingbird is a symbol for pure good for they never do anyone harm, sing beautifully and live peacefully. To kill a mockingbird is to sin. Tom Robinson can be viewed as a human mockingbird as he doesn’t do anything, and he is innocent. However, the sinners are the racist white community for they are killing Tom, for they are killing the mockingbird. They sentence him to death without hard proof, fully knowing he is innocent. He is accused of rape and killed by the racist white society, the ultimate sinners for they have ‘killed a mockingbird.’

Racism this extreme is, for the most part, a thing of the past, however, To Kill A Mockingbirds themes and ideas still resonate with us today. A lack of innocence in today’s society would rule out anyone who could fit the description of Lee’s mockingbird. However, the overall lesson and idea that good always prevails lives and is prevalent in today’s society more than ever. Good, overtime has prevailed, minorities are gaining more rights, women are now, for the most part, equal to men and law, order and justice is defined. Good always prevails over evil and over time, it did, however, it is also still yet to prevail in other ways as well.
The post-World War Three world, home to Guy Fawkes, the journeys of Santiago through the Egyptian desserts in pursuit of personal legends and the prevailing of good over evil in the world of Jem and Scout are all tied together as part of my reading journey. Through reading, we are offered an escape; through reading, we can live 1000 lives.
