Living a Thousand Lives Through Books
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A girl trying to decide which literary life she’ll immerse herself in next.[/caption]
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies,” said Jojen. “The man who never reads lives only one.” — George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons
Jojen, a character in George R.R. Martin’s novel, speaks absolute truth through this quote. We are told so times throughout our lives, “You only have one life; live it to the fullest.” Supposedly, cats are the only creatures that experience nine lives. I disagree.
As you open a book, your senses start sending messages to your imagination. This is when you know you’re about to live another’s life. You know immediately that a story is about to unfold before you as you slowly turn the first page. The pages gently sway as your fingers brush over them; your imagination pleads for more. You’re the lucky one that has the opportunity to live vicariously through it.
I’m sure we have all had our long nights with our noses stuck in a book, not willing to look away until the chapter ends. How about those book hangovers? You know, where we are emotionally attached to the book we just finished? We’ve lived the characters’ lives to the fullest. Sometimes we even have the inability to start a new book because we became so attached to the last. Even as we move on, a character’s death or wrong romantic choice lingers with us.
We understand it. We feel it. We live it.
When you look at your bookshelf and see all of the colored spines neatly aligned or hurriedly stacked in an organized mess, you view all of the lives you’ve lived aside from your own. The most exciting part is walking into the local library or bookstore and imagining all of the lives you have yet to live. A sort of thrill mixed with adrenaline blooms within you, urging your hands to grasp the next story, the next world you wish to enter. Because — let’s face it — nothing is more exciting than experiencing another’s life.
Whether you place yourself in one of the character’s bodies or watch from the sidelines, you feel what the character feels —everything from the support of a family during hard times to the immense love an orphaned boy receives from his new parents. Whatever kind of story it is, you feel it all. The scene unfolds and it’s real to you. You are there.
That’s the beauty of books and the lives of characters that open themselves up to you. Now think back: how many lives have you lived?
photo credit: Viewminder via photopin cc
