I can tell you the moment my life began. I was born, but that's not quite the start that I'm referring to. I'm talking about the life that begins when you find your world.
My mom tells me that the minute I figured out how to crawl, I was crawling towards a book. I had my favorites... and before I was three, I had a stack of them memorized. To my sisters, reading those books over and over again was torturous, but I apparently didn't care one smidgen what they thought. I hadn't figured out the whole "reading" thing quite yet, but that didn't stop me from loving books.
You can't tell a two year old "No." Seriously, try it. You won't get far.
I eventually learned that there were more books in the world than Dr. Seuss, and sometime after that is when it started. "It," meaning, my world. That world got put into orbit the minute I finished reading my first "real" book, Matilda. In that moment, I realized that my world had existed for quite some time, but it hadn't been able to move anywhere until I gave it a place to go.
My literary life became painfully obvious when I was in junior high. I was that girl... the one who ate her lunch in the library because she got turned away from every table in the lunchroom. I found refuge in books... I found friends in books... I found myself in books. I launched myself into those worlds in order to escape the world that obviously didn't need me in it.
I foraged around the lives of each and every character, seeking to find similarities between my situation and theirs. I found myself striving to emulate certain character traits: the courage of Katniss, the kindness of Cinderella, the intelligence of Hermione, the wit of Elizabeth, the imagination of Leslie, the independence of Enna, the hopefulness of Miri... I craved happy endings for these girls as much as I craved my own, and I almost saw the end of their stories as the beginning of my own.
My mom tried using this love of reading to her advantage... she would take away my book and tell me I could have it back when I cleaned the bathroom. Instead of grounding me from hanging out with friends (the way she would punish my other siblings), she would ground me from reading. I remember her taking all my books away and locking them up, but I told her that she couldn't stop me from reading the billboards and the street signs and the magnets on the refrigerator.
If that isn't the definition of a literary life, I don't know what is.
I walk into Barnes and Nobles and feel like I'm home. When I plan out my dream house, the first design is always my own personal library (complete with those rolling ladders like in Beauty and the Beast). I'm friends with my favorite author on Facebook. If I could minor in Harry Potter Studies, I would. After I finished reading The Hunger Games, I crept through my basement pretending I was defending myself with a bow and arrow. When I meet someone who has read The Goose Girl, I start hopping up and down and end up making these strange squeaking noises like a really excited baby mouse.
It would be embarrassing, if it wasn't my life.
I was proud of myself for knowing all of the characters you referenced in this post (probably because we have a very similar taste in books). Your writing style is really fun to read and I think your ability to tell stories is a byproduct of your literary life.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really open and honest post, which can be scary when you're throwing it out into the Internet! It sounds like you took something that would be hard on most people and turned it into a growing experience that you're proud of. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteYou're not the only one who imagines themselves as their favorite characters. Do you think you could design a library for me too?
ReplyDeleteIn this post, you really show how book characters can positively influence our lives. In each of your examples, you take the best of their characters and try to make it your own. It beautifully shows that books are truly powerful when they cause us to change how we act and who we are.
ReplyDeleteYou're not the only one who imagines themselves as their favorite characters. Do you think you could design a library for me too?
ReplyDeleteThat same library has been in my mind forever. I made my husband swear to me that our future home will have a beautiful library (and that it will be given to me just like in Beauty and the Beast). I love your voice in your post. You do such justice to the characters you describe!
ReplyDeleteI love your voice. I felt as if though we were talking in person. I could feel the passion you have for books and I couldn't help but smile while reading and thinking to myself, "I do that too!"
ReplyDeleteBy the way I thought your title was brilliant!
ReplyDelete