Well, I had the idea of doing this alphabet thing, so well, I might as well continue. So this time I’m talking about my favourite letter in the alphabet: B. I thought about what I’m going to write about long and hard – yeah right – and I came to the conclusion that I’m going to talk about something that not many people enjoy nowadays that much, but that I love. No, not me, books.
It’s quite simple why I love books, they were my window into learning the English language properly, and when you don’t live in England, and every language you hear away from your house isn’t English, it has to be by your own merit, with the help of your parents maybe, that you delve in the language. In my case, my parents always talked to me in English, but decided not to teach me how to write. So when I started reading, that is when I started learning that obscure part of the language. As I was one of the only ones who knew it when I was young, I felt special, and loved this individuality of mine even more. So books, I can definitely say, were my window into loving the English language even more. And when it comes to this subject, there is no one thing I love to read, there are many, so that I’ll read J.K. Rowling, Agatha Christie, Markus Zusak, Malcolm Gladwell, Thomas Friedman, Vikas Swarup, Dan Brown, Christopher Paolini, and many more. Above all things, books give you creativity, knowledge and logic, because you have to follow one, or many, storylines, concentrate on the minor details they talk about at the start that come back later, foreshadowing’s as well as – in case of non-fiction – plain information and a glance into the real world. They offer you more ways to think and different perspective. They offer you a whole different world, a place set apart from the life you live, that makes you think and imagine. A lot of things contributed to my love for writing, both fiction and not, and books was one of the main blocks in that. So one thing I recommend any kid, adult, teenager woman, man, guy, girl is to read if you have the time. Books give you a lot of everything, you just have to find the right book for you, and there is a lot you can choose from. The endless choice that is made larger each day is at your disposal.
By the way, a must read is Markus Zusak – relatively unknown Australian author – who has written two of my favourite novels in “The Book Thief” and “The Messenger” – alternatively “I Am The Messenger”. The figures of speech he uses are simply amazing, it’s one of those books that you have to stop and think about the way he wrote something because of the sheer brilliance, or at least I did that. And from him is where I’ve got one of my favourite lines, so to cap it all off, take this one seriously.
“You never know, I tell myself. One day there might be a few select people who’ll say, “Yes, [Bob] Dylan was on the brink of stardom when he was nineteen. [Salvador] Dalí was well on his way to being a genius, and Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for being the most important woman in history. And at nineteen, Ed Kennedy found that first card in the mail.”
What I love about this quote is the simplicity, yet the eagerness looking forward into the future. You have to make yourself to be someone, but the fact is that when you’re young, you can look forward, dream high, aim at the stars and try your best to reach them. It’s in your hands. Books give those messages and they try to give confidence and charisma on the way.
