Confessions of a bookworm

I love books. I love reading. I go through books like a chain smoker goes through a packet of cigarettes. I get excited about the next book while I'm still reading the current one.

All the stories leave an impression on me, some more than others. But with every book, I take away something. Maybe some new knowledge, or some random fact that no one will ever use in their life. And how different people react to situations, how there's always evil and good in both persons and how the things they go through decides which side the balance will take.

And then there are those few books that do something more. They change you, give you a new perspective in life, they define you. The Harry Potter series were a set of those books for me. I grew up with them. Ron, Harry, Hermione, they're who kept me company when I felt alone. These books are what made me want to write.

And now I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy. And for me they're as good as Harry Potter. They're those books that keep you up at night to finish them. They're what your thoughts stray to when you're daydreaming during lectures. They're what you're looking forward to go home to after work.

And I feel a little lost, because I finished them. And when I closed the last, tear-stained book I looked up and I thought how can things keep going on. How can people just go on with their lives as if nothing happened? And that's how you know, that a book, a story, changed you. Because you feel different. You feel happy to have shared the story with the characters. And you feel sad because you have to say goodbye to them now. And it's like saying goodbye to old friends. I'll never read about Harry again, or Katniss.

It's scary how much of an impact a story can make on me. And it's wonderful that it does. And I can only hope that one day, I'll write a story that will be at least 1/1000 as good as those books. And to make one person in the whole world feel like I felt when I finished these books would be amazing. Because books can change you. They make you grow up. They make you envision your future. They make you hope.