Looking Past The Cover of a Book

Hi-

Books are important to me. Reading is valuable to my mind and soul. Words allow me to go off on my own release. So, here I am going off on a tangent about it all.

It’s such a treat when I get to go to the library to find a book that I leisurely want to read. I love getting lost in the titles of the book, the images on the cover and the couple paragraph descriptions of each novel.

This year a goal of mine is to read at least one leisure book every month. It’s harder then you would expect – I like a challenge. My good friend, Chase, suggested I do this and it honestly has been something very helpful and refreshing for me. I’ve always loved to read but with this goal I allowed me to make it a priority to take moments to open up my book.

Instead of checking social media on the bus home….I remove my book mark and open my novel. I love how zoned in I get at times and when I’m indulged in my book I don’t even see the world around me. I need that every once in a while. Usually, I’m too much of an observant person so being able to remove myself from reality at times is nice.

Anyway, the other day I went to pick out a new book. Normally, I pull out a few that interest me and cozy up to read the first few pages of each then determine which one I want. It’s hard to choose – I wish I could read them all at once.

This month I chose the book “Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin. I’m only on the fourth chapter and I already have suggested it to two people. I think everyone can relate to or learn from it.

My favorite part of library books is the story inside of it. I don’t mean the actual story but I mean the creases and marks and scratches that are within the book from people that had it in the past.

A worn out book is a well loved book.

Today, while I was reading I found these two points underlined: “Happiness doesn’t always have to make you feel happy” and “If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough“.

Oddly enough, those two marks in the book resonated with me in my current state but regardless it made me wonder. Why did these two sentences stick out to someone more than the others? What is the person that read this last going through? What is their story? I will never know but, to me, that’s the beauty of it.

Every book I read, I leave a note in. It’s corny, yes, but it’s something that I like to think leaves an impact on others. If it’s a public library book – I leave a sticky note. If it’s a book from my personal library – I write on the inside cover.

Also, every time I start a book I write in the corner of the cover what time, day and where I started the book and the same goes for when I finish it.

I ask you to do something. The next book you read – put your mark on it.

It could be a quote you enjoyed, a highlighted paragraph you enjoyed or a piece of paper with a doodle on it. Let it be anything but let it show your voice and personality through your mind and written words.

Reading is cool. Take time to do it.

Enjoy The Day,

Em

QOOTD: “You don’t need to be perfect to inspire others. Let people get inspired by how you deal with your imperfection”