I don’t know about you, but recently, life has been absolutely exhausting. I’ve done hours upon hours of driving. I’ve been focused with my writing, with plotting, editing, and publishing prep all happening simultaneously. I’ve spent a lot of time with my family, especially with one of my sisters, who is moving away very soon. It’s been a good week in a lot of ways, but at the same time, being so very busy, with so many balls to keep in the air all the same time is so tiring. Sometimes I want to curl up in a ball and get away from life, even just for a little while.
Of course, just making life stop completely for a while is impossible, but the next best thing has to be reading. There’s this great quote from Logan Pearsall Smith that goes “People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.’ I honestly can’t think of many other escapes that can make me forget so fully about any problems in my lie, even just for an hour or two. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve been reading in bed and missed my intended cut off time because I got so engrossed in a book that time became irrelevant and sleep unimportant. Or when I’ve sat down to read just one chapter and look up three hours later having read the whole book. When I’m feeling down, or anxious, books give me an escape from my own thoughts for a while.
Books provide such a vivid escape, with their own colourful worlds and exciting adventures. When I read to escape, I particularly like to lose myself in fantasy worlds, or sci-fi stories, partly because they’re my favourite kinds of books in general, but maybe a little bit because I like the fact that they don’t really resemble my own life at all. Who wants to be reminded of their own worries and concerns when they’re reading? I read to get away from my everyday life, not to encounter the very same problems I’m already dealing with. I want to read about space adventures, swords and sorcery more than I want to hear about people just like me getting anxious over the same life things I do. There’s a time and a place when I do enjoy books that hit closer to home, but by and large, I want to escape these kinds of problems.
My two absolute favourite books to lose myself in for a while when I’m having a really hard day are The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery, and The Seer and the Sword by Victoria Hanley. The Blue Castle is neither a fantasy adventure, nor a sci-fi escapade, but whenever I read it, I just get this warm and comforting feel. It’s homey and you know that it’s going to have a good ending. It wraps you in a blanket of good feelings as Valancy, the main character, strikes out to find her own happiness. Meanwhile, The Seer and the Sword is a fantasy adventure, with all the magic, betrayal, adventure and true love that a good book should end up with. I’ve read both of these books more times than I can count, but I keep coming back to them over and over again, because I know that with these books, I can always lose myself for a while.
Some other books I particularly like losing myself in and have read multiple times are:
Jay Kristoff’s Lifel1k3 series
Shannon Hale’s The Books of Bayern series
A Thousand Perfect Notes by C. G. Drews
And The Percy Jackson books, as well as the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan
All of these books are amazing in their own ways, with something unique that really draws me back, over and over again to a world I know, where I can lose myself in someone else’s adventures and forget about the real world for a while. And in the end, isn’t that the mark of an excellent book? One that draws you into a world so vivid and an adventure so enthralling that nothing else matters while you’re reading it. A book that has me coming back over and over again because I know that as soon as I sit down, I can easily lose myself inside that world, until I’ve lost all sense of time and place. Sometimes, reading really is the thing, more than life is. When life is getting to be too much, sometimes you just need to hit the pause button and go read a good book.
I’d love to hear from you. What was the last book that sucked you in until you forgot all about time while you were reading it? What book do you go back to over and over for your comfort read?
And before I close out, just a quick reminder that my new book Frost Hands releases on September 30th! It’s an awesome YA/Sci-fi adventure involving mutants with awesome powers, a dysfunctional team of teen agents, and a battle that pits mutants against mutants. Preorders are open now. Or add it to your Goodreads list!
