The Joy of Reading

              The joys of reading, or la alegría de la lectura in Spanish, might be a very clichéd topic. But whoever could deny that reading does give most of us joy? (Apart, of course, from reading textbooks)
              I personally see reading as one of my favourite hobbies. I can spend hours on end with my nose buried in a book, oblivious to whatever goes on around me, and only emerging from my hypnosis (Yes, books are very hypnotising) when I feel hungry or need to go to the bathroom. Indeed, if you leave me in a good library with a steady supply of food, water and a bathroom nearby, I could literally live my life to the end of my days there.
              Some of you might think I’m crazy. Well, I might be, for all you know. But my obsessive love for reading has given me many benefits – as well as many telling-offs for reading all day and not doing anything else. For one, my literary skills have always been top-notch. I can write, understand and use good English (But not-so-good Bahasa Malaysia), and that does help me a lot.
              For another, as long as I have a book in hand and a good place to read it, you’ll never see me complaining about boredom. As for those times when I have had whined about being bored, well, those were the times when I had had nothing to read. If I was reading this essay out aloud, you would see me giving a sheepish grin right now. Fortunately, I do not have to present this essay, and thus can write freely without worrying about what freakin’ (Excuse the rough language) expression I’d put on while reading any particular sentence.
              Yes, yes, of course we’ve heard it all before. Reading very fun lah, can fill up our time lah, very beneficial lah, read more often lor! And yes, I too am getting bored (Whoops, I said the forbidden word) of writing essays about the goodness of reading or ‘manfaat membaca’. Goodness knows why the teachers love these type of topics so much! Have you considered us poor students, having to write the same topic over and over and over again every year, first in English, then in BM? What next? An essay on os benefícios da leitura? (That’s Portugese, if anyone’s wondering)
         I digress, though, because we’re running away from the topic here.
         Anyway, reading books, especially those form the Fantasy genre, has always entertained me. I love to immerse myself in alternate universes in the form of silverfish populated paperbacks or expensive hard-covers where anything can happen. It is a joy to be able to lose myself and just enjoy the flow of the story. It’s a relief to escape from every day’s mundane schedules and be someone else, somewhere else.
              Writers like Michael Crichton (Who wrote Jurassic Park and Prey), J. R. R. Tolkien (The Lord of The Rings), C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) and (One of my all-time favourites) J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter), who are brilliant at their work, never fail to amuse me every time I pick up one of their masterpieces. As a young child, I had dreamt of one day becoming a famous novelist – just like them. (Now, though, I have other ambitions in mind)
              Reading is one of my most favourite words. Reading is something everyone can connect to. Reading transcends all ages and generations. And yes, I adore reading.