Book | Coffee | Repeat

This week I am going to take you guys into the world of a book lover, a book worm!

Setting #1: It is chilly outside you have just picked up another book from your favorite book store and know nothing about it, you are about to dive into a whole new world (not an Aladdin reference, though I do love the song) and you get excited. You make your favorite cup of coffee or tea what ever your heart desires. The smell of a fresh unopened book fills the room and you open the first page...

I know not everyone reading this will have the same love for books as I do but I hope that after this you can appreciate or at least understand why so many of us out there just cannot put our books down.

If there is one thing I love about books is the ability to make you want to flip unto the next page every single time, specially when it is either one of those books you can connect to or just has you hooked with its story.

I like to make the process of buying and reading a book a whole journey. Starting with picking the genre that I feel like reading at the moment. There are so many books out there, honestly since the beginning of time books have been what keeps history alive. We document things, we create stories and it is the way we communicate with the world regardless of culture or language barriers. Starting from the oldest book ever written in history, which interestingly enough is a Buddhist holy book called "Diamond Sutra". It was found in a cave in China with a bunch of other reading printed materials, It is actually printed in Chinese characters in a grey scroll (which to me that is beautiful). From Hieroglyphics to now a days Audible, It is such a big change but essentially they all have the same purpose and through the years have educated people as well as brought different people together.

-Diamond Sutra

I did not always like to read as much as I do now, I remember I would only buy books with pictures when I was younger and when I hit thirteen I rather buy a magazine and read all about the gossip than to sit there and read a book. With years I learned that there were so many different genres of books and it would be so overwhelming because I did not know what I liked or where to start. Very slowly I started reading books like (Twilight and Harry Potter), while friends were reading books like (To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee or Stephen King books). I remember my High School AP Spanish teacher was the first one to introduce me to authors like (Paulo Coehlo, Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez). Authors that represented my culture, my language and my ethnicity. I found myself identifying with their words, ideologies and stories a lot. I started researching about their lives and the struggles they went through, I learned what led them to write amazing novels and become influential people in so many peoples lives. Little by little the world of books opened its doors to me, or maybe it was the other way around and I opened not just my doors but my heart to them. I started to find a lot to talk about with my mom with her being a book lover all of her life and owning endless amounts of books. I started to appreciate the stories she told me more and understand her passion at times with a specific story or character. It is something I will always be grateful for, and can't ever forget (Te Amo Mami!)

"SOME PEOPLE AROUND US WILL NOT UNDERSTAND OUR JOURNEY. THEY DO NOT NEED TO; IT IS NOT FOR THEM." - PAULO COEHLO

Setting #2: You have found a book you really connect with and the author has found a way to put you through and emotional roller coaster throughout the first few chapters. You have reached a point in the book though where nothing is really happening and you are slowly starting to lose interest but you have read way too far a long in order to give up. Trust me you are not a lone...

There have been many times that through the middle of the book it has not reached its climax and I start getting annoyed with the author, it almost feels like they also lost the point of the story or just threw in stuff to try to make the book longer and they are not getting to the point. I am sure I am not the only one who has felt that. Including the book I have recently been reading (Inferno by Dan Brown). If you have ever read any of Dan Browns' books from Angels and Demons, Da Vinci Code or even Inferno then you know how informative and specific Brown was able to get with the story. I felt like for a six-hundred page book, towards the middle I was waiting for something big to happen and having already read about three-hundred pages how could I back down. So I pushed through and even though I still have about two-hundred pages left after pushing through the middle the author was able to give me that climax that I was looking for and the book got interesting again. Now I just cannot wait to see what happens next.

Books and reading have played a big part of my spiritual journey. I go from finding self help books, and books that teach me different ways to go about difficult situations and roadblocks in life. To finding myself enjoying a good fiction book and diving into a fantasy or sci-fi story to remind myself that art and creativity are a big part of me. Through the years I have been yearning to find my identity and what makes me ME, and funny enough characters in books and authors have played a big role in that. From (The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo) who taught me that sometimes we are so quick to give up on our dreams and the universe is just always so ready to help us fulfill them. To a good Harry Potter book that takes me to a fantasy world and gets my imagination going. There is no better feeling than knowing you have created these bonds and memories with a book, it is almost like I can remember where I was sitting and at what point in my life I read every book.

Setting #3: You finished that book and you feel an emptiness. You created images, moments and stories with that book or character. You emotionally invested yourself in their story and as much as you feel so accomplished for finishing the book, you miss it. Congratulations you just entered the book lover club...

I cannot explain how many times I have been emotionally invested in a character while reading a book and as happy as I was with the ending of the book, I felt sad because it was over. It is an interesting feeling. The life of books, the whole process of building a collection as well as a love for your books is something that at least for me has no return. Even though I may go through periods in my life that I read a little bit more than others I feel like I can always pick up a completely new book and continue on the journey. It will always be there just like it has been for thousands and thousands of years, words are powerful and they stay throughout history and I will always know I will have books, and those stories will stay with me...

History, Romance, Mystery, Sci-Fi etc... take your pick and you will see you will never regret it.

Some of my favorite books:

The Alchemist - Paulo Coehlo

And then there were none - Agatha Christie

The Harry Potter series - J.K Rowling

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

Armada - Ernest Cline

and so many more!

"THE STORIES WE LOVE BEST LIVE IN US FOREVER" - J.K ROWLING

Remember to always Stay Positive!

Namaste

(Daisy Gonzalez)