Books don't just take you OUT of this world. They can also give you a sensibility towards the world in which you already live.

I remember an aquaintance of mine telling me a few months ago to get out of my books, stop living in books, and go out and live. I think I felt quite defensive at first, but then realized that this person was obviously not an avid reader, or perhaps he hadn't found that book- you know the one- the one that changes your whole idea about reading and books. The one that makes you hunger for another, and another and another. The one that turns you into a life-long reader.

Because I owe much of my curiosity, my excitement and interest in the world, my creativity and love for travel to books. I didn't know how to explain to this individual that books don't take me out of the world, but instead, take me to worlds I didn't know could exist, open my mind and heart to understand and appreciate and be sensitive to all kinds of people and places. And they make me even more excited to be living, to learn and to explore what is out there in our real world and to invent and play with the idea of creating something new.

Books can make you feel, dream and even take action in unexpected but exciting ways.

Anne Lamott describes these sentiments so well in this paragraph in her book Bird by Bird:

"Because for some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die. They are full of all the things that you don't get in real life--- wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. And quality of attention: we may notice amazing details during the course of a day but we rarely let ourselves stop and really pay attention. An author makes you notice, makes you pay attention, and this is a great gift. My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I'm grateful for it the way I'm grateful for the ocean. Aren't you?"

Perhaps somewhere, along the way, that aquaintance I mentione above will be introduced to a book that will make him answer with a yes.

I know that will always be my answer.