Books

I was looking at comments made by different ones concerning books.
There was one made by a Paul Sweeney that I instantly related to.  “you know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.”  I know that feeling.  Some books I finish and am sad when I do.  The good thing is I can read the same book again and again.  Books by C.S.Lewis have done that to me plus the Cossacks by Leo Tolstoy.
Another comment I read that I really like was by an Arthur Helps.  “If you would understand your own age, read the works of fiction produced in it.  People in disguise speak freely.”
To me that is true on several levels.  It was only yesterday someone was telling me that whenever they share personal stuff it is in the third person.  That way no link can be made to them, but they can speak their mind.
It’s funny but I look at that comment in relation to movies and tv programs produced today.  To me it is one of those cases of asking which came first the chicken or the egg.  The underlying theme of many shows produced today is one of violence, deception and misery.  To me that describes the age in which we live.  On the one hand is a longing for peace and stability but reality is the exact opposite.  Movies may have a happy ending but getting there so often involves wading through filth.
When it comes to books, I know I am a slow reader but there are few things in my mind as satisfying as a good book well written.   An as yet unthought of thought that can open an unexplored world.  A turn of phrase that softens and inspires.  Although subjective it can make me a better person.
Hazel Rochman said “reading makes immigrants of us all.  It takes us away from home but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.”  Another thing I like, “from your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other.  But when books are opened you discover you have wings.”  That was from a book called “On Reflection.”
I love the pleasant surprise of a good book from an unknown author.  What I love about books is how they can broaden my horizons without me leaving my room. A book can change me.  As Franz Kafka said, “a book should serve as an axe for the frozen sea within us.”