The beauty of reading a book you love
- Isabela Chieffi
- Oct 4
- 3 min read
Recently I read a book that I loathed. I really couldn't get into this book at all. The worst part... it was required summer reading and was 545 pages. My dislike was so strong I even made an entire plan on how I would read it.
I ended up finishing that book in exactly 2 months and I was not expecting it to take that long. Because I had to read two summer reading books, my plan was to read my first book in a month and a half, and the remaining time would be spent on my second book. But I had to adapt and I had to finish my second book in 2 weeks. I was a little scared about this because if it took me 8 weeks to finish one of the books, how would I be able to read the other one in just two weeks?
This ended up not being a problem at all. My second assignment was to read The Picture of Dorian Gray and it is now one of my favorite books. At the time of writing, I have not yet finished it. But I truly do love this book and am bingeing it, which is shocking to me because it is a classic. However, it's so easy to read and fun, you forget it's a classic.
But enough about the book itself.
Want more about The Picture of Dorian Gray? Check out my review!
The feeling of loving a book
When I start a new book, I hope it is an enjoyable read. I know that not every book I will read will be a 5 star read. So it came as a surprise to me that my new read, a classic, would bring me so much joy. It reminded me of when I read Call Me By Your Name, my favorite book of all time. Reading this book brought me so many emotions. Shock, grief, excitement, anger, sadness, and many more. But it's not necessarily the emotions that made me know that I was in love. It was the fact that I cared so deeply about the story.
Usually when I read, I like the plot and characters, but I don't really care. I don't think about them when I close the book. There are two separate worlds: the world that I'm reading and the real world. But always with the books I love, the story and the real world come together. Art reflects life, and life reflects art. I see the themes of the book in everyday life. And I see my daily life in these stories.
When I'm in love with a book, I don't just think about it when I'm reading it, but also when I'm brushing my teeth, working out, or in a conversation. When you truly care about something, you think about it all the time.
You have all these positive, warm, and fuzzy feelings connected to the book. But then as you think about it more, you see a looming gray cloud in the distance
The downside of reading a book you love
That looming gray cloud is the fact that you will finish the book. There will come a time when you are in the last 100 pages, the last chapter, the last page, the last paragraph. And then you're done. A book you cared about so much... is gone. Never again will you be able to read that book with the excitement and joy and mystery you did the first time. And as you go and pick up your next read, you know it will never be as good as the book you read. No other book can match it.
But the more time that goes on, you begin to forget all the anticipation you had when reading that book. No longer will you heavily compare other books to your new favorite book. You begin to go back into your old rhythm. You just hope you pick a book you will end up having more goods than bads. A book that is good enough.
And one day, you pick up another book, one that gets you intrigued. And it starts all over again.
But it all starts with reading another book. So keep reading. Just because you just read a 5-star book doesn't mean there aren't other 5-star books out there. You have to keep searching and exploring. And eventually you will stumble upon another gem.
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