Why books trump life....

As a young girl, my heart raced every time I walked into the school library... What every pre-teen and teen were feeling for boys and girls, I was feeling for books. Yes, admittedly, I was and have always been an escapist, a runner. I hated reality then, I still hate reality now. However, that doesn't mean that I am completely delusional, I do realise that life is seldom fair or satisfying like the stories that I love reading. But what is really wrong with loving the new world opened up as one opens the pages of a book?


Some might say that being an escapist is not really the way to live, but I disagree. Characters from books do not laugh at your eccentricities, they laugh with you, they don't poke fun of talkativeness born out of loneliness, they sympathise,  books are seldom cruel, they are not rude or hurtful, some even understand grief and loss, love is always reciprocated if not appreciated. Books, in my opinion are are much better companions than people.

Books open up a world full of possibilities, one is not 'jobless' in a book, rather, the character is on a break, trying to find himself and/or the true meaning of life. Life's cruelties are always defeated and there is always a way to resolve issues and closure at the end. In my opinion books are the fulfillment of all our wishes. An example of this is the fact that the reader has all the power to choose, one can pick and choose whichever story strikes one's fancy from a plethora of choices.

Life is not the same, there are cruelties, disappointments, grief, loss, unemployment, unrequited love, journeys with unimpressive destinations and struggles ending with abject failures. Yes, I'd pick a book over real life any day.