A true reader has no boundaries.
Whatever its on the page comes straight into her heart, when there’s an injury or a loss, you will see her weep.
A true reader laughs aloud—not alone, the joker is grinning right back at her from the confines of the book in her mind.
A true reader is a chameleon, thinking like a detective, a murderer, a mother, a scared child, a brave young girl determined to make her own path, or a heartbroken man who cannot see a future without the one who makes his life worth living.
A true reader is immune to the distance placed by page or screen, the story is a wave that envelops him fully and can drown him till he gasps, as much begging for mercy as his lungs can manage in the agony of loss.
Reading like this is no mechanical putting together of sounds and sentences and in its power there is danger… But which true reader would ever give up the joy of it for any price?
And yet, my dear reader, remember that window in yourself you open to the happenings in the pages must be then closed for the happenings outside it.
Put your heart back in your own chest, redraw the boundaries of your body and become once again geekiness incarnate. Smile at yourself in the mirror, a secret knowing no one can guess from the sparkle in your eyes. Your sword and your crown and your magic wand all invisible but always there, armour against a world that not always cares.
And then and only then, go out into the world and fall in love with everything and everyone—for a story already showed you the path.
What story has taught you a really valuable lesson for your own life?