Words take you on adventures. They have the ability to sweep you off of your feet while never leaving your chair. You experience the thrills and emotions of the characters in the book as if they were your own. No matter how the storyline goes, whether it's a sappy romance like "Twilight" or action-packed like "The Hunger Games," books can take you anywhere. Reading books is like living a million different lives.

Let me just say that I'm the type of person who cries when someone dies in a book or a movie. I will shed actual tears if my favorite hero dies. I get mocked endlessly for it. Even if I've read the book a million times and watched the show even more, I can and will still cry.

Books do more than provide a pastime. They teach lessons and love to everyone who cracks open their pages.

Today, there are so many ways to read. Some still consider paperback to be the best and love the feel of a handheld book, flipping actual pages. And there are many other mediums of books that lend themselves well to everyone who loves to read. On your iPhone is an entire library of books ready to be bought and downloaded, right at your fingertips. Not to mention Kindles and your Amazon Fire Tablet. There are so many ways to share your love of reading now.

Reading expands not only your vocabulary, but your perspective. It shows you the same thing but from so many different viewpoints. You see why the hero behaves the way they do. You see how the villain was hurt and what drove them to become who they are now.

Books are universal and they teach us all lessons. There is nothing better than drowning in a sea of words and losing track of time. Getting lost in the story so much so that you don't even notice when day turns into night.

Sometimes books can even bring you closer to others when it's a common interest. For proof, all I need to say is Harry Potter. If that doesn't work for you, how about Shakespeare? What about the Bible? Some of the most universal pieces of knowledge that we have were written first in books and passed down and protected through the generations.

So, why should you crack open a good book? You never know what can happen when the words on the page and your imagination meet. Let yourself get swept away sometime soon and live your next adventure.