After finally finding some much needed downtime the first thing I did was read. Two books in fact. Two books for pleasure. And my God how I had forgotten how much the simple act of reading just because can add to your life. It may be dorky for me to admit this but I enjoy the feel of a solid hardcover book and one with age has such a distinct smell. If history could have a smell that’s what it would be.

I’m laughing at myself right now by how I’m romanticizing a stack of pages bound together, but I figure there are worse things I can be in love with. I’m thankful that my generation was brought up as the age without access to Netflix and tablets because books were the only indoor entertainment I knew. Now I read for pleasure and it seems to satisfy so much.

Turn a few pages and your intelligence can be satisfied. You’re exposed to new words, but you’re also exposed to new lives. Read a book set in the Middle East and you may be surprised to find how much you know about the culture and traditions by the end of the last page. When you read you live so many different lives that you begin to collect little facts or knowledge about things you were never curious about before.

It can satisfy your need for answers. Sometimes we choose a book because it seems interesting enough, but sometimes we choose a book because the characters are facing challenges of their own and you need some answers. With each story read it is shown how people step into hard times and step out of them as well.

Finish a book and it can satisfy your soul. Words can be haunting and so can the characters or plot of a book. You can become so engaged in the development of these words that you don’t realize until you’re crying (or laughing) with the characters that you’ve just added room in your heart to love them too. The words written down for them to speak and the ideas they provoke can cause you to feel just a little more satisfied when it’s over. Here’s the secret though, good books won’t actually have an ending. I’ve finished books and have found myself thinking about it weeks later.

Similar to how text messages have replaced hand written letters, the stories on the television seems to have replaced the stories found in books. Don’t get me wrong; while a heartfelt text is wonderful, doesn’t it always seem a little more special when it’s hand written. The words could all be the same between the text and the letter but the magic is in the details. The message relayed by the detail of the letter brings out the best in the words. The same applies to watching a show or reading a book. The story line of the television show may be just as interesting as the book but with the allotted amount of time for the show the details disappear; the details matter.

If you have a choice between picking up a book or picking up the remote choose, I’m hoping you choose the book. You won’t regret it.