Fallen for the Books

I’ve fallen for the books. I was the boy in elementary school who, instead of running around the playground, found space to read a book. I was the boy who skipped lunch during the first week of middle school and went over to the library. I’m the man who was shocked upon discovering that high school libraries were meant for research, and instead of having more books to choose from I had to hunt to find one I could read.

I’m sure that the childhood me would be annoyed that I’m neither reading nor writing. I appreciate my accomplishments and growth from that lonely elementary aged boy, yes, but I had hoped to never walk away from my foray into the literary world. I was realistic, I knew it would take time for me to become a published author, but even an unknown can try to keep up his writing. I just barely manage to maintain an active blog or finish a book every couple of months.

I’m an overachieving perfectionist, I’ve accepted it, and I know that along with my desire to accomplish so much I have to sacrifice some things. Still, I’m a bit disappointed with my self.

Nevertheless, literature is my childhood friend. I’m not reading the next best thing or writing what will become a bestseller, but whenever I come back to read a book or to pen letters I feel the same sense of joy that I had as a child. I remember those dreams I had to become the next best thing and share with people the same joy that I received as child.

I wasn’t able to go to many of the Fall for the Book events. I could have made the time to go had I had a strong yearning to meet one of these authors. I’d like to remedy that by beginning to read more again so that I could at least be aware of the identity of these published writers. I could learn something from these authors. For example, Lisa Tracy’s reading gives us background on the nonfiction approach. Moreover, Tracy took a seemingly mundane part of one’s life and created a tale of those memories she grew up with.

~Nitesh Arora