The first time I read was a magical moment that changed my life forever. I was preparing for my commute to Toronto (from Manchester) and I decided that after years of being told I should read I should bite the bullet.
But as someone at the age of 21 who has never read, what do I choose?
I got myself on Amazon and did a bit of a search; for books that were less than 200 pages and had a 5-star rating. This was my way of justifying buying a book and finding the time to read it during the 7-hour flight.
Up to this point in my life, I was always under the notion that if a book is any good they would soon make it into a film, a notion reinforced by the fact ‘Life of Pi’ was the on-flight entertainment.
I settled on George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’. Little did I know the wonders that were to unfold…
I nestled down into my seat, took a deep breath and opened my brand new, hardback book. In hindsight a little excessive for a book so short but I was keen if nothing else. It’s from this point that I’ve never looked back. It’s from here that I learnt why those of us who read are so adamant about it, and why we as readers become infuriated when people, such as the me of old, say ‘Why don’t you watch it?’
Books are by far the best narrative of a story, of an adventure but most of all… of an escape.
To all those great authors that I’ve since read, to those that I will read, and to those that I never will, thank you!