I love reading (duh). It's been one of my favourite hobbies ever since I was a very young child. Stories and characters have shaped who I've become as an adult, instilling empathy in me since I was small.
It was my parents who first read to me. One of the books I consciously remember them reading was The Magic Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton. It was full of magic, mischief, and adventure, and I loved it! This spiralled into reading all sorts of books about fantasy or dystopia, but underneath all of them I always seemed to discover something new about my life, or about life in general.
A lot of the books I read are generally happy, or at least have happy endings, but this isn't true of every single book or life itself. Still, even in the sadder stories, there are moments of peace or happiness. There's (generally) always something positive, the slightest bit of light in a dark corridor.
Characters like Anne Shirley-Cuthbert (Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery) taught me to be more appreciative of the natural world. Edmond Dantès (Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas) emphasises the importance of life's ups and downs. Ellis and Michael (Tin Man, Sarah Winman) express the love and importance of art. Underneath all of these, there's a thread tying them all together: the love of life itself. Yes, there are tragic plot points in each story, but they all manage to finish on a (more or less) positive note.
These story elements create more interesting characters, as well as a really fun treasure hunt. That way, when you start a book, you can begin looking for different aspects in the text that reflect that same love-of-life theme.
Reading is also a fantastic way to explore a life different from your own through the experience of a book. It allows you to understand other perspectives, fitting into the shoes of someone else for a moment in time. You may find that your views overlap, like Anne's love of nature with my own, or that you disagree with Oba's views in No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai.
The experience of growing up with books has truly shifted the way I view most things. I can draw countless comparisons between storylines because I've engaged with so many of them, and I have a wider sense of imagination and creativity because of reading. Above all, I've grown to find positivity in elements of life, whether it's noticing a particularly beautiful tree or simply spending time with loved ones. Literature and art as a whole have changed my view on life.
