I Feel Better

And I know why. And I am ashamed.

I have also reawakened my voracity for reading. I forgot how much I crave entering that fictional world, forgetting about all my own problems and the time and anyone else in the world. I need no other friends or contact, and I only need to worry about how the protagonist will fare. It's the best because as soon as the book is over and the cover is closed, the problems there are gone and the story is over. You can start a new life right away. With the book it is definite because the characters look how you want them to and you have become good enough friends to guess how their lives will end.

Even in the movies, they don't tell you if the happy couple actually gets married, has kids, grows old, and still has the same spark as at the end credits. They lay out the characters right there for you, giving you no room for personal interpretation. A movie character cannot become your friend. Sure, you can pause a movie like you can dog-ear a page, but I just can't aptly explain the difference of the experience. And with movies, you rarely get to know what's going on in a character's head. You only have facial expressions and reactions to go off of, not the deliberations that lead to those actions. Books are rarely written with third person objective narration, and instead let you in like a most trusted confidante.