Get Lost

So let’s go back to my last blog... What books get you so wrapped up that you get lost in them; they can transport you to another place/time? Or that you just don’t want to put down because you enjoy them so much? For me, these are probably often the same book, but not always. For instance, sometimes I read Stephen King books even though I don’t altogether like Stephen King (except for a few oldies). Usually I will read his books when I want something that will take me away from reality and either just help me pass the time cuz I’m bored or just take my mind off of ‘real life’ for a bit. However, I don’t feel that I ‘just don’t want to put down’ his books. Oftentimes I actually feel quite annoyed with his similar plotlines and character profiles. Still, I tend to read such stuff cuz it does allow me to escape reality for a bit and cuz his books are so easy to read. 

Then there are books that I just don’t want to put down because they are incredibly good and I don’t want them to end even. You get caught up in the characters’ lives and their ordeals and stuff. These books are on my favourite books list, which I will have to write a separate blog about. But there are three of them: A Confederacy of Dunces, A Clockwork Orange, and Candide. These books are just incredible and they are all so entertaining in their own unique way, and there is nothing else like them. (And they all start with the letter C!)

Finally, there are some books that can completely transport me to the place/time the book takes place. One example I can remember doing this for me vividly is Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. While I was reading these books, I was living (momentarily, during a time I’d rather forget) in Lake George. Driving around at night with the lights showing on the ski mountain and all the snow around ‘reminded me’ of the Svalbard parts of the books. I think that being in an environment that brought to mind what was happening in the books – here a cold and snowy environment – really helped me to get lost in the book. I wonder if I would have the same experience if I had read these while in a hot, desert-y environment... Actually, I think I should read this series again, as well as his newer book The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. Apparently it’s meant to be quite good and we’ll see if it can take me away from reality too...