The Muse Writes...

Monday, May 5, 2014

Travel and Books


I have always wanted to travel.

I have been to a few places in the US and stepped outside to Puerto Rico and then in the complete opposite direction to Victoria, Canada and Prince Edward Island. I have a whole list of places and sites that my heart and eyes demand to experience.
Someday I will travel to every dream destination and soak up every moment.

Until then I must content myself with my fond memories of other worlds. These worlds are contained in every book I have ever read. My books have been a means of magical transportation since I was a little girl.

As a child I can remember living with orphaned siblings in a boxcar and solving crime with a girl named Nancy. I was friends with twin sisters in Sweet Valley and helped Miss Rumphuis plant lupines all over the countryside. On Rass Island I cried jealous, angry tears with another twin sister while we struggled over our insecurities of adolescent life. I was guided to a strange world by a tiny private detective named Lewis O. Ladybug and later I greedily ate Turkish Delight with a little boy while we rode with the White Witch.

It was a turning point in my life when I traveled to a small village in England to watch a small boy, by the name of David Copperfield, grow up. From then on the classics took me to Pemberley, Barton Cottage, Uppercross, Hartfield, Thornfield Hall, Limmeridge House, The Shire, and Green Gables. I ran with the likes of Lord Henry Wotton, Lady Chatterley, Dr. Jekyll, Mrs. de Winter, Jo March, Sir Percy and Giovanni and Beatrice. I became obsessed with Poe and his morbid, mysterious world. I let Christie take me by the hand and show me how crime was manipulative and evil, but in the end it didn't matter whether you were a French man or an old woman, crime would be solved.

Once I exhausted myself on traveling in the classics I decided it was time for a more modern era. From this point on I went on adventures where I was an amateur bounty hunter from New Jersey, a British beauty who has a major addiction to shopping, and a ruthless heiress who wanted land more than anything in the world. I witnessed the majesty and tragedy of King Henry VIII's court and gently walked through the life of a Geisha. My letter came from Hogwarts and I spent seven amazing years in a magical community. I found out that I was a demi-god and learned to outwit even the most cunning Gods. And lately I've sat in the great hall of Winterfell, grieved when my Khal died and rejoiced when my dragons helped conquer cities.

I may not have travelled to actual physical places, but through my precious book I have travelled to many places that maps and roads cannot carry you to.

I have never understood how people do not like to read. I love it with a passion. Reading is a magical conduit to great and beautiful experiences. You can join the characters in their adventure or you can become the character for an even more emotional experience. In my humble opinion, if you don't like reading then you are most assuredly doing it wrong.


There are cities both known and unknown and far away worlds waiting for you to explore and all you have to do is "take a look...it's in a book..."


LeVar Burton, host of 'Reading Rainbow'
"But you don't have to take 
     my word for it..."












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