B-O-O-K

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The stories on each page have always transported me from the world I am in to the world within the pages of each book. I have always had an emotional response to all the books I have read so far. Each page has made me lose awareness of my existing surroundings, drowning me more and more into it, till I realize that it is a bleak morning and the pale yellow sun is melting into a silver sky slowly.


Mary Balogh describes it perfectly: “Have you ever wanted to travel back in time? I know I have. And I think that’s why historical romance is so appealing. That experience of being so immersed in the story that it feels like you’re there: strolling along in a moonlit rose garden with a duke, or taking tea in a lady’s finely appointed drawing-room. And if you’re the adventurous type, perhaps you find yourself riding on a cable car in San Francisco, or exploring the canals of Venice in a gondola. Whatever the tale, these new experiences are just waiting to be discovered; beckoning you, enticing you, entreating you to pause, to sit down, and to spend time between the pages of a good book.”


My experience of being whisked away to another world by a book was during my summer holidays when I and my brother spent time together with our grandmother, who would narrate stories. We used to eagerly wait to hear her narration, which would include detectives, evil aunties, warriors, girls on the paddy fields lost in her dreams, poems, and much more. We’d lie in our beds and imagine the lives of these characters until the words trailed off one day.


With age, the fondness for listening and reading has increased. Stories that sometimes charm me, transform me; some books open a secret door to another world where each story smiles brightly and screams secretly, where each page has a magical potion that makes me joyous or sad, makes me fall in love or in disgust. Sometimes I wear a cloak, and sometimes I fight with a dragon and then dine with a mighty king with a measured smile and dive into a bottomless ocean.

With tears and laughter, books take me to the happily ever after…

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