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The topic of the essay that I chose to write on was the enjoyment of reading. The reason why I chose this particular essay was because the author establishes that “reading lends the soul and mind a place to escape,” which is a quote that resonates with me. There have been countless times when I have been laying in bed sick, feeling down, or stressed out and all I did was pick up a book to make me feel a lot better. I agree when the author says that it’s a place for the mind and soul to escape because I have experienced it to go to another reality to escape my own reality. Another reason this essay interests me is because it suggests how “reading teaches us…giving you new words and expands vocabulary.” I also agree with this quote because everyday after kindergarten I would sit on my mom’s bed and read with her. Since then I have been a book junkie and I believe if I wasn’t, my vocabulary or even my writing skills wouldn’t be where they are today.

What I liked about the author’s style of writing is that is was persuasive without being too “in your face.” I didn’t feel as if I was being persuaded by the author that to like books is better, I just felt like I was reading someone’s great experience with reading. But in the end, I realized that it’s somewhat persuasive because it made me want to read a book. When she says she has had the benefit of “being a Bollywood sensation, a teenage spiritual medium,… a sexy southern waitress,…a witch with a price on her life,…and many more things,” it made me want to be all those things; to experience their emotions and live their lives, even if it is for a temporary amount of time.

The connection I made with the article I read was with the television show Gilmore Girls. The reason for this was because the daughter in the show, Rory, is a huge bookworm to a point where she has drawers upon drawers filled with book that she has read and has many more that she still has to read. There’s a particular quote in the series where she says that she “lives in two worlds; one is a world of books,” which, again, resonates with me along with relating to the article. The thing I noticed about the series, though, is that she tends to be the only one that likes to read. This also shows in her knowledge because out of everyone, she was definitely the smartest. But everyone around her seemed to be a few steps behind because reading isn’t big anymore. A reason people chose not to read, especially this generations group of teenagers, is because it comes off as lame. I don’t see how it could be, but it’s somewhat concerning. As I mentioned, I see reading as a chance to gain knowledge and seeing people read less and less is unsettling to think about let alone what’s going to happen in the future if we all just stopped reading . It keeps the mind active and without it, can have serious affects on our brains. Carl Sagan said, “One of the greatest gifts adults can give- to their offspring and to their society- is to read to children.” This proves that everyone reading can lead to a more knowledgeable society.