The Book That Changed MY LIFE

{Post 29/365: Original Post: Reading, Writing & Rocking MY World}
I have struggled with this topic.

I have wanted to be a writer a long time and it seems the older I get the closer I come to understanding that my best form of writing is poetry. I AM a poet. I have always been.

I have also always been a READER. From this blog and others I write, that will soon become evident as I share as many of the books I have read in my life as I can remember.

But, I'm not sure I have even ONE book that CHANGED my life because I read it never mind a whole list of them. Though I know I have read books that touched me and I have always carried them with me because they opened my eyes to differences and possibilities and a wider understanding of life, of people, of friendship, of loyalty, of love, of spirit, of heart, and of SOUL.

So when I think of books that I have read and which ones HAVE been the ones that changed the flow of my life I can only say the biggest one was the first book I ever read ALL BY MYSELF.  I was about 4 years old and I remember reading it all by myself and that was the beginning of a voracious reading appetite for anything and everything WORDS.

I'm even the girl who will read the dictionary...for fun.

I have been known to enjoy reading encyclopedias...not for research purposes but for my own amusement, education and entertainment. I like to know things.

If I don't know them, then I will go look them up.

I own more than one dictionary, thesaurus, and writing help book. Yes, I do. I own MANY.

I own a beautiful book called a Word Menu and another called a Describer's Dictionary but, I guess since I've always wanted to be a writer these aren't really strange books to own!

My love affair with the written word began all those years ago, the very first time I ever read....Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer!! :) I still remember the book.  I read the very same book to my two older children. It is long gone now but never forgotten because it opened up the whole world to me (and the LOVE of Santa Claus and Rudolph!). Not just ideas and understandings of the REAL world but also of the ENORMOUS and RICH fantasy world that can live inside EACH of us!

It is good to be a dreamer and have an open mind.

So are there other books that changed my life? HELL yes! ALL of them.

Every book has the possibility of opening your eyes to something new and different and EVERY one is therefore a new adventure and a potentially life changing experience.

It doesn't have to be a light bulb moment! It doesn't have to come like fireworks.

It can come in the subtle and soft moments when an author's voice plants the seed of an idea in your mind or touches your heart with a lasting feeling or impression and brings an even tiny and imperceptible change to the flow of your being.

I think we are all touched by what we read and can change and grow as a result of it!

And again I VOW to read more in 2011 because I have been missing a lot of good stories!