Why I Read ?

Such a simple question, but sometimes people don't know the answer to it. I didn't know the answer to it until a few days ago, before I actually thought about it and wrote the reasons down on a piece of paper. The idea for this post came from a video on youtube that the title was the same as the title of this post. The video just made me think a lot about the subject and reflect about my motives and reasons that I, myself, read. 

Well, it might be a foolish thing to think about, and probably write about. There are so many things to think about and I am specifically thinking about why I read. Is something unusual to ponder on about, because is reading, everyone does it and anyone can do it. You don't need a reason.

I never thought I had a reason. I just read because I just like doing so. You might say " But Ana, that reason is very common, everybody reads for that reason, and it is not a very interesting blog post topic". Well, it isn't that interesting of a topic to read about, but I just feel writing what is in my mind, and well, this is. 

I read because I love the way it makes me feel. Cliché, I know. But it is true. I love the feeling of belonging that it gives, like I am a part of something bigger, another place, another world. Is like an escape, actually it IS an escape. You can go wherever you want, wherever you feel like to. And be whoever you want in this new place. You just have to pick a book from yourshelf and dive in to this new and fantastic world. 

Sometimes when I feel stressed out, I like to read a very high fantasy book, filled with magic and magical creatures, just so that I can escape far far away from this reality and world for a little bit.

I read because I like the way books feel. Having a book in your hands is just incredible.When I hold a book and open the pages is like I'm opening my on Narnia wardrobe and preparing myself to a new adventure a new identity. When you flip the page there is always that thing that happends in your stomach when you are enthusiatic, anxiety when in flipping the page and knowing what is going to happend.

I'm not going to lie, books make be feel intelligent and clever. I might sound arrogant, but I will promise I'm not. It is a good feeling, makes me feel more confident about myself, like I can make my dreams come true, like I can conquer what I want in life.

Books become your best friend. That's another reason I read. I have friends in real life of course, but in a book you can find a place and people who you can talk to without being judge and always being able to go back to it's company. It might seem crazy to people that don't feel this connection with a book to consider it your friend. Well, it might seem crazy, actually it is a little, but someone who reads knows what it feels.

I read because I like to disapper once in a while. You know that feeling that you have when you forget that you are reading a book and that it seems that you are in the story. You lose track of time and become engaged to the story, is like you forget that it is not real, that it is just a book. I love that feeling.

I read because I like to learn. I think that there is no better way of learning about something if not reading a book. I've learn so much throughout the years that I read that I think I could not even measure it. In a world that technology has overshadow the books, is hard to find someone who picks a book up to learn about a certain topic. Even I don't do that sometimes. 

I read because I like to understand people. I noticed that I became, after starting reading, a listener. I can understand people very easily without judging them. And I have to thank my books for that. I think when you read, specially when reading in the first person perspective, you learn alot about listening. You understand the characters, because is like you are in their heads, you know what they are thinking and what they are feeling. And in my experience with that in books, transpired in my personality and in real life.

 There is probably a lot other reasons that I read and why I love to do it. But that's all I could think of and write down. Feel free to share the reasons you read and why do you like it so much, down bellow, on the comment section. I hope you didn't think I was insane because of this post.

So have a great weekend,

Ana

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas | Book Review

I finished the book two days ago. I meant to write a review right away but I was busy this past weekend, so I just decided to wait a little. I borrowed this book from one of my friends who insisted to read it. She told me it would become one of my favorites and that it is different from everything I have read before. So I read it and I have to agree with her, it is such a good book and very unique indeed.

First of all if you haven't read the book yet, I have to warn you that this might have spoilers. If you are interested on reading this book you can click on the link of the the Summary of the book, so that you can know what it is about and continue on reading my review.

Now that that is all clear, let's start...

The first positive aspect for me was that there wasn't a love triangle, well, not in the first book actually. You can predict that it wil have a love triangle in the next book maybe, but it won't be the main focus of the whole series. That's an other thing that made me like this book, the "romance" didn't overshadow the action, main story and mystery of the book. It just made the book more addictive and pleasant to read.

Talking about reading, the way this book was written made it very smooth to read (I read it in portuguese). The dialogues were very hooking, I just didn't want to stop reading their interactions. And the way the details were described enriched the book, like for an example the fight scenes, they were described with such precision that I thought I was in the middle of that fight and that I was part of the story. It may not be that pleasant actually, if you think about it, but I love feeling like I'm a part of the book.

Still talking about the writing, the book was written in different perspectives. But the different thing was that each character did not have it's own chapter. It was kind of confusing at first because continuing to the next paragraph you realize that it is another character talking, but later I noticed that that made the book a lot more interesting. Because it narrated the characters point of view like if they were all in the same place. Let me see if I can explain better for you...It is like if there were like two characters at the same place and the book narrates one characters perspective first than it narrates the other. Or, another example, is when two characters are in different places but the author narrates them as they were in the same time.

I hope you understood my explanation...

Now let's talk about the characters. Celaena was just the most awesome main character ever. She is feisty, spirited, sarcastic, smart and very bad ass. I loved reading her dialogues with the other characters, her presence made everything more lively. Second character  is Prince Dorian, he was just so charming and very prince like of course. He made the dialogues with Celaena even more awesome. And I really liked his personality, he wasn't like a snobby typical prince, he was courageous and cared for others.

Third Character and the last one I'm going to review is Chaol. He was a guard and best friend of Dorian. Although he was very unkind in the begining, he showed that he was very warmhearted and caring, specially when it came to his friends Cealena and Dorian.

I'm not going to talk about the other characters, just to not give the story away. Every character has an important role in the book, so it might give a little of the story.

Now a little about the mystery. You might think that the main focus of the book is finding the killer of the competitors and that is the mystery. But I noticed, you might have noticed too, that the ''mystery" of the killer leads to a much bigger picture. To Magic. And that is the mystery that will probably be solved is the other books.

To wrap up I'll say that I loved the book and that I'm planning to continue the series. And of course reviewing the series here on my blog. So I hope you all liked this review,

Have a great day and week,

Ana

The Reading Habits Tag

CC Picture Link

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great Friday and that you are as happy for the weekend such as myself. This week was so stressful, I don't even have enough strenght to tell everything about it for you guys, because of my lack of energy. But of course, even tired, I wanted to write a little post for you all, just to show that I am alive and that I am ready for my two-week break, so be ready for more than one post a week on this blog.

Yes, you guessed it... another tag post. Well, for my defense I love answering tags and questions, specially when about books. And with all the tests I had these past three weeks, I kind of have been in a horrible place for creativity and time. But is finally over! 

Ok, I am just going to stop talking now about tests and school, and just think about good things, like books! 

Today I am going to answer the Reading Habits Tag. I found this tag on youtube, but I didn't find the person that created it, so I don't have links to put on this post. It is an awesome tag and very interesting questions, because we all have our little and unique habits while reading...so let's start.

Questions

1. Do you have a certain place at home to read?

2. Bookmark or Random piece of paper?

3. Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter or # pages?

4. Do you eat or drink while you reading?

5. Do you watch tv or listen to music while reading?

6. One BOOK at a time or several at once?

7. Reading at home or everywhere?

8. Reading out loud or silently in your head?

9. Do you ever read ahead or skip pages?

10. Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?

11. Do you write in your books?

Answers

1. I kind of read everywhere and anywhere, but there is one place that I love reading, specially when no one is home. That would be the balcony. I love reading there in the mornings while the sun is coming out, it is a very peaceful place.

2. Bookmark. I love boomarks, I enjoy having those random ones that you get when you buy a book or that you get when people are promoting their books. I used to not care much about what I was marking my books with, but once I got my first bookmark everything changed.

3. I am  the type of person that has to finish the chapter or else I will be pretty annoyed about it. There is something really satisfying about finishing the chapter before closing the book, I have the feeling that the job was done.

4. Sometimes. I usually just eat an apple, but I really just prefer to eat after reading ot before it. Because then I don't get distracted as much.

5. I can do it, but I prefer not to. If I listen to music is usualy just classical.

6. If you had asked me this question a few years ago I would had answer "several books at once", but now I enjoy reading books very calmly and paying attention on the details. So reading one book at a time became my thing now, it really allows me to get fully into the story and get attached to the characters, things that I couldn't do before when reading more than one book at a time.

7. Everywhere!

8. I have read out loud before, I don't feel as comfortable as reading in my head. So silently is my choice. 

p.s when I read out loud I go from an american accent to british accent...I know is very weird.

9.No, I feel too guilty.

10.I don't mind breaking the spine actually. I love when my book are kind of ruined, that shows that they were well loved.

11. Yes. I love doing that. It is like my way to talk to the characters.

So I hope you liked this little post, and if you did feel free to answers the questions as well. Have a good weekend and an awesome 4th of July,

Ana