Finding Happiness In Books. There. I Said It.

Bio: An ocean dreamer at heart and in real life, Sierra Greenman thrives on visiting and living near the beach and could never imagine herself anywhere else. She recently ventured out into the freelance world and now is a Freelance Writer and Social Media Specialist and absolutely loves it. Writing about fashion and style are on of her many passions. You can also find Sierra at her blog Ocean Dreams and follow her on Twitter @oceandreams4u. She also is a featured fashion blogger for JoeShopping.com  and her e-mail is oceandreams4sierra@gmail.com if you want to say hello!

Books make me extremely happy. There. I said it. The smell of the pages, obsessing over the cover, reading about the author, and completely throwing myself into the story makes me happy. Reading is like finding a new friend. Your friends are within the covers, and once you discover their personalities, their interests, and their story, you are touched and you take away something new about yourself. 

I have a small obsession with keeping books, and I mean lots of books. There. I’ve said it. They sit on my book shelf, many read and many, I confess, not read yet. I can’t seem to get rid of my favorite reads. I love sifting through the pages, reminiscing on the plot. You see, they bring back memories of what age I was when I read the novel. Suddenly, like a rush, I am outside sitting on the grass, near my house, with my book. I’m sitting by the pool or I’m chasing after my first pet bunny Patchy while trying to remember what page I was on.

I wish I could transfer myself into the pages and live in the story of the book sometimes. There. I said it. Why not? I would love to exist in a futuristic world, a mermaid’s den, a grassy hill, live in Ireland for the summer, or even live happily ever after. The good news is that when I am reading my enticing read, I can temporarily live in my dream land. I choose what each character looks like, wears, and I can choose to ignore the author’s descriptions of their physical attributes. It’s all in my imagination and I can live in my fairy tale land…

After reading The Hunger Games trilogy I felt a void. That’s how you know whether something truly touched you and whether you connected with the characters or not. Unlike Twilight, in my opinion, I feel that this character in The Hunger Games is a strong leader and a good book role model for our youth. She doesn’t become obsessed with a vampire while losing her identity, but instead she finds her own identity while striving to make a difference in her world and change it for the better. Now I’ve found a new book to temporarily feed my void: the book Matched by Ally Condle. Similar to The Hunger Games, this book takes you to the future and begs the question what would we do without free will and choices? 

I wish I could be reading right now. Every day. All day. There. I said it. Reading makes me extremely happy. I hope it makes you happy too. If it doesn’t – go and find a book that will take you to another world and back!