My Connection to History

My favorite part of reading is the two way communication between the writer and reader. No one else is privy to our thoughts, there is no filter between us. There is no director or actor giving us their interpretation, there is no lawyer arguing and manipulating the facts. It is a conversation between to old friends, albeit the output is mostly one sided and the input is purely in the readers mind. The result is left to the involved parties to interpret. That is the magic of literacy, it opens the mind to exploration of new worlds and new ideas. Maguel does an incredible job of relating how the history of literacy has not only changed the world but how it his changed his life.

He connects the history of the world to the history of his life. I feel the same. It is as though the history of my life is recorded in the pages of the books I have read. I can go back to any time period and connect it to some novel or writing that had a large impact on my life at that time. When I was a teenager struggling with my own identity, S.E. Hinton spoke to me with, " The Outsiders." As I grew into adulthood and struggled with trying to build a family and career Mario Puzzo guided me with, " The Godfather". As I saw myself change over time and relationships came and went, I clung to Roland Deschain in Stephen King's " The Dark Tower" series.

I also connected with Maguel in this book because of his attachments to the reading. I too refuse to let go of the books I have read. I keep them close like Dahmer kept his victims,they are now apart of me. Reading has indeed changed the word but more importantly it has changed my world. My life is richer and far grander for having seen the world through the lives of some writer I will never meet in some place I will never see.