by Cheryl Shimoda

Created on: September 07, 2008

Having a rough day? Read a death-defying, adventure. Can't find time to schedule a trip? Peruse a picture-riddled, travel guide. Feeling the urge to stretch your mental loins? Test your deduction skills with some One-Minute Mysteries. As an avid reader from a young age, infecting my younger siblings with the reading virus, leaving the rest of the world behind for a good read is my ideal vacation. And the best part is: it doesn't cost nearly as much as a plane ticket and almost no planning is involved. Nothing could be better! Except for an all-expense paid, pre-arranged trip anywhere in the world, complete with a handsome sum of money for spending.

Within the confines of home, my family and I (a total of six people living in a three bedroom house) almost have our own bookstore: books on cooking, arts and crafts, children's books, science fiction, fantasy, fiction, non-fiction, young adult, literature, martial arts, biographies, and references. Whenever friends or family paid a visit, I wouldn't doubt one of the first things they'd notice are the number of bookshelves in the living room alone, chock-full of books. Never mind the bookshelves in each bedroom, teeming with books or the hidden stacks in the closets and under our beds.

Growing up in a relatively large family for this day in age, it's because of books I could establish some distance from the rest of THEM. After all, as much as I enjoy being with my family, there were times we all needed a break from one another's personality. Grating on each other's nerves after a trying day or becoming irritable over someone not finishing their chores occurred more often than not. Or, if I wanted a route of retreat from the pressures of being alive. In either situation, books were always my Plan A; I very rarely use Plan B.

Actually, I don't have a Plan B.

Escaping into the dystopia of 1984 or experiencing Elizabeth Bennet's indignation towards Mr. Darcy allowed me to explore the world across different periods of time. In a good book, I could step outside of my daily self and flee from slavery with Jim and Huck Finn or follow a trail of vicious murders with Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs. With a good book to fall back on, reality can be placed on the backburner for a few moments and the imagination can be loosed. A good book will fully absorb and integrate me into its pages without skipping a beat of my pulse. If it wasn't for my zeal for reading, life would've became quite tiresome much earlier. By allowing myself to explore an author's insight through their works, enriches my understanding of the world that I've gained through experiences thus far.

I imagine when I finally move out, one of the bedrooms (if there are more than one) will be dedicated solely to my books. Considering the amount of time I invested into tracking them down for my own entertainment, it's the least I can do. Or, if there is only one bedroom, I suppose it's back to a single bookshelf jam-packed with books and squirrel the rest away from daylight to avoid having the spines fade.

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