More Books Than Clothes

Last year I noticed Rory Gilmore from the TV show Gilmore Girls and I had something in common. We both had fought alongside Napoleon, sailed a raft with Huck and Jim and rode a sad train with Anna Karenina.

By the time I was 14 years old, I had read  The Little Prince, One Hundred Years of Solitude, (which I jokingly called Two Hundred Years of Solitude because I read it twice) and The Hunger Games trilogy. Those are the books I can immediately think of when I talk about my early teenage years. However, school has always kept me from reading more books, and even though reading is my guilty pleasure, it is something I need to put aside so I can keep up with school. In fact, no college student is a stranger to this.

But have you ever heard about someone who owns more books than clothes?

I am that 18-year-old who likes Barnes & Noble so much that even my mother forbids it. In my defense, she is guilty of introducing me to magazines when I was a toddler. Surprisingly, my school in Venezuela did not encourage reading to the extent that it would not allow students into its library. Maybe the fact that it was not forced upon me made it so appealing.

As a book lover, I know reading is not everybody’s favorite— yet there is always something people like to learn about. You will find it once you have picked up, read or left a couple of books unfinished.

Strangely, I found the best books by accident: Maria Antonieta by Francisca Muñoz and a 500 page biography on the life of Marilyn Monroe. I never thought my love for novels would turn into a passion for historical fiction and biographies.

Because I read everything I can get my hands on, I never know where my curiosity will lead me.

From firsthand experience, I can tell you that everything you read can be useful. I never thought that knowing Marilyn Monroe’s second husband would give me an advantage over my classmates for picking a topic to present in my physics class. Also, it has shown me that historical figures and celebrities have dealt with the same insecurities and struggles we face today.

The best part of reading is that you come to know Alexander Hamilton or Katniss Everdeen as you know your friends. Sadly, more often than not, we underestimate how much we can learn from these characters.