How reading enriches life in anticlimatic

The best part about reading for me is an effect that radiates briefly after the act of reading itself, and doesn’t linger. Routine reading is necessary to perpetuate it, and the author matters greatly. Sure there’s the story, the characters, the new experiences- albeit imagined- the vocabulary enhancement, the fun game of guessing at new words by piecing together context and bits of their (typically Latin) roots.

What does it for me, however, is the perspective and the inner narration- custom to the author- that ends up isomorphically applied to everything I do and take in. It manipulates my physical tactics, sharpens them, and elevates my general level of awareness of the world around me. Programming yourself to view things the way someone else does, by reading that person for hours upon hours, carries a spectacular after-image of form that can be powerful enough to balance our own perspective. Violla- enrichment.

Last updated July 12, 2021