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I am many things. I am a christian, an engineer, a geek, all by choice or belief. Those and many more. But I think that, first and foremost, I am a reader. Have been almost since I can remember, and I don't know what I'd be without it.
I read books, novels, novellas, novelettes, comics, short stories, comic strips, the labels on shampoo bottles. I do have a preference for fantasy and science fiction, but you name it. That's why when I hear someone proudly declaring "I do not like reading" I feel a pang in my chest, like something breaking.
This comes not from hate or a sense of superiority. Not with a sense of pride or wisdom. It's commiseration because, like The Doctor, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you still haven't found it. I'm sorry you have yet to find that book that makes it all fly away.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
I'm sorry you haven't read about Vania Strongman, who got strong in seven years with seven sacks of sunflower seeds, and faced trials until he became tzar.
Las Aventuras de Vania el Forzudo
I'm sorry you haven't read those wonderful first words, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.". That you haven't seen the splendor of Erebor and held the Arkenstone. That you haven't cried when the Trees were lost to the Darkness and the Night, even if the Silmarils kept the last of their light. That you haven't seen Númenor fall to its own corruption and lived to step into the Fourth Age.
The Silmarillion The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien.
I'm sorry R. Daneel hasn't called you "partner" and saved the whole of the human race out of respect for your memory. That you couldn't learn Psychohistory from Hari Seldon, face the Mule in all of his power or find where the Second Foundation is. That Golan Trevize didn't take you along to find Earth again. That you haven't seen the Last Question answered.
Foundation Trilogy, The Robots Trilogy. Isaac Asimov.
Siento que no hayas estado en los mentideros de Madrid de la mano de Iñigo de Balboa, persiguiendo aventuras en Flandes, Italia y todo el inmenso imperio que llamaban España. El viejo León, cansado y muriéndose bajo su propio peso, pero aún el rey del mundo.
Las Aventuras del Capitán Alatriste. Arturo Perez Reverte.
I'm sorry you wheren't there when Andrew...sorry, Ender Wiggin fought the buggers tooth and nail and made a choice he regretted for the rest of his life. That you didn't outwit the Giant. That Jane didn't whisper in your ear for a lifetime. That you didn't learn in time that the enemy's gate is down.
The game of Ender, Orson Scott Card
I'm sorry you can't believe as many as six imposibble things before breakfast,but be assured: you can slay the Jabberwocky.
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Lewis Carroll
I'm sorry you didn't learn Allomancy from Kelsier, the survivor of Hathsin. That you didn't find out that there are plots behind plots, plans behind plans. That there is always another secret. And that he was the one thing the Lord Ruler, the Sliver of infinity, couldn't kill. Hope. That you didn't get to see the Kandra go through with the Resolution, because they where of Preservation all along. That you didn't see Ruin fail and be outgambited by Preservation and the drive of a single human girl.
The Mistborn Trilogy. Brandon Sanderson.
I'm sorry you haven't ever heard Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden shout "Fuego!" to some two bit villain who thought it could go bump in the night of Chicago. That the Gatekeeper hasn't shown you the Outer Gates and what Mab, with Winter under her command, keeps there at bay. That you didn't get to see Lash, the Fallen, cry for you and that she couldn't leave you her music, to the words of "Everything I can, dear host.". That you didn't get to blast He Who Walks Behind when you were sixteen, and He Who Walks Before in your forties. That you couldn't meet the Knights of the Cross, wielding the swords of Love, Faith and Hope. Michael, the kindest man, except when his family is concerned. Shiro, old, frail, and a Christian by accident, but who saw what others can't. Sanya, the agnostic, russian, black, socialist Fist of God...with an AK-47.
The Dresden Files. Jim Butcher.
I'm sorry you couldn't see Aldrick ex Gladius duel Araris Valerian in the streets of Alera Imperia. That you didn't get to watch Gaius Tavarus Magnus tear down the gates of Riva. That you didn't learn what very few people understand: that swords aren’t dangerous, nor hands nor arms, nor furies. Minds are dangerous. Wills are dangerous. That you are heavily armed with both. I'm sorry you couldn't be gadara to Varg, a friend to the Canim. I'm sorry you didn't see the Legions, the bastion of our strength, blacken the Vord's sky with crows. That you didn't see Gaius Isana, a simple steadholder, challenge Antillus Raucus, the Snowcrow, a High Lord of Alera, to the juris macto, so that the crows may feast on the unjust.
Codex Alera. Jim Butcher.
I'm sorry you couldn't learn the Speech, and that you have never greeted the Lone Power with the the only formula it deserves: "Fairiest and Fallen, greetings and defiance!".
Young Wizards. Diane Duane.
I'm sorry you haven't seen what the First and Only of Tanith are made of. What Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt made of them. Why they call them his Ghosts. Why Saint Sabbat chose them. That you couldn't shout, one with your brothers, "Straight silver!" before crossing the trenches to fight the Pact, for the glory of the Emperor.
Gaunt's Ghosts. Dan Abnett.
I'm sorry that you haven't had many names. That you couldn't study at the University. That you didn't grow up with the Edema Ruh, music in your veins and notes in your soul. That you couldn't be a beggar, and a thief, in Tarbean. That you couldn't find Auri atop the buildings, in the moonlight. That Elodin didn't offer to teach you magic wonders beyond comprehension. That you didn't lay with Felurian or play corners with Will and Sim. That you couldn't save Fela in the Fishery. That you couldn't banter with Devi to your heart's content. That the Maer didn't employ your services and the Adem didn't teach you of the Lethani. That you didn't speak with the Cthaeh, dangerous as it may be. That you coulnd't make Ambrose Jakis look like a jackass. That you didn't find the name of the wind.
The Kingkiller Chronicle. Patrick Rothfuss
(END OF SPOILERS)
I'm sorry because I know that, for all the time I've spent in this worlds, I haven't lost a single second, and I am a better, richer man than I would otherwise be because of them. If you truly want to learn, read. If you truly want to dream, read. If you truly want to understand your fellow man, read.
(There are more books, of course, so many it's seems impossible someone doesn't have the proper one waiting for them)
