Magical reading

I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling speaking about the magic of reading seems apt. Her Harry Potter novels are about magic. Her series of books magically turned a generation of youngsters into committed readers, each of them eager for the next one in the series. Her stories magically carried these readers into another world. But how do her words apply to other other books by other writers?

Rene Descartes told us one way: "The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of the past." A reader can magically converse with Emily Dickinson, Thomas Hardy, Victor Hugo, Thomas Paine, Jane Austen or even Rene Descartes himself. It is not even a one-way conversation, for readers contribute their own ideas.

Jhumpa Lahiri told us another way: "That's the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet." My own recent reading has taken me to Spain in the 1950s (April in Spain), to Paris with the great detective Maigret (Maigret and the Nahour Case), to an elite fishing lodge in the Rockies (The Guide), to mid-19th century London (Bleak House), to the American South during the Depression (The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter) and to a distant planet in the distant future (All Systems Red). All this while barely leaving my condo. That's magic.

Malcolm X told us another: "People don't realize how a man's whole life can be changed by one book." Yes, books do change lives. Not all of them, of course. Not even most of them. Yet certain books can change lives, especially if we read them in our youth. Even when they don't change lives, they can change minds and attitudes. And that too can be magic.