Journalling:
There is so much to amazed by in books. The wonder of it all is that at least in English all the books are made up of 26 little letters , seemingly evolving into endless stories. It is possible to soar to the heights of delight or plumb the depths of despair. To imagine, to understand many other ways of life. I can go from sadness and tears to joy and laughter in the space of a sentence. There are certainly authors that can cast a spell that can make time go by in what seems the blink of an eye . All this without leaving my chair.
It is possible to leave a story and come back and find the beloved characters still capable of tears and laughter with time standing still while I am away.
Or I can come back years later and rediscover them and perhaps seeing nuances not seen before. Books change us with each reading. We discover things about ourselves and about others by seeing through other eyes, whether fictional or factual. Often there are more truths in fiction than can be explained by the mere facts.
Historic events remain constant but our interpretation of them over time can change radically.
So I say a great thank you to the invention of moveable type and the ready availability of books of all kinds.