Nostalgia
Every so often there are things that bring up a certain nostalgia for me. Things that tug at my memory and drag my heart back to times that I remember fondly. The books of Brian Jacques are one of those things for me.
When I was in school, mainly Junior High and High School I used reading as an escape from the world. When the world around me became too unbearable, which was every day, I would open a book and escape within its pages. I would wander through the world it held and lose myself. Often when I would surface from the pages I would find myself confused and disoriented because part of me was still there, wandering the paths of that "other" world.
I was in Junior High when "Redwall" came out, it was the first book in the now immense Redwall series. I thought the book looked interesting and so I checked it out from my school library and started to read it. I was drawn in, I was intrigued, and I loved the story. But it wasn't until I picked up the next book that came out "Mossflower" that I really fell in love. "Mossflower" had something to it, something that drew me in and caused me to return again and again. I bought my own copy and I read that copy again and again until I had to tape together the cover because it was falling off the book. It is the only book I have re-read over 12 times, at this point I really don't have an accurate count of how many times I have now read it. At one point I had the first paragraph of the book memorized, and I read the book to my family in the car a few times. This book made me cry, it made me laugh and I was in love with the characters.
Now, there are certain things that cause me to remember. Certain smells around autumn, certain ways that the leaves rustle in the trees, the red shine of berries in the winter, the warm coziness of a happy home, all these things awake in me a hunger to re-read "Mossflower" once more, and to lose myself in its pages again.
When I was in school, mainly Junior High and High School I used reading as an escape from the world. When the world around me became too unbearable, which was every day, I would open a book and escape within its pages. I would wander through the world it held and lose myself. Often when I would surface from the pages I would find myself confused and disoriented because part of me was still there, wandering the paths of that "other" world.
I was in Junior High when "Redwall" came out, it was the first book in the now immense Redwall series. I thought the book looked interesting and so I checked it out from my school library and started to read it. I was drawn in, I was intrigued, and I loved the story. But it wasn't until I picked up the next book that came out "Mossflower" that I really fell in love. "Mossflower" had something to it, something that drew me in and caused me to return again and again. I bought my own copy and I read that copy again and again until I had to tape together the cover because it was falling off the book. It is the only book I have re-read over 12 times, at this point I really don't have an accurate count of how many times I have now read it. At one point I had the first paragraph of the book memorized, and I read the book to my family in the car a few times. This book made me cry, it made me laugh and I was in love with the characters.
Now, there are certain things that cause me to remember. Certain smells around autumn, certain ways that the leaves rustle in the trees, the red shine of berries in the winter, the warm coziness of a happy home, all these things awake in me a hunger to re-read "Mossflower" once more, and to lose myself in its pages again.