why reading is dangerous

[skarlettkat]

I have learned this lesson time and time again. Since I first became engrossed in books in third grade I have found on many occasions that immersing myself in any particular book or series is far too easy, and that the books tend to control my emotions. I become to absorbed in the books that characters often seem real to me. I will catch myself dreaming about them or thinking about them, and have to remind myself that they're fake, and that I am not any part of their worlds. But I once again threw caution to the winds last week when I decided to re-read both the fourth and fifth Harry Potter books. Soon, all I did for a few days when I was not at work or asleep was read these books. I would push the limit at night or before work, going to sleep/getting ready at the very latest possible second, just so that I could read as much as possible. My conversations with my family came to revolve entirely around these books, and were comprised of new insights into Ms. Rowlings foreshadowing and plot twists, along with new unanswered questions that had escaped me on my first readings of said material.

So, here I am, about an hour before I have to leave for work today, and I have found myself almost incapable of performing any useful functions. Yes, I am too absorbed in a world that I must remind myself, again and again, to be fake. "But sirius is dead! and it's all my fault!" Moans a voice in my head, only for my saner voice to snap, "that's ridiculous! Sirius does not exist, and you are not Harry Potter, and furthermore, it's not really Harry's fault! Didn't Dumbledore place the blame upon himself at the end of the book?" So I seek out any internet stuff that relates to Potter, in the hopes that it might relieve my pain, and I count down to the release day of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, fully aware that reading that book will simply intensify my symptoms.

*Sigh* 'tis a hard, hard life