Pleasure reading is my number one favorite hobby, hands down. Ever since I could comprehend basic stories I've been enthralled with the wide, unlimited worlds of books. I've always had a talent for literally falling into a book - living, breathing, seeing, and feeling everything the protagonist or main characters do. When I'm lost in a good book I won't eat, sleep, or interact, so it's both a blessing and a curse. I get to experience so much diversity, adventure, and emotion, but at the cost of sometimes neglecting my own. Still, I would never trade this talent of mine because I've experienced and learned so much more than if I was only immersed in my own world.

Another wonderful benefit of reading is a wide vocabulary along with a wide repertoire of experience. I love learning new words; often when reading a difficult text I'll keep a dictionary beside me to both understand it better and increase my vocabulary. Reading is the key to writing. I hope someday to have my own work read by others as passionately as I have read throughout my life. One of my fondest dreams is that I will contribute something beautiful, and of value to the library of literacy.

The ability to read and my cultivation of it has been my single most important skill throughout life. I've identified with spunky Anne of Green Gables, had my mind racing with Nancy Drew, sighed with any number of romantic heroines, flown on two types of dragons in Eragon and Anne McCaffrey's series, explored different dimensions, etc... There are no limits when it comes to the written word. Reality often seems dull in comparison; my friends are accustomed to me living "in my own world" half the time because imagination is much more satisfying. And yet books have not only fostered my imagination, but taught me more about real life than I could ever learn through personal experience.