For the love of books

There is no friend as loyal as a book – Ernest Hemingway

I’ve always been an avid reader. The biggest punishment my parents ever gave to me, was forbidding me to read for 48 hours. I remember reading the ingredient list of the air freshener on the toilet out of pure despair. I love to trade my known world for an imaginary one. I love how whole lives can happen along the lines of a well written novel. I love words and I love everything that has been left to imagination. I love books.

There have been moments in life where I couldn’t seem to get myself to sit down with a book. First time I started blogging (and the second time, and all the times after that), I found it to be so fascinating, so time consuming and I was so easily distracted that it just didn’t cross my mind to pick up a book instead. When I got pregnant and gave birth to my son, reading was something that didn’t fit my agenda anymore either. (Was there anything that did, actually?)

But then, one day, after reading for the seventh time the same chapter of a book I had been trying to read for ages, I decided that this wasn’t working for me. If there was anything I wanted to make time for (besides my family), it would be for the books that had been waiting for me, patiently. I went to the library and bam! Head over heels all over again.

Lately it is Diana Gabaldon who completely blows me away with her Outlander series. I’ve fallen in love with the main characters of her books  – semi-historical fiction (her own description of the genre is worth to check out through the links above). They inspire me. The love and passion that Claire and Jamie feel for each other actually made me cry. The choices they make, the circumstances in which they live make me consider my own life, for the better. I like that. And I know already that the moment I finish the series (still three books to go), those friends will be dearly missed. I’ll be looking for new companions.

So please tell me – which characters do I absolutely have to meet?