As a child and well into my adult years, I would become so immersed in my reading that I would not hear things in the outside world, such as someone calling my name. Books were everything to me as a child — the written word was my way out of my own troubled world and into many amazing, stunning, outrageous and shocking worlds. These worlds called to me so strongly that I was able to literally shut out the outside world. I vividly recall when I first stayed up through the night to read a book. I was 13, it was summer, and the book was Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I started it one evening and did not put it down until the early morning hours. Although I was always a devouring type of reader, and a very fast reader, I think it was at this moment that I realized just how transforming a good novel could be.
This tendency to shut out the world was disconcerting to my new husband when he found this out within months of living with me! I simply would not respond easily when I was reading a good book. He would need to call and call me to shake me out of my book world and respond. But as the years went by, he understood the power that books have for me. He always chuckled when I returned from the library with a stack of books, because he said I had such a delicious look of excitement and anticipation bringing in those books. I still think about that comment, though often my books are e-books now, and I don’t have to carry them or even show them to the outside world.
Is there anything like a book that pulls you into that world? I’m grateful that so many children discovered this through the Harry Potter books. I believe that is why series are so powerful — because the characters in a series grow and change and become more and more real. My sense of anticipation grows stronger with a really good series, and I’m so glad that authors are writing more and more series.
I’ve used the term “immersive reading” for this post, but the term has been taken over now to indicate books that have audible reading (narration) along with the printed book — or perhaps a soundtrack added to an ebook. While these additions are fine for those who need it or want it, I still use the term for reading just the printed word. As my stories indicate, the printed word can certainly be as immersive as adding another sense. Just as an excellent film transports us into a story or another reality, a simple book can do the same. Remember, Harry Potter fans were readers well before the films were released.