Book, Take Me Away!

After a long day filled with writing, teaching, chores, running errands and social activities, it is one of my most sublimes pleasures to settle into bed with a good book and hot mug of tea.
Remember the old commercial, touting bath oil beads?
In my mind I can still hear the echo of the lady's voice as she sighs, "Calgon, take me away."

That's the way I feel about a good book.

When I was in the seventh grade my brother handed me Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and said, "Here, read this book and quit bugging me."

I disappeared into my bedroom and, within minutes, was transported to Middle Earth. Frodo completely charmed me. I fell in love with Aragorn. And Gandalf? Oh, how I wanted to don a grey cloak and traverse my own mysterious, dangerous, heroic world, riding a magnificent silvery stallion who could outrun the fleetest of Mordor-spurred steeds.

I cried at the last few sentences of the third book in the trilogy, emerging from my bedroom -three days later, having hardly slept or eaten, feeling as if my childhood had been abandoned somewhere in the middle of The Two Towers.

A masterpiece such as The Lord of the Rings is much more than an epic tale. The story of men, Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of preserving their noble world and the lives of their loved ones touched my soul and forged pathways in my impressionable young mind. It was John 15:13 fleshed out in impossibly real fictional characters: "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

Stories have such power. First, they transport us. Then, they teach us. Last, they inspire us to be better than we are.

Tonight, I'm going to turn off Fox News, pour some Earl Grey tea and nestle in with another great book. Ahhhh.