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Oh, If only I could make up my mind and triumphantly pick just a single book that changed the way I think. It would be so unfair. To myself and to all literature out there. Not that I have read all available literature out there. That would be such a lie for anyone to claim.
Ok, I've probably read my fair share of well-known, popular, underground, traditional, historical, swoonworthy, fantasy, fiction, horror, genres and the like in Greek, English and French...but just like with my current Japanese level...I still feel...tiny. Completely unaware of everything I'm unaware of.
I just feel like a little lily gently being swept away in an ever-rippling majestic pond of letters, ideas and hidden thoughts, still thirstily absorbing its life-giving and cool water through my roots with my gaze glued at the pale blue sky utterly mesmerized as fireflies start warming up their little candlelight energy to warm up the forest.
Simply swept away in a sea of letters and yet feeling that I have merely been given a glimpse of all the extraordinary knowledge and beauty out there in words. Despite her age though, this lily wisely knows that if her mind is to keep blossoming, she needs to keep reading because every single book, every single page, even a single word can change something in her so dramatically that she may wake up in a whole new world.
So, I adore and deeply thank all the books that have shaped the way I think so far, and I keep longing for all those that will one day cross my path, fall into my lap and make me shed a tear thus suddenly realizing that something enormously tiny has stirred in me.
Just like in real life..don't let a single book change the way you think. Yes, marvel at it, praise its author or illustrator, get lost in its endless whimsical paths, feel a fierce fire burst in you as you closely observe and fall in love with its protagonists. Let its deeper meaning whisper directly into your heart and let it eternally hide there. But once it has settled in, move on. Move on to the next book.
Just like when you are walking in a forest. Hug the tree, admire its gravity-defying height, feast your eyes upon its numerous shades of green, pay your respects and move on to the next tree. Because in a forest full of trees, full of ideas and thus...full of pages...isn't it a shame to leave some of them unexplored?
Emiko S
Oct 21, 2026
Oh I can’t say enough about how I like the way you wrote this column, attractively put and invited us to your wonderful world.
It’s about a whole reading journey!! Your bookshelf just shows your history of reading, yes, some books can shape your ways of thinking