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Books to the Rescue

By Jessica Covitz
Contributing Writer


“Has a book ever helped you understand yourself or your world better?”
Have you ever read something and realized that it relates to you personally or your community? Books are a great way to help you understand yourself more and your world better. Sometimes by reading a book, you may develop a new perspective on an existing problem or issue in your life or community.
Thanks to the wide variety of book genres, it’s simple to find a book for anyone to enjoy. There are books made for pure entertainment, knowledge, guidance and more. The world of literature is forever ongoing.
The most common use of books is for entertainment. For some, reading a book is more enjoyable than watching the movie and, most of the time, the book is better than the movie. Reading for entertainment helps move your mind to another alternate reality where anything is possible.
“For me, reading a book can take me to a whole different place. Reading a good book, especially one with a powerful message, can remind me that life is short and sweet, and to enjoy every single moment. It allows me to put myself in the characters shoes and feel what they’re feeling, or experience what they’re experiencing, and that can and should be applied to real life,” FGCU student, Alissa Kane, said.
Readers tend to choose books that are in the category of their interests. What we don’t think about is how similar the drama or excitement in the book is to our actual lives. Whether it’s about a romance, a friendship or a moral dilemma we are all faced with issues in these subjects at some point in our lives.
Although reading about these topics is much easier than dealing with them, reading about them can help you cope with any issues you have in real life in a more successful way. For example, if you’re reading a book about two best friends who get in a fight over a boy, it can teach you to never let a crush get in between your friendship.
“After reading a book about self-love, I realized how I don’t love myself enough. This issue had been dawning on my friendships and my relationship at the time which is not what I wanted. The book helped me realize that I am amazing no matter what and that you cannot love anything else until you love yourself. That opened my eyes to a whole new light,” FGCU student, Katie P., said.
This type of reading can help you understand how you work as a person and how you deal with certain scenarios. It can bring out many qualities that you never saw in yourself, good and bad.
Another common use for books is to gain knowledge. Anything you could possibly want to learn more about is most likely in a book somewhere. From learning how to cook, to marketing for dummies, you can pretty much succeed in many things. By doing so, you can learn more about yourself as a person and what interests you enjoy learning about. You may also read a book, learn something, and realize you’re good at it.
Books regarding specific subjects usually are better help to people who are trying to learn. For example, someone who wants to know more about flowers can easily find a book about species of flowers.
“My whole family fishes but I am not that great at it, so I actually looked up a book about good fishing tips and it actually really helped me,” FGCU student, Kevin W., said.
Books can encourage you to participate more in the community as well. If you discover that you really enjoy reading and learning new things, perhaps you could read to younger children or even senior adults to teach them new things.
Guidance is another big factor that reading books can help. Life guidance can be tips on getting through depression, how to become more productive, pregnancy books, etc. Many people don’t feel comfortable reaching out for guidance or going to talk to someone about their issues so they turn to books for help.
Books are full of information that can really take you anywhere. They can help you with any issue, concern or craving. They are easily accessible and inexpensive. Reading books can open you up to a new world and a new you.

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