Books have been on the forefront of my mind over the last week. From selling the books I’ve written to buying books that have caught my eye, the literary side of my brain has kicked into high gear.

It got me thinking of the books that I’ve read previously. I read more in my youth than I do today, mostly because I spend a lot of my extra time writing than reading. However, I’ve thought about revisiting some of the books I read before I realized the real world can really suck.

I’ve had that urge before. A few years ago, I purchased a book that my sixth-grade teacher had read to the class called Redwall. It was an epic tale by Brian Jacques involving anthropomorphic animals in a place called Mossflower Wood, and in the middle of this place is Redwall Abbey. This sounds really sweet, doesn’t it?

Buckle up. It doesn’t stay that way long.

A legion of rats led by Cluny the Scourge is ravaging the land, and their next target is the abbey. Its fate lies in the hands of Matthias, a novice destined to become a great warrior.

I think this book helped me develop a fascination with fantasy and helped me to focus my imagination. When I look at the fantasy novels I’ve written, I can’t help but feel that what I read made it possible for me to add to the vast universe.

Of course, it’s also true that books based on reality provide inspiration. One book that I recently remembered reading was Racing the Sun by Paul Pitts. It involved a 12-year-old Navajo boy named Brandon Rogers who had grown up in the big city when his father decided not to return to the reservation after going to college. Brandon knew nothing about the people who came before him.

That changed when his elderly grandfather has to move into the Rogers home after he is no longer able to care for himself. Even as his health is declining, the grandfather is determined to teach Brandon the traditions of the Navajo people. Among those is racing the sun.

The ritual involves getting up before dawn and running. The running doesn’t stop until the sun peeks through the mountains and brings light to the world again. At first, Brandon is resentful of having to participate in this tradition, but slowly he discovers there is wisdom in the old ways—that he can be part of the modern world without severing his ties to the past.

It’s amazing the power of books. They can inform us, to entertain us and so much more. It’s weird how the power of the word manages to influence us.

Reading can have such sway over us in our youth. However, it’s sad that we find ourselves drifting away from it as we grow older. Our jobs get in the way. Families get in the way. There’s never enough to sit down and read a good book because there’s rarely enough free time.

I find it rare when I’m able to take an afternoon and read a book from cover to cover with interruptions only to use the bathroom and to get something to drink. One of these days, I’m going to have to keep count of how many times I’ve changed positions while reading a book because my body is getting achy but I can’t bring myself to put the book down.

Going back to the book Redwall, I came to discover years later that the book was the first one in a series of 22. Of course, the first came out when I was in the sixth grade, and once I got into middle and high school, there weren’t really opportunities to sit and listen to a good story. Mainly, we read what was assigned on our own and then reported on what we learned from the book.

I’ve read my share of good books since Redwall and Racing the Sun, and I’m sure my memory will take me back to those books down the line. I just hope that I don’t do so in an era where people don’t read any more. Knowledge is power, and books help to provide that knowledge. Without books, where does that leave us a society?

I hope that’s one story that never comes to pass.