The French novelist Marcel Proust once said:“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Terraces, rivers, mountains, or whatever waterfalls all bring a thousand men a thousand ideas, for everyone sees things differently. The fun of reading is realised in perceiving others’ views, exploring new territories with others’ steps, and tasting the juicy world from others’ tongues. Most interestingly, our thoughts are conceived thereby.

When European people firstly discovered South America, they were quite astonished by the ways of life locals had been living in for thousands of years, which, consequently, wasn’t count a civilization to the Europeans at all. Men were mainly naked, with some plants covering their private spots, and women didn’t behave any similar to a European lady. The life and the form of civilization is in itself simply a matter of fact, but it’s a completely whole new world to the outsiders as to those original inhabitants. I remember clearly that when I saw the breathtakingly gorgeous views of kanas in XinJiang autonomous region, I could feel this something freshly bursting forth into indescribable happiness, melted and spread slowly in my mouth, and delighted my five sense organs with their majestic yet mysterious power. But the horse renter who’s Kazak told me that he’s already sick of this God given paradise titled by travelers and feels like getting out of it badly. As we were seeing the same sights, all of a sudden the truth finally dawned on me that sometimes it’s hard to find somebody who really understands you, as everyone’s experiences are various to one another, they basically think in different ways.

Isn’t that also pleasant? I believe it’s the fun of reading. Beating our brains out to understand the author, we think in their shoes, we assume the situations they were in, and we use our logic to judge right and wrong. A good writer won’t tell what the life we should live is, for he just lets us decide the one we want.

Newton’s luck lies in the standing on other giants’ shoulders. It’s as well as ours. We might be short sighted, but we learn from a broad mind—the reading treasure. I enjoy Christnamurti’s profound thoughts, as well as Fritz Riemann’s interesting founding. Rain, please come to Afica telling African children’s tale of woe illustrated by the Korean author Kim made me shed tears, but the amusing words from LianYue’s I ask LianYue cheered me up again. I love history books, thinking of those past ancestors in great admiration. I long for philosophy books which are the effective prescription and best counselor I’d like to go to when I’m confused. Novels are my all time favourite because they usually go with cookies and coffee in a lazy afternoon! Traveling essays are not something can be trifled with, for they bestow broad vision and tell you how fantastic the earth is. Nevertheless dictionaries are indispensable! Logic exercises prevent me from senile dementia! And there are also cooking books for me to pick up later, as I’m dreaming of the day when my dear lover comes back home, dragged instantly by the savoury flavour into the kitchen. He will kiss me brightly on my right cheek, while already laying his fingers on the tempting food that is my latest successful experiment. Reading slow nurturing – to give your child a pleasant personality written by HeiYoulong family, I imagined my ideal family in which my kids are growing up happily along with their superman dad and superwoman mum! What’s more to read? It’s always to be continued. Reading is a lifelong gift I’ve acquired, and I learn from it very much.

The general idea of learning, for which I mean the real learning process, is to get as much input as one ever can, in order to dish out information as it’s called the act of output. After reading others’ views, a similar and yet blended idea will have been formed in my mind, which is going to seek a place to voice itself out. It’ll be the most exciting moment to try on our new thought, a thought of our own, no matter if it’s right, it’s ours! This is the ultimate fun of reading. What will you make out of Qianzhongshu, Hezhaowu and Alain de Botton? Let’s see!

Reading awards me confidence and wisdom, and I repay back time with loyalty. Like a cunning and caring partner, I will never be sick of reading. Will you?

Melissa, just received her luxury of life three nice books waiting to be ripped into from Dangdang online store