Muddled Musings–What Makes Books so Cozy?

I don’t know about you, but when I think of reading a book, I think of being in a comfortable spot with my favorite blanket or sweatshirt and warm snuggly socks on my feet. Maybe I’m sipping hot chocolate or apple cider and in the ver most idyllic fantasy, there’s a crackling fire. Snow is swirling outside my window, or perhaps it’s a thunderstorm. Of course, if I’m thinking summer reading, I’m sitting on an apple tree branch, snuggled right up against the trunk and there’s a babbling brook and the sun is warming my shoulders. Somehow it isn’t too hot. The temperature is just right.

Sadly enough, those are seldom, if ever, the way I find myself reading. Still, there’s something cozy about the thought of opening a book and getting lost in its pages. I’ve thought about why that is, and here are some conclusions I’ve come to.

Perhaps one of the reasons books bring such a cozy picture to mind is because they make me feel safe. Whatever is on the pages can stay in the pages. For a time, I can forget about my own fears and worries and let myself go somewhere or be someone else in a setting I know I can’t really be hurt in.

Maybe another reason books feel cozy to me is that they are reliable. If you find a book you like, it doesn’t matter how many times you read it or how long you leave it on the shelf, it doesn’t change. It will have the same characters, they will do the same things, and it will have the same result. Books don’t change. You might, but the book won’t.

Books are also relatively low risk. You can often get a new book for about the same price as going to a movie, so they are cost-effective. If you can get them from the library, they are even less. If you buy your own book, you can read it as many times as you want. If you don’t like it, you can put it down and find it a different owner. You can choose how much of yourself you invest in a book, and other than time and a small amount of money, you don’t lose a lot by picking up a book.

These are some reasons books feel so friendly and safe to me. I like movies and other forms of entertainment, not nothing beats a good book.

What’s your favorite thing about reading? How do books make you feel?