Today's blogging prompt is to compare two things that seem to be dissimilar but are actually alike. The two things that I have chosen to compare are keys and books, as in how books are like keys.
Keys are wondrous things that open doors. When you open the door, you can find yourself in interesting and even unusual places. Every now and then, I dream that I am in an apartment in a completely unfamiliar city. The apartment is always poorly lit, and I'm always looking for something that I can't readily identify. I find a door, which is locked and realize that I have a key. I'm told that the door just leads to a closet.
When I unlock the door, I discover many more rooms that I didn't know about. They are secret rooms because you have to know exactly which key to use to unlock the strange spaces. And speaking about keys and doors, last month, I read a book called The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern. In this book, there were many keys. Big keys, small keys, skeleton keys, and more. They symbolize the keeper of the stories. The stories are magical, fantastic, and seemingly not of this world but very much part of this world. The keys, which are everywhere, are characters in this book that takes you to worlds full of magic and fear.
Not all books feature keys as characters but all books are keys. They are keys to other places, other times, even other worlds. When you read a book, you can travel anywhere you like and you don't even have to get up from your seat. Right now, I am reading a book called The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes. In this book, I am transported to Kentucky in the 1930s, to a time when librarians, mostly women, traveled the mountains on horseback, delivering books to families. At that time, 31 percent of the population of Kentucky did not know how to read. The Pack Horse Library program was part of the Works Progress Administration from about 1935 to 1942.
In this book, I am transported to a time when mine owners believe that the land and the creeks on that land were theirs to use, abuse, and pollute. I am transported to a time when strong women carry recipes, stories, and hope. I have turned the key to a world that now exists only within the pages of a book.
My question to you: Have you read a book that was a key to an amazing and fantastic world? If so, what was the book that opened your imagination?
2 comments:
When I was in elementary school, I enjoyed reading biographies of authors. I was so fascinated by their other-worldly birthplaces, when compared to a simple Caribbean island, that I often sat and conjured up scenes in my imagination to parallel what I read.
Today, I am still captivated by Dr. Seuss's books.
I totally agree with what you said about books being keys to whole new worlds.. Almost every one does that for me..
Coincidentally, one of my favorite reads of last year was The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. Both The Giver of Stars and Book Woman are supposedly oh so similar that there were controversies surrounding them. Of course, both are based on the book women and set of course, in the same setting and times.
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