the bibliosmile project featured imageIntroducing The Bibliosmile Project
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the bibliosmile project featured image
Published On: July 31, 2019Categories: Guest PostsTags: 7 Comments

Welcome to The Bibliosmile Project, a series here on Novels & Waffles that aims to spotlight how books (+ the bookish community), has brought smiles, happiness, and positivity into our lives. Through an ongoing series of guest posts, different readers will share their stories of bookish happiness and spread some much-needed positivity, sunshine, and smiles with us all. Hopefully, reading about how books have brought a smile to their faces, it will bring one to yours as well. You can read more about this series in my introduction and catch up on previous guest posts here.

If you’re interested in writing a guest post as part of The Bibliosmile Project, then please contact me at my email, [email protected].

Actual footage of me rolling around from pure excitement about this new feature.

Alys’s Bibliosmile Story

Hello, everyone!

Firstly, I’d like to thank Kat for letting me guest post on her blog and share something positive as part of The Bibliosmile Project hosted by her! Secondly, I am Alys, and I blog at Alys in Bookland. And today, I’m going to share with you why I’m saying thank you to the books.

Why Thank You, Books? Is it simply me thanking the books, or is there more to it? Well, I don’t really know what title I should use for this one, but I think Thank You, Books perfectly summarizes what this post is all about. What you will read below are the reasons why I’m thankful for books, especially for those books that I’ve read during the darkest time of my life. This list will sum up why books are important to me and why I treat them like my babies. So, let’s get started.


BOOKS ARE MY IMAGINARY FRIENDS

Books are my imaginary friends in the sense that they are always there for me when I’m feeling down. They are the friends that will never criticize me whenever I made something terrible. They are the friends that will help me transform into a better person. And they are the only friends that can lift me in the times that no one can ever understand the emotions that I’m feeling and which I’m afraid to share with the others. Books are the friends that I need. Someone who will always be there to hear my thoughts and share with my feelings.


BOOKS GIVE ME HOPE

Books give me hope by letting me see a dream that one day, I want myself to see, experience, and feel. It is a goal that I will keep on looking forward to achieving. Without the books, I don’t think I am determined to reach something for myself.


BOOKS ARE MY SECRET PORTAL

Books are the gates to the other world. Well, maybe it is not just a doorway, but it is something that will let me live the life of the characters in a book. Isn’t it amazing? I may not be physically present in the story, but I can almost feel like I’m there, and I can also interact with the book characters.


BOOKS MAKE ME AN EMPATHIC PERSON

Books let me either become the character of the story or an audience that observe the characters decide things in different situations. It means that I can feel everything, and I can gain insight into what is happening to them. In a simple explanation, I can become one of the characters, but I don’t have control as to what will happen to them, but I can experience what and who they are in their world. Now, that makes me empathize with all types of people and in all sorts of situations or problems. Why? Because books basically give me the power to understand more of this world and at the same time, teach me something new about myself. In every situation I am in, I always ask myself. Am I doing it right? If I am in their shoes, what will I do? Should I agree with them? If I have the power to resolve a problem, how should I decide? Books let me become open to other people and always ready to hear them out. That’s why a lot of my friends, most of the time, confide their problems to me and sometimes ask me of the possible solution to their problems. I always try to balance the situation before I decide.


BOOKS ARE MY LIFE-SAVER 

Books are my way to escape my own circumstances for a little while. It is what keeps me from living in this world. Before I started my blog, and before the time when I consider books as part of my life, I’m in a deep and dark shell hiding from the things that might hurt me. I have many friends, and yet I’m not open to them. I am afraid to trust people. I am unsure to whom I can share my secrets. There even come a time when I’m feeling so down and I don’t want to live anymore. But, I learned to enjoy the company of the books, and it gives some sparks on my life. I started having dreams and goals. I even began living like the others and be proud of who I am. The books I’d read inspired me, and they gave me this want of reading more books to experience something different from my life. To understand the things around me. To get into the imagination of other people. And to know why I must enjoy being a human.


Books are not just a piece of dead trees with inks on them. They are not just something that I can throw away if I wanted to. Books have a special meaning to me. They made me feel and experience something that I won’t easily have in my life. That’s why I’m very thankful for these books on giving me a reason to enjoy the life that I have right now. I’m also grateful to the people who influenced me on reading books because they are the bridge that led me on enjoying everything I have right now, especially reading.

alys in bookland logo for the bibliosmile project

Follow Alys in Bookland:

Blog // Twitter // Goodreads // Pinterest // Facebook Page

How about you? Why do you like reading books?

Are there any reasons why you want to read?

What are some of the positive ways that books have impacted your life?

7 Comments

  1. Emma @ AFCTL August 1, 2019 at 7:15 am - Reply

    I have so many things to thank books for that I have no idea where to start! Thank you for keeping the dark days away, thank you for giving me an excuse to get away from social interactions, thank you for giving me a place to go when my own head was a horrible place to be, and thank you for making me start AFCTL and make amazing blogosphere friends!
    -Emma :)

  2. CHARIS RAE @ charisrae.com August 1, 2019 at 9:12 am - Reply

    Books are, in short, my life. I have no idea where I’d be without them, nor do I want to. Books have always been a part of me, and I love this positivity that’s going on! Thank you for such a wonderful series, Kat, and thanks Aly for this post! 💛💛

  3. Sophie @ Me and Ink August 2, 2019 at 7:29 pm - Reply

    This was so lovely to read and I can’t agree more with every point made. Books are always there for you and provide you will so much comfort and I love how you referred to them as a a secret portal!!
    I love how you mentioned books have made you a see other people’s situations and made you understand the world more. I definitely think books have made me a better person too!!
    Great post– I love reading it!! <3

  4. Abi @ Scribbles and Stories August 2, 2019 at 8:41 pm - Reply

    What a lovely start to the feature! ❤️ Books have always been a part of my life, so I think I’m most grateful for the way they shaped me as a child. Now my head is permanently filled with stories! 😄

  5. Nish and Ngoc August 2, 2019 at 10:08 pm - Reply

    Loved this guest post, Alys!! I definitely think my favourite thing about being a reader is that I’ve become a more empathic person – it’s helped me understand people IRL better & to not be judgmental! ❤️ What an amazing post to kick off this feature on Kat’s lovely blog 😃

    💛 Ngoc

  6. Chana @ Paper Procrastinators August 3, 2019 at 8:03 am - Reply

    There are so many reasons I love reading! One of them is definitely because of the way books can transport you to a whole new world, and also how through books you can learn so much about different cultures, people, and experiences. Lovely post!

  7. Random Burst #01 – Alys in Bookland September 9, 2019 at 3:15 pm - Reply

    […] Project, and I’m glad to participate in it. You can read my post on her lovely blog, Novels & Waffles, and also, you can read more information about the project there if you are interested in […]

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