Reading in my life

READING IN MY LIFE

Reading is to mind what exercise is to body. A book is one of the greatest wonders of the world. It gives us a unique chance to link up with authors who lived hundreds and thousands years ago. Thanks to books we can talk to people who lived in different countries. Through reading books we hear their voices, thoughts and feelings. It gives us an insight not only into the past, but also into the future.

As for me, I’m fond of reading. I prefer books about politics, history, travel-books. It helps to form the character and the world outlook, to understand life better. Books give information and knowledge, educate, give pleasure and sometimes help to forget about problems.

It’s common knowledge that reading foreign literature helps you to learn more about the life of people in other countries, their traditions and customs. The names of English writers and poets such as William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Bernard Show, Conan Doyle, Agatha Cristie, Oscar Wilde and many others are well-known to educated people from any country.

The first American writer who came my way was Jack London whose stories struck me by unusual situations and the courage of his heroes. I also admire the humour of Mark Twain. I’ve read some of his stories and, of course, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn”. But my favourite American writer is Ernest Hemingway. When I read his biography I was impressed by his personality. He was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. His life was full of adventures and events that required courage, strong will and determination. Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. But it is interesting that he began his career as a brave war correspondent during World War I. The scope of his interests was incredibly wide. His war experience and adventurous life provided the background for many of his short stories and novels. He achieved success with “ A Farewell to Arms”, the story of a love affair between an American lieutenant and an English nurse during World War I.

In 1952 Hemingway finished his tale “The Old Man and the Sea”. This story is about an old Cuban fisherman who had proved to himself and to other people he was a MAN. There were a lot of difficulties on his way but he got over them. I have been reading this story with great interest and intensity. Every word was important, every sentence made sense.  When I closed the book I was impressed by that old man and his purposefulness, fortitude and humanism. The hero showed courage in the face of danger, the feature which admired greatly. I think ‘’The Old Man and the Sea’’ is a hymn to human courage and endurance.