Books have souls to bare, lives to share, and time to spare

Books are the things with feathers
That perches in your soul... (Isn't that what Emily Dickinson said?)

Books are amazing things but they are also dreadful things. Maybe I am the only weird one who feels this way. That is a complete and likely possibility. Each book gives us a glimmer of life for each character.

It permits us to see Chloe fall in love with Derek, in Kelley Armstrong's Darkest Powers Series, even though Chloe doesn't see it herself. "When I thought of Derek leaving, the ground seemed to slide under my feet..."

It shows us the terrible inner struggle that Annabel Greene fights everyday in Sarah Dessen's Just Listen. "There comes a time in every life when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn to know the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying..."

The words of Lisa Tucker startle us with the horrific truth of Patty Taylor's life in Shout Down the Moon and the mistakes we watch Patty make cause her intense pain that makes us nearly cry. "He grabs the belt loops of my shorts and spins me around. I'm out of breath, but I manage to scream, "Let me go"....."

Lois Duncan's Ransom conjures the emotions of a boy with a underdeveloped arm and lifetime of mental scars. We see Dexter and Jesse push each other away only to realize they understand each other far better than anyone else can. "Jesse sat in silence, gazing down at the boy before her, at the sturdy man's body with the wasted, underdeveloped arm and shoulder no bigger than a child's. So this is the reason, she thought. This is the reason for all the anger, the defensiveness, the bitterness. This is the reason for Dexter Barton..."

The House Next Door oozes Emma's need for understanding, acknowledgement, and love. She's lost in a world, beautifully written by Richie Tankersley Cusick, where she longs for the love that makes her feel whole. "I miss the way he loved me. I miss the way I was special to him..."

Our devotion to the ones we love and our desire to keep them safe is expertly portrayed by Joan Lowery Nixon in Murdered, My Sweet. ""I did listen to you," I said. "You promised to protect Mom's reputation, and I believed you..."

Words are immeasurable in the effects they have on people. Good or bad, words have the possibility to inspire a profound reaction. Words put the reader into the world of the character. They allow us to hear, see, feel, and observe the world the character faces. We relate to the emotional state, we endure the painful dialogue, we flinch at the disturbing experiences the characters go through. We compare these lives to our own lives and then we spot the differences. The feelings we've never felt but long to experience in person. The unity we do not have that we crave so badly. The sense of family that we are missing that makes us want to weep. Words are powerful. Words are moving. Words are much more than simple things on paper.