Pulled into a book

Every successful writer has a writing style that they have made all their own. A style so complex, advanced and evolved, that they are truly its masters and creators.

I was asked who my favorite author is; I didn't really have an answer. I am an admirer of different styles; styles that evoke entirely different moods and emotions.

On this occasion, I must admit, that it took me a long time to finally get started on the Harry Potter franchise. It is something that I've, rather embarrassingly, missed out in my childhood, and, as of now, I am yet to read the last three books.

Thursday night, I finished Goblet of Fire, and that book left me in a puddle of my own tears. I was depressed all night, as though a Dementor had been in my vicinity. It was not a pretty feeling. But it was a great book, as only the great ones manage to squeeze out a tear from the reader. And it's purely due to the way J. K. Rowling has paced the story, and her style of writing.

It is soft, sweet and emotional. Vulnerable. Moving. Engaging. Like a river, soft in itself, but able to cut through mountains; cut through the hardest hearts. With this style of writing, she had me at her mercy by the end of the book. I was lost, saddened, confused... I was an emotional wreck.

I needed comfort. I needed solace. I turned to books that I trusted to wipe my tears. Those of Lee Child.

I grabbed my copy of Never Go Back to pull myself out of my misery. And it worked. Partially. It was like crying on the shoulder of an old friend, over a lover who gave you an amazing time and then left you with a broken heart.

Reading Lee Child was like getting the big warm hug I so badly craved. There was no pain in this. No slow, soft stabs with deaths of beloved characters.

Child's writing is more or less the opposite of Rowling's. It's hard, unemotional, sharp and edgy.  It's very technical and has got a certain mechanical smoothness. Cold. Relentless. Unapologetic. The kind that translates to, "Stop crying and get over it."

That is what I love about these writers and their specific styles. They have the power to engage the reader with their writing. To grip us by the throat and pull us into the deepest fathoms of their imaginations, until we are one with the characters. One with their journey. One with the story. They are more than just words on a page. It is an experience, forever remembered and cherished.

So many different styles; all so powerful; incomparable. I will always find peace from this busy world, between the pages of a good book.