Books are amazing, poetry is superb; there’s nothing like reading a good book with a nice cup or glass of whatever your beverage of choice is. Some books, some authors, some words and phrases and sentences just make you feel okay. Not literally okay, reading how Dumbledore died shattered my heart into thousands of pieces, but I was okay at the same time. It’s just that feeling of knowing that what you’re reading is great and it’s engulfing and you just can’t stop. Some books simply feel like home.
I’ve read many books, many authors, in my life (or at least so far) and I know who makes me cry and laugh and feel, just like I know who makes me want to quit all my literary habits immediately. Very few authors have imapacted me ever so profoundly, I can only name a small handful, and yet the author of the best-selling “I Wrote This For You” Iain Thomas has managed to make the biggest impact on me — I had never, as a read, felt such affinity and affection towards an author.
I always reccomend his book “How To Be Happy: Not a Self-Help Book. Seriously.” to anyone who wants to read something new. I mean, c’mon, just look at that title and tell me it’s not amazing. It’s hands-down my favorite book, my comfort book, that book I take everywhere with me because I know it’ll make me feel better no matter what. Go read it now.
Iain writes both poetry and short stories, I can’t exactly tell which one he writes better because he’s just overall great. His poems and prose can be sad, about doomed love and the dark side of life, but they can also be hopeful and up-lifting, or even tragically funny. The way he uses and owns every single ome of his words never stops being wonderful, he know how to say what he wants to say to make you feel how what his writing should make you feel.
Iain doesn’t conform to any norm about poetry and writing, he writes for himself and for others. Period. And that’s without mentioning what a funny and caring person he is overall, very supportive of the people who support him.
One of my favorite quotes by him (from ‘How To Be Happy’) goes:
“Don’t walk out on the world. […] It might not feel like it, but the world has your back. So does the universe. I like to believe that there was a grand, benevolent conspiracy on the part of everything to make you, you. While that thought doesn’t actually fix broken things, it sometimes makes me feel ok while I’m trying to fix them.”
And let’s not forget his good nature and kindness, never absent in his work. From the same book (sorry about all the examples from How To Be Happy, it’s the only book by him I have in handy right now):
“I have this dream where I’m in a dancing competition with everyone who has ever upset me. I win and then I forgive them.”
I’d give more examples and quotes, and I’d go on and on praising the man, but you just have to see it for yourself. Check him out on Twitter or his blog when you can buy his books (or not, it’s a free environment). Whatever you choose to do, just give him a chance to let you feel cared for and understood — it’s worth it.
