August 9th is #NationalBookLoversDay, a day not only to relish in the act of reading a book, but to take a break from those multiple screens- your phone, social media, computer, television- (after work, of course) and dive nose deep into a real-life creation of paper and text.

It’s a day to celebrate all bibliophiles and that modicum of mystery that sparked many of today’s greatest minds’ dreams, goals, and imaginations. Books and storytelling continually shapes our ideas of romance and heroism, injustice, justice, and even freedom. As bestselling author, Anna Quindlen states, “Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination and the journey. They are home.”

Not only can we explore the world in a new light by simply opening a book, we can, as Malorie Blackman suggests, participate in “an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.”