When the Irish novelist John McGahern was a child, his sisters unlaced and removed one of his shoes while he was reading. He did not stir. They placed a straw hat on his head. No response. Only when they took away the wooden chair on which he was sitting did he, as he puts it, 'wake out of the book'.
John McGahern, an Irish novelist, recalled a childhood incident that illustrated his deep immersion in reading. While he was lost in a book, his sisters playfully removed one of his shoes and placed a straw hat on his head, yet he remained completely absorbed and unresponsive. It wasn’t until they took away the chair he was sitting on that he finally "woke out of the book," highlighting how enthralling stories can capture a reader's attention to the point of oblivion.
This anecdote, shared by Anne Fadiman in her book "Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader," reflects the powerful hold that literature can have on individuals. McGahern's experience demonstrates that the enchantment of reading can transport us so far into another world that we become oblivious to our surroundings, revealing the unique relationship readers have with books and the magic they contain.
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