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Books change my worldview

I am Shakespeare's hero Othello who has doubts as destruction looms. I am Yousef Zaydan launching into an honest and transparent monologue in his novel Azazeel. I am also Ghazi Al Qusaibi in his mental institute; Nizar Qabbani, mad about love, and George Orwell in his farm which we sort of live in today.
I do not wish to be Machiavelli but my aims sometimes justify my poor means. I am also Almanfalooti with his fear of drinking his first cup, and Gibran Khalil Gibran in his Prophet. I am some of these and a lot of others. Someone else might turn out to be Ahmed Bin Omar, which is totally normal as long as it pleases them.
I have lived in all of these books and characters and witnessed their happy and sad moments, their wild and sober times, their pessimistic and optimistic days and nights.
At times, I happily escape my reality and bury my face between their pages and words.
Once I open a book, I forget all those around me and travel to another world, and when I decide to return, I simply close the book declaring my return to the reality by my choice.
So I pick up my book again from the bookshelf after I left it there just seconds earlier. I find it still warm from the touch of my fingers. Whenever I hear or face anything that troubles my world, I pack my thoughts and travel to the world of writers.
- The author is an architect based in Abu Dhabi