I read a lot of fiction (though I also read insect field guides and the dictionary for fun as a kid ), and have always loved playing pretend. I still love pretending/role-playing in my head, but don’t have anyone to do it with and have trouble coming up with a whole storyline myself. I have multiple fantasy worlds I retreat to and regularly add new ones (often starting with something based on a book, movie, video game, etc.).
I didn’t particularly like literature classes because they focused on seeing more than is actually written, which is not something I do well. If we read a book and then watched a movie version in class, I could spot each word that was different from the lines in the book, but when given a worksheet afterward, might not be able to answer a single question because it was all about hidden meanings and different interpretations.
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Yet in my new wildness and freedom I almost welcome the bitterness of alienage. For although nepenthe has calmed me, I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
-H. P. Lovecraft, "The Outsider"