At last, I had found out why some people carry novels. When I was halfway reading The Pelican Brief, I felt my heart beat like a drum. I was worried about someone else's life. As crazy as it seemed, I wanted to be there too to help.

Someone's in trouble and I had to know how it's all going to end. My mother kept screaming, "Lunch, lunch!" She may have been screaming for ages as far as I was concerned.

But I had been so immersed in the story that I vehemently refused to put the book down until I knew the characters I care about won. It was the first time I skipped my meal just to finish what I was reading.

Nothing else mattered to me except to know at once what could possibly happen next. All the while I was afraid too that some act of God might interrupt me. "Let me finish this, please, my Lord" I whispered a quick prayer as if I was begging for mercy.

Questions flooded into my already-overwhelmed thoughts. Who. What. When. Where. Why. How. And then finally, I reached the end of the book, felt a sense of victory and relief, and also felt very very hungry.

The Pelican Brief had kept me in suspense until the very last page. Above all else, I discovered something undeniably mystical about reading. It's something wonderful, almost indescribable feeling I wish everybody could experience.