Books are the mile markers on my life road, from early childhood's Go Dog. Go! to Nancy Drew in my tween years, which led to The Martian Chronicles and later as a young adult to The King's Brat and Jane Eyre. I didn't just pass time with these books. I entered the invisible literary portal and lived in them. They are ingrained into the tiny little crevices in the never-gonna-forget section of my gray matter.

You think I'm exaggerating? Not this time. I got me a big ol' scientific study to back up this theory of mine that novels can and are life changing.

In a recent study published in the journal Brain Connectivity, researchers found biological changes in reader's brains as they read books. They discovered that powerful stories have the ability to create muscle memory in the brain in the same fashion as if the reader had lived through the events. For at least five days after volunteers had finished reading, neurological effects could still be seen. The study suggests that favorite novels could have a longer-lasting effect on the brain's biology.

So no wonder I miss Mr. Rochester or wish I could vacation in Narnia. And I'd say God sure knew what He was doing when He chose the medium of a book to deliver His messages to mankind.

What about you? What books do you have stuck in your head?