The use of words

I just wanted to blog a bit about the use of words. As you all know, I am an avid reader of Anne Rice. In reading her 'new' Vampire Chronicles, she takes different characters (some old, some new) and basically writes an autobiography of each one. I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms, and in a way it is. But she is the author, and although she is writing it down, if you really get into each character, it is they who are telling/writing the story. They write of how they came to be. The few short years leading up to their receival of the "Dark Gift". My point is, each character is different, yet they use a profuse amount of descriptors. If you were to pluck each one of them out of the book, sit them down and say "describe this chair", they would take a whole page of writing to do it. In the end, you would walk away feeling as if the chair were alive, soft, sensual, and in desperate need of your touch. You would be in love with the chair.
I find this intriguing, and after a long day, very relaxing. I admit, some days I am so anxious to know what is on the next page, I tend to skim through. But most evenings, as I lay in bed trying to wind down, I become entranced with the words. Words that, if not used in a sentence, I would need a dictionary to understand. No, I couldn't take that word and give you the definition, but I could use it properly.

I think this type of discritiveness is a lost art. We are so busy IMing, texting, and rushing to get things said, we lose the beauty of language. The written word is so powerful, and yet it has been lost with time. I am just as guilty as anyone, and can only hope to one day write so beautifully.