Why I Read - Bookish Thoughts

Reading is something that has always been a natural thing for me. I can't remember exactly when I first started reading or which was my first book read book. And I don't have a book that really got me into reading. I've always loved reading and have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember.

I've never really given much thought to why I read. It's always just been something that I do. But after I got introduced to the amazing minds of book bloggers, I've started thinking about why I enjoy reading that much.


On my birthday I was on the phone with my grandma. She reads a lot as well, and because she'd sent me one of her favorite books as a birthday present, we got on the topic of reading. And she said something that's really stuck with me since then. She told me that she reads to experience things that she wouldn't otherwise.

Nobody can experience everything during one lifetime, that's impossible. But yes, through reading you get to experience so much more. Through reading I've experienced likely things. Like your first love, loosing someone you care about, having a bad relationship with your parents. And I've also experienced some pretty unlikely things. Like zombie apocalypses, getting sent into outer space, fighting with big and horrible monsters.

Some of that stuff I'll never experience in real life, thank god. But I'll experience those things from the comfort of my own bed. Then some things, I will experience in real life. And then I'll be somewhat prepared for it by the experiences I've had in the worlds that authors create for us.

No Time For Reading? - Bookish Thoughts

I have some friends who doesn't read at all. I find it hard to believe that those people doesn't enjoy reading. (Because I don't think there are people who doesn't like books. Books are like movies, everyone likes them, you just have to find the right ones for you.) When I ask them why they don't read, (most of them) say that it's because they don't have enough time to read. I think that's bullshit.

Okay, so maybe you don't want to take several hours of your afternoon and spend it on reading. I understand that. But you can find time for reading without giving up time you would've done something else on. You just have to find those minutes of the day that you're not doing anything.

For example, what do you do when you sit on the bus or the subway on your way to and from school? That's (depending on how long it takes you to get to school) lots of great minutes that can be spent on reading. What are you doing while you're waiting for your friends to arrive at the mall or wherever you've decided to meet? Again, great reading time. What are you doing on boring lessons in school? Probably talking with your friends or something, but if you read, your teacher won't notice that you're not paying attention. What are you doing when you're waiting in the doctor's office? When there's commercial breaks on tv? When you wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep? While you're in the bathroom (you know, why not?). All of those, great reading possibilities.

It's all about finding those little moments in which you're not really doing anything. Carry a book with you all the time and pick it up when you can. Finding ten of those minutes six times a day isn't hard. And if you do it, you read an hour a day! So don't come and say to me that you don't have any time for reading. Because I know you have.