Reading is such a rewarding past-time! Since lockdown started, I’ve had more time to get back into books and I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s a wonderful form of escapism. It helps us understand ourselves and others. It broadens our minds and develops our perspectives as well as teaching us about other places or cultures. It improves our cognitive skills and our imagination. The sky truly is the limit for your imagination when you read!

A great thing about reading is that you can read whenever you want and all you need is a book, therefore reading can be quite cost-effective. Moreover, you can read throughout your whole life! You can read anywhere like at home or in a café or at the airport ect and with others or individually. You can join book groups to read books you might not have thought about reading and make new friends. You could even start your own book group with some friends to spread the word about your favorite books.

Additionally, you will never run out of books to read! From magical realism to classics to crime to thrillers to romantic and dystopian novels and finally to autobiography and non-fiction there is something for everyone. There is a plethora of different authors to read to see which one suits you and which narrative styles you enjoy. Moreover, books can range dramatically in terms of length, so if you don’t have a lot of time on your hands there is no need to read a 500 page book when you could find a 100 or 200 page book so there’s no excuse. Also, there are a million different topics or themes that different books cover so if you want to climb up mountains in the Himalayas, solve a murder mystery, be a magical creature or lose yourself in a good romance then there will be a whole collection of novels like that you can access.

Moreover, reading historical fiction can transport you back to the past and dystopian fiction can propel you into the future. Reading historical fiction is one of the best ways to experience the past and truly feel like you were there. Dystopian fiction presents us with ideas of what could be. Given immortality is out of the question, this is the closet way to vicariously seeing and experiencing an imagined version of the future through someone else’s eyes. When it comes to time travel, books are probably our best bet.

I’ve been keeping the best thing about reading till last and that is the sheer variety of novels that exist out there. Not many other hobbies have this much variation. Firstly, each book (except a series or sometimes a series ect) will have a variety of different protagonists and narrative voices. Most places the book is set in will be different from the last book you read. As well as multiple different genres each book has a different and unique story to tell. For example, during lockdown I’ve felt like I was an English spy during the Russian revolution (Blood Red, Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick) I’ve solved a murder (Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie) I’ve travelled through the land of the witch finder and battled sea serpents and walked on a tightrope above a strange city( Madagin’s Fantasia by Margaret Mathy) and I’ve fought an evil puppet master making human replicas of people (Soul Taker by Celia Rees) and I’ve gone on a creepy arctic research project ( Dark Matter by Michelle Paver).

It is said that a reader lives a thousand lives, and this is undeniably true. Books let your imagination run wild and escape to far flung places, have crazy adventures, and solve mysteries. They are a freeing form of escapism and who does not need that right now? So why not snuggle up with a good book.