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TTT: Reasons Why I Love Reading

Holliehocks

Hey guys, Hocks here. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s topic is “reasons we love (fill in the blank)”. For reasons, I’m doing a bit of a generic post, but hey, why not? After all, I do love to read! And I read such a variety of books that I find it hard to really list why I love certain genres or authors, so…yeah.

Actually, it’s not something I think about. Reading is something I’ve always done, so I’ve never really thought about why I love it. Me trying to explain why I love reading is like trying to explain why I love my favorite anime or my favorite color. I can’t really tell you why…I just do. But I think I can manage a list of things I enjoy about reading.

1. There’s so much to learn! History lessons, school tips and hacks, how to make friends, how to tell real friends from not, recipes, how to defeat villains, how to survive if you’re ever the Chosen One, overall life lessons, etc. The list is endless of what we can learn within the pages of a book.

2. So many new worlds! We all need to escape from the real world sometimes. One of my favorite fantasy worlds is Alagaësia from the Inheritance Cycle. It’s so vast and beautiful (plus there are dragon riders!), but there is an endless number of worlds to discover and explore, and you’re guaranteed to find one that you would like to call home, or at the very least, that you wouldn’t mind getting lost in for awhile.

3. Books were there for me when people weren’t. Friends too busy to hang out? Go make some new friends in the next book you pick up. Find it impossible to approach people? Trust me, picking up that book nearby is a lot less daunting, and also probably more enjoyable to be around. I was a shy little kid, so I didn’t have many friends. While I’m no longer that shy, I find it extremely difficult to get close to people, so I usually opt for solo activities.

4. I get to share things with people. So full disclaimer, I do not let anyone except my mom touch my books. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to buy books for other people or insist they read something. And if I ever have children, I will read to them. I love the fact that reading can be an individual activity, yet, if you suddenly feel like it, it can also be shared with others.

5. I can talk about books 24/7! No, seriously. I mean, I do have a book blog, so obviously I love to talk about them. But that’s the thing about reading…it means you always have something to talk about, even if no one else understands. However, just because I can talk about books doesn’t mean I want to. No, seriously, why talk to people when you have books to read?

6. Need an excuse to get out of that party your friend’s hosting? I have discovered that if people know you don’t like being disturbed when reading, the excuse “I’m reading” or “I have a book to read” can get you out of social events. If that doesn’t work, go to said social event with a book and read instead of socialize. 

7. When you feel your world crashing down around you, books bring solace. Get in an argument with your best friend? There are so many books about friendship, or even books about friends drifting apart if that’s what you feel like. Parents fighting constantly? Grab a book (and maybe some headphones) and read about picture perfect families. Had a bad day at work or school? Immerse yourself in a new world of infinite possibilities. No matter what’s going on around you, we’ve all been there, but sometimes it doesn’t help to talk about it. Sometimes we just want to try to become someone else, no matter how temporary.

8. It gets the creativity flowing. As someone who also does a lot of writing, I find reading to be immensely helpful. Maybe a quote or character or piece of the setting gives me the inspiration for something brand new. I have this happen often. It’s kinda strange sometimes. For example, I was recently reading some webcomics based on My Hero Academia and got an interesting plot idea dealing with parallel universes.

9. There’s unlimited viewpoints, writing styles, and hypothetical situations, and I want to see them all. I think this one speaks for itself, but these things are never the same in any story. I love seeing the similarities and differences.

10. Quotes and life lessons come when you least expect it. It doesn’t matter how many books I read, I get something new out of every experience. Even if I’m rereading a book, I will find something that I hadn’t seen before. And sometimes there are quotes or situations that you never thought of, or maybe that you really needed to see in that moment, and those can make all the difference in the world. It’s these things that stick with you long after you put the book down.

Well, after sitting down and thinking about it, these are some of the reasons I came up with for why I love reading. Do you have any specific reasons that you love to read? Do you agree or disagree with any of mine? Let me know in the comments!

28 thoughts on “TTT: Reasons Why I Love Reading”

  2. I was much more of a hardcore reader before college. When I reached University I just stopped having time to spend in Hobbies.

    Fiction books are nice for learning, as long as you get Scientific or Historical Thrillers, or at least some whose author has managed to learn what he is writing about. Otherwise they are just entertainment and the best you can learn from them is vocabulary. And how good stories are structured.

    I agree new worlds and concepts are awesome. When you GM for an RPG group, it is important to have a big library of ideas in your head. That way you can borrow ideas from books and make your own twist with them on the fly at the game table.

    Horses and dogs work better than books when I you are dealing with crisis, though. When some relative stabs me in the back, I’d rather have a mare scratch my back and maul me a bit with horse hugs than pick a book up. On the other hand, when things go really really bad I usually take refuge in work or in writing (which are sometimes the same thing).

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    1. I stopped reading as much during high school, not exactly for lack of time but to focus on other things. I see any books as learning though, not just scientific and historical. I find contemporaries really good for learning about other places and current real-life or cultural perspective, but even fantasy can sometimes help you to pick out real world political or economical lessons. It really all depends on the book and what it is you’re willing to take away from it. While reading is primarily seen as entertainment, I’ve honestly never considered it as such. However, that has never taken away from my enjoyment of it.

      Unfortunately, I don’t work with any RPG groups. I used to do some for fun back in high school, but only 1 or 2 ever made it past a few paragraphs. Being able to borrow ideas is a huge help.

      I had dogs growing up, but…I still opted for books instead. While I do love animals, I’m much more of a cat person, and it’s easy to read with a cat around. Ever since high school, I do find myself turning to writing more often than reading though.

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      1. What do you mean that only 1 or 2 ever made past a few paragraphs? Do you mean people didn’t read the rulebook?

        People nowadays is lazy. Unless you have a really hardcore group, which nowadays seem to only exist in clubs or in very old gaming tables, you are better off picking an easy system that can be explained in three minutes and… well… explaining the rules to your players.

        Gone are the days when every player had a rulebook and knew the rules.

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      2. Sorry, I don’t know why I used “paragraphs”. I was meaning more towards not really playing for over a few minutes.

        Most of the RPGs I did was more, hmm, without any kind of guide. More of an online thing. The ones in-person with guides (and similarly DnD style ones) were done during school, but really only during free time in a couple of classes. Groups and such were always changing, so instead of continuing, they would normally restart each time, so they never got far. DnD was really popular during college as well, and I had a few friends who would play it, but even it was extremely casual or never lasted long. Most people I know don’t really have much interest in RPG.

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      3. First RPG games I played, I did in summer camp. My group would play during marches and we would decide the results of combats playing odds and evens. I moved to formal games much later.

        It is too bad you didn’t manage for it to last. In my experience, it only works if you have a regular group that can allocate a specific moment of each week for the games. If there is not that level of compromise, the group falls apart quite quickly. Do you think it would have worked with a more lightweight game system?

        Games are a lot of work when you think about it, but in the end of the day they are really worth it. My players still shiver when we talk about the deadly puzzles I set for them…

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      4. Eh, maybe. The one in college was a regular group who met about once a week, depending on schedules, but I didn’t keep up much with that one. The one(s) in high school were pretty much random, however I’d say those were the ones who were very into it. Unfortunately, they were also limited to free time in classes that they shared, which I think was where most of the problem came in.

        Games definitely require a lot of work (and time), but it’s a good thing when you’re able to keep that feeling long after it’s over.

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      5. I think it only works well if you can schedule regular sessions. Otherwise people loses sight of the campaign they are playing. I guess it is not a big deal when playing dungeon raids, but when you are playing conspiracy games, players forget a lot of important details if more than one week passes without playing.

        There are lots of little tricks for keeping campaigns alive, but unless you are good at it, they are so much work. Which is why I am so proud of campaigns I have directed that have lasted years.

        PS: I see you switched avatar. It was about time 🙂

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      6. That’s very true! I’d imagine that people who campaigns often, or who do a bunch of different ones, probably get really good at remembering things and keeping them alive. Teenagers who are more worried about their next exam than the rules of the game, probably not so much. If you’re ever able to keep a group tame enough to completely run through the campaign, that’s definitely something to be proud of.

        Haha, yeah I know. I’ve been meaning to, but I don’t really take many pictures and I didn’t have anything else to use. Now that I’ve actually been staying around my blog, I figured I needed one now.

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      7. The real trick is creating a campaign that can withstand people joining and dropping out without notice. One of my most successful campaigns was a military (fantasy) game. Each session, the players who showed up gathered and took one of the available commando missions or proposed one. This is resistant against people who fails to make it into the game – my players would refuse to play if one of the gamers could not make it to the table, when playing plot heavy campaigns. With this architecture, we had the best of both worlds: an ongoing story with recurring villains and recurring characters, and a lot of flexibility.

        I don’t take many pictures myself either. I keep trying to take pictures of my horses, but every time I pull a camera out, they think it is a toy and run towards me to play with it. So I have lots of pictures of horse noses and teeth, but most are not very usable.

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  5. Great list!! I also love reading for all the magical worlds u can slip into! and yess books are perfect to escape into when all your friends are busy. Great post 🙂

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  7. Reading IS the best! I especially love your #10. No matter how many times I reread a book, I always find something new, or interpret a scene or character in a new way depending on what’s going on in my life at the time. I love that reading is always fluid. Great post!

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    1. Yes it doesn’t always work as we hope! I agree with that though; time spent with friends and family is very precious and should be treated as such, no matter how much we might like to read.

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