10 REASONS WHY READING IS AWESOME

Hi guys! I've just finished reading City of Ashes *screams internally* and I'll have a post up soon letting you guys know how I feel about the series so far. But for now I wanted to write about about a few things that make reading so bloody fantastic.

These are just a few of my personal reasons:

1) You get to immerse yourself in new and incredible worlds. This is probably one of the best things about reading, at least when it comes to fiction. I don't know about you guys but I love reading books with really well developed worlds. Books that are so easy to get lost in, and often blur the line between fiction and reality! The Harry Potter series is a great example of this, but also novels like A Thousand Splendid Suns. I read the whole thing in a whirlwind of 24 hours, and remembered feeling so dazed and confused at dinner because hello? Wasn't I in Afghanistan just five minutes ago? Reading can basically transport you to a whole different place, without the inconvenience of moving. How great is that?

2) You get to feel and experience a gajillion different emotions. Just imagine little thirteen year old me feeling the strange sensation of heartbreak for the first time thanks to the gut-wrenching ending of The Amber Spyglass (still haven't had the courage to read His Dark Materials since). Books can make you laugh out loud or scream out of pure frustration, or even fling it across the room 'cause you just can't deal with how embarrassing the characters are (I distinctly remember doing this while reading one of The Princess Diaries books. Mia Thermopolis is too cringe for life). And yes we'll probably feel all these emotions throughout our own lives, but there's something quite thrilling about experiencing them all at once, in the space of just a few pages.

3) Books can become a source of comfort. I don't know about you guys, but there are some books that feel like home to me. When I think of home they're part of the package, and when I'm feeling a little homesick, or craving something familiar I know I can pick it up, and feel like I belong again. If I had to choose one book that really made me feel like this, it would be Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. JK Rowling's books were an incredibly huge part of my childhood as I'm sure they were for lots of people. So when I'm feeling a little lost I skim through the first book letting my fingers trace over the words, and allowing the familiarity of the characters, the places, and the humour wash over me. It's super cute stuff.

4) Reading improves your literacy skills. I know I know. Improving your spelling and vocabulary is hardly an incentive to pick up a book. But it actually works guys. If you struggle with spelling, try reading more! The same goes for widening your vocabulary, though as a child bookworm this often meant I was using big and complicated words without knowing what on earth they meant. Whoops. 

5) You get to find out all the little details that were left out of the movie/tv adaptations! This is a big one for me. As much as I love watching a story come to life, I tend to prefer reading the books a little more. Movies can't always capture the charm, humour or the depth of emotion you know? Plus you find out so much more about all the little things that are part of a character's personality/life! 

6) Learning so much more about the world! This one is more relevant to non-fiction. I read a wide variety of books, and LOVE learning more about history, politics, and different cultures. Plus knowing your facts comes in handy when you need to prove someone wrong ;)

7) Reading widens your horizons. Novels, history books, newspapers, online articles. Reading any of these things can influence you as a person! Reading gets you thinking, it allows you to consider things you probably hadn't thought of before. It widens your mind and helps you see the perspective of so many others, thus allowing you to form new and better developed opinions on things that matter! Or even on things that may not matter to everyone, like whether the LOTR movies are better than the books...

8) Reading can inspire you. By learning from the mistakes of a character, or taking the risks that they were brave enough to take, or even too afraid to take. Yes, it's all fiction. But when authors write about people, it's a study of humanity. Fairytales are usually told with a moral, to teach children the difference between right and wrong. So why can't novels inspire us to be the people we want to be? (As long as that person isn't a psychotic serial killer...)

9) Books are a perfect escape route. When life is getting a little dull, or just too crazy for you to deal with a moment longer, I find reading to be the perfect remedy. Find a book that will grip you and pull you into the plot. There's something very satisfying about experiencing the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Maybe by the time you finish, you'll feel a little better about your own life.

10) Finally, one of the best things about reading is experiencing the beauty, and power of words. This is definitely a personal one for me, and might not apply to everyone. But I feel like we take words for granted FAR too often, and though we use them constantly we fail to appreciate their power. I love reading beautiful pieces of text. I love highlighting the places in a book where the words were strung together SO perfectly, and in such a magical way that it stopped my breath for a moment. The power of words, the ability to speak, read, and write. We would be lost without them.

Your turn! Do you guys have any other reasons why you think reading is awesome? And can you relate to any of the above?