Why do you read books?

Can't remember being taught to read (Mum taught me before I went to school). Happy childhood memories of going to the library with Mum and choosing books - she gave me a very free rein. We didn't have a lot of spare cash but she bought me books.

In the Summer holidays I would go to my Gran's and she had books everywhere. Read The Thorn Birds at about 10 and all of her Walter Scott's.

Surrounded by books and people who loved reading so grew up thinking that was the norm.

As soon as I could read independently I was hooked. From the age of 8 I would take 7 books a week out of the local library and read them all. Continued all through school, did A level English, an English degree and have been an English teacher for 27 years. Have never stopped reading in all that time. I think it started as an escape from boredom and then became so much more. I’m a pretty catholic reader, lots of classics and literary fiction but also more low brow stuff. Read quite a lot of literary criticism for work and love the fact that I work with people who also love books.

Three reasons.

1. Beauty. Certain writers do things with language that make me shiver. In particular, P. G. Wodehouse, Anthony Burgess, Virginia Woolf, Evelyn Waugh and Oscar Wilde. Then of course there are the poets, especially Philip Larkin, T. S. Eliot, John Betjamen, Wilfred Owen, Tennyson, Shelley and Keats.

2. Entertainment. There is nothing like a good story. My mother worked with inner city kids, and she always said that even the worst behaved would be spellbound when you read them a good story (she swore by Roald Dahl). It's primal. We were telling each other stories long before recorded history. Daniel Defoe, Jane Austen, Dickens, M. R. James, Sherlock Holmes, etc, are still popular for a reason. Pride and Prejudice, for example, has never been bettered.

3. The pleasure of finding things out. I guess this applies more to non-fiction. Bill Bryson's History of Nearly Everything, for example, is pure bliss - just page after page of fascinating information. The best writers have a clear style, and a vast range of knowledge, but also a love for their subject. Harold Bloom's literary criticism, for example, or Carl Sagan's science writings, are not just informative but joyful. Same is true of Bertrand Russell's books on philosophy, or John Ruskin's essays on art. These people love what they write about. Books make the world infinitely more interesting.

I read because I crave it. I panic if I am running out of reading material.

If I have the time and the peace to plough deeply through words then I read a book - fiction at night and non-fiction in waiting rooms/trains etc. I read magazines and journals whilst I am eating. i used to have a big comic book habit too but have largely stopped (apart from 2000AD) because they're so expensive and I preferred the compressed storytelling of British comics of my youth (lots more words).

It’s very calming for me and my well-being suffers if I don’t read at least a little each day. When I’m reading (especially in the bath) my mind stills and becomes very focused on the track set by the author. I love to escape into historical or mythical-tinged worlds, as well as learning about all sorts of subjects (feminism, linguistics, history, evolution…). I suspect I’m autistic - DD is and I have a lot of the same traits - reading would count as a ‘special interest’ for me.

Used to visit the library as a kid. Still do as an adult. It's like a sweetie shop full of different book titles to choose from. Which one shall I pick today 🤔😂

As others have pointed out, reading is a fantastic form of escapism. It's why I enjoy it so much. My Dad gets through several books each week. Constantly reading. I must have got the reading bug from him.

Politician, Rory Stewart is a massive book friend too, he has a permanent place in his private bags and also his professional cases etc. for a couple of books and reads them during work breaks.

I've met him 3 times, absolutely lovely man, and we had a jolly good natter about our book obsessions!

I read for escapism

I love horror and psycho books and films and read my first horror when I was 5, and watched my first horror movie at that age. I'm 58 now.

I grew up an an awkward household where I had no friends, no family so I took to books. Various pets and wildlife were my only friends and family.

Books helped me escape the hell I was going through and they continued to help as I got older, then a teen and an adult.

Hubby and I have no tv or license stuff in our household by choice, but we're both book addicts!

We're always in Waterstones, WH Smith, charity shops, second hand stalls for physical books!

Escapism and for something to do. I've been an avid reader since I first learnt how to read, reading everything I lay my eyes on (including the tube of toothpaste while brushing my teeth, which is how I learnt my parents were supposed to be supervising me brushing my teeth at that age )
There is nothing better than escaping into the world of a novel, it seeps into my dreams at night too so even more fun from books.

Both parents were readers and as kids we went to the library weekly.

Reading is essential like eating/breathing/sleep!

Reading is the only thing that stops the incessant chatter in my head.

Always had my head in a book. My mum encouraged us to read took us to the library every three weeks. Four books was never usually enough for me.

I had my own books as well.

I find it easy to imagine whats happening as I read, I dont know if it is like that for everyone.

I like writing too.

I have been a total bookworm since i learned to read & have always found time to read & had a book on the go no matter what else is happening in my life. I read at every available opportunity & prioritise it above many other things.

I definitely think normalising and role modelling reading makes a massive difference in wether a child reads

Soy = spy

When I look back at my reading so far this year, I've read 42 books so far. Of those, two were "worthy" fiction, 4 were non fiction and the other 36 were a mixture of crime, soy, fantasy, mystery and romance novels. When I look at that fairly, I probably would have read 5/6 proper books in 5 months as my total even if I hadn't also read a load of other books that aren't especially worthy. So the others are all just bonus books really.

Both of my parents were voracious readers, I grew in a house full of books and loved to read as soon as I mastered it (I am dyslexic). I cannot imagine a life without books.

I love being out of myself - in a different world or time. Read every day. Would read cereal packet if nothing else at hand.

Another avid reader during my childhood, teens and twenties. Then it dropped off for a decade, but I am back reading and understand what I enjoy. Fantasy. Dystopian. Classics (although I am disappointed in some I have reread that I use to love when I was younger). Lots of non-fiction on history.

I read to escape. And now I am writing my first novel too. But I do feel a bit meh when I'm reading about a world full of magic and possibilities and then have to crash back into an average life. It does make me try and fill my life with exciting things.

My dd picked up my reading habit. She loves to read and is now even at the age where she’s pinching my books. I read a lot of young adult/teen. I don’t read a lot of adult books.

DS on the other hand….will do anything to avoid reading

Reading has always been a huge part of my life. My parents read to us every night, and I knew lots of books by heart before I went to school. (Blackberry Farm featured largely if there's anyone old enough to remember those!)
My mum said she was sure she could have taught me to read early but decided it might make school boring so deliberately held back. I remember vividly the first lesson using Janet and John books and how it instantly made total sense. Absolutely brilliant. So boring though, when we had to read out loud in turn in the classroom and you just wanted to race ahead and get through the story!
And visiting the library, where the fierce woman behind the desk inspected our hands to make sure they were clean before we were allowed to touch the books. Even if you whispered she would hear and glare at you. We still loved going there though.
Caravan holidays in the rain as a child meant a lot of time for reading. Later on, living in London and travelling on the tube too. I always buy a bag big enough to carry a book everywhere.
There's a quote by AL Kennedy which I've failed to find, to the effect that when we read about other people's lives and understand them and sympathise with them and realise how similar we are, it's a lot harder to hate them and kill them. She says some other good stuff below:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/26/al-kennedy-doctor-who-reminded-me-how-precious-storytelling-is

I struggled to learn and couldn't read until I was 7. Then one day I picked up one of my sister's famous five books, intrigued by the cover, and as if by magic I could read. It lowers blood pressure, so I think that's why it feels calming. It helps develop empathy, communication and language skills, so you see those benefits in real life interactions. It also burns more calories than watching TV, so that's a definite plus for me. I grew up in a house full of books and have given the same to my children who all read voraciously.

Always been a reader. I just love getting lost in a story and it playing out in my head. Love that feeling of wanting to get back to my book. My favourite summer pastime is just sitting in the sun reading.

Reading is hugely relaxing. I love immersing myself in different times and places. It can be a form of escapism- I often read when I'm stressed (sometimes to the detriment of doing what I should be!). I think my imagination far better than anything that can be created on screen. TV shows and films are fine and enjoyable enough, but nothing beats a book!