Reading for Enjoyment

There is something special about picking up a book, getting lost in the pages, meeting new characters along the way, particularly nowadays when so many of us are looking at phone and computer screens so often.

However, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed when choosing what to read especially when there are certain books deemed to be ‘must-read classics’ or ‘hot new releases’ but I am a firm believer in reading for enjoyment.

Reading is meant to be a source of joy not stress, that 10 minutes or one hour of reading is your escapism. Why force yourself to read something you’re not enjoying just because it’s considered a classic and yet it just doesn’t appeal to you?

How boring would it be if we all liked the same books?

There are a number of books that I haven’t read which are probably counted as ‘must-reads’ in literary circles but will I read them? Probably not. If a story doesn’t interest me or I find language confusing (think Shakespeare), I most likely won’t read the book.

Some may argue that I may be missing out on some great books and that’s possibly true, however, there are hundreds of thousands of books to choose from and reading for me has to be enjoyable. And someone else’s great read may not be mine and vice versa.

And, who knows, maybe in a few years from now the books I don’t fancy reading at the moment are perhaps the ones I will pick up then.

For me, reading fiction is about meeting new characters, visiting different places and eras, it’s about quieting my mind of the day-to-day ‘stuff’ and that is why I seek out books which interest me.

Your reading journey is yours and there’s no right or wrong to it!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, leave us a comment below.

Happy reading!