Why I Love Reading

For some of us it may seem like a stupid question, because for us reading is a necessity - like eating or breathing.

However, not everyone is like us. Not everyone enjoys reading. (I know, it baffles me too.) I'm sure you know quite a few people who don't read at all, or at least don't choose to read for their own entertainment. Most of my friends don't read, and I'll admit, it often makes me question why I am friends with them at all. They only read things that they have to read, like the traffic signs or instruction manuals - nothing frivolous like novels. Theirs is a way of life I will never come to understand.

But then there are people like us, bibliophiles, bookworms - those who are consumed by all things books. Why do we enjoy reading? What does reading do for us?

I love reading for millions of reasons, some reasons that I can't even put into words. But alas, here are a few of the many reasons I love to read.

1. It's magical

One of the things I love most about reading is that it resembles something so inexplicably close to magic. In a matter of pages you can be thrust into a world of adventure, a vicarious experience. A book can take away time and space limitations. You can visit the past or the future, travel to different countries, even planets, become a different person. If that isn't magic, then I don't know what is.

"A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic." - Carl Sagan, Cosmos

2. Personal and Professional Growth

Reading helps me grow as a person, expanding my views on certain aspects of life, making me re-evaluate my morals and think about things I'd never wondered about, filling my brain with random facts that will probably only ever come in handy when I'm thirty and hosting a dinner party. The things I read affect my every personal and professional decision. Books have taught me to see things in a different light and to think differently about certain situations.

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” - Neil Gaiman, Coraline

3. I get to make new friends

I'm almost certain that I'm not the only teenage girl out there who can say that she has more fictional characters than real friends. Whenever we need them to cheer us up or make us laugh, we can pull our friends off the bookshelf and hang out for hours. A great book not only sweeps me away, it surrounds me with characters I can feel a physical and emotional connection with. Not only do I find friends in fictional characters, but also in other bookworms and book bloggers. Discussing stories over twitter and tumblr I've made some incredible friends, bonding over books is incredible, but the friendships that begin that way go way beyond fiction.

"We read to know that we are not alone." - C.S Lewis.

4. Books are Brain enhancers

Our minds are the central processing units of our entire beings, the genesis of all our hopes and dreams which we should invest time in. Books are brain food, they make us think and feel. I will keep reading and keep cramming my mind palace until the doors will not close. Unlike rubber, once your brain is stretched it will never return to it's original state. Though you may not be able to recite the entire book off the top of your head, bits of it will remain with you for the rest of your life. Stories stay with us forever, whether we know it or not.

5. Reading makes me happy

Reading is a big part of my life and every book that I have read, every character that I've met, has influenced who I have become as a person. My entire life consists of tweeting about feels and reblogging gifs of my favorite ships, and yes, it may sound a little pathetic, but it is what I love most.

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Do you love to read? Why/ Why not?

Also, I'd love to receive some feedback on my blog! Was this too much for a first post? Is my layout okay? DID I SPELL ANYTHING WRONG? Let me know in the comments. :)