As we enter the last phase of 2023, you are probably outlining your New Years Resolution. One thing that always makes everyone’s list is reading. Not the boring, mandatory reading for school or work but for plain old fun. The truth is that it is not easy to maintain a reading habit in today’s society. However, the ability to read is even more important now with digital devices everywhere. Students have a hard time reading long paragraphs with short attention spans. Reading will help you with these academic problems as well as touch your emotional side. In this Cover Story, you will learn why reading is so delightful along with how to enjoy it with various communities and activities.

Reading for Pleasure

          Reading for pleasure is probably what keeps readers coming back for more. Because so many people do not read these days, the importance of reading is once again emphasized: especially how it can make us smarter and live longer. While that is an important factor, it overlooks the main reason why so many people keep reading as a hobby. That is because reading is fun. It is as simple as that. The National Literacy Trust, a charity that helps empower people with literacy skills, defines ‘Reading for pleasure’ as ‘reading we do of our own free will, anticipating the satisfaction we will get from the act of reading’. It is also referred to as independent, voluntary, leisure, and recreational reading. As stated, we read what we are interested in in our own pace. This is where you fall in love with the act of reading. Society has made it hard to do anything for pleasure, though. Even book lovers sometimes get reading for understanding and reading for pleasure mixed up. The fact that reading is not common now means a reader is seen as an immensely productive and wise person. People might put them on a pedestal and ask what valuable life lesson they learned from the book. The reader is now pressured to make a fancy response. But what if it did not matter what you learned from the book?

1. Aesthetic Reading

          Literature is just there so that we can appreciate the beauty of words. We tend to want to keep digging to find the “true” meaning of a sentence because that is what we were taught to do for the last 12 years in school. Even in university, literature classes keep asking students to think beyond the text, relate the material to our modern world. This kind of discussion may feel forced and not worth it. Sometimes, it is okay to just like the book for what it seems on the surface rather than what it means. The important thing is that you enjoy the feeling it gives you. You will not be able to remember every line in a book, but the moment you hear the title, you are reminded of how you felt when the story progressed- warm, thrilling, or surprised. You will remember the season you read it, where you were, the position you were in, what face you made reading a certain scene. These are happy memories that are drilled into your brain like instinct.

2. A Way to Express Imagination

          The story itself can give you as much happiness because you have so much to imagine with. Everyone knows how fun it is to daydream, and some have wild imaginations, but it has taken a wrong turn on the internet. As short videos began to trend on social media, we are given only clips of incidents like protests or interviews, yet we are quick to decide whose side we are on, who is right and who is wrong. We make rapid presumptions and therefore imagine the quality of a person in a black and white logic. This has affected lots of people to have a cynical view on the world. So why not focus the imagination on a fictional character than real live people? Get the whole story instead of just a clipping and then activate your imagination from there. You will not judge right away because a book provides you with descriptions of the character’s thoughts, not just what is shown on the surface. It will make it easy for you to put yourself in their shoes and understand them. Scrolling through social media and receiving all that negative information is tiring. We know firsthand that nobody is perfect, and a person is bound to change even within a day. What we see in real people are just their words and face expressions. To judge based on the little information we have is essentially useless. You can also shape the character however you want it, make up personality traits and send them on adventures. You cannot do that with a real person, and you can easily get disappointed, which leads to criticizing. Focusing your imagination on a fictional world can save and bring peace to so many lives.

Therapeutic Reading

          Bibliotherapy is a well-known method to help students overcome conflict or problems. Roald Dahl’s Matilda is a great example of how books saved her life from her maniac parents and how libraries are the healing place for the soul. Books are not only an entertainment but can change the whole route of your life.

          There are four stages of bibliotherapy. The first step is Identification. People make connections with fictional characters and grow sympathetic. In the second stage, Catharsis, the students experience a release of emotions from the challenges the character goes through. This is the part where they laugh or cry. The third stage is Insight. The student begins to look at their own situation and apply the things they learned from the story. The last stage, Universalization, allows the student to learn to put themselves in others’ shoes.

          Typically, the person leading the process will recommend a fictional novel where the protagonist goes through the same situation the student is going through. Hopeful books where the hero makes it through is mostly recommended. The student could choose a book themselves, but usually the counselor should know which book is best for their condition. While adults or teenagers can use fiction like classics where most of the meaning is found underneath the surface, books for young kids are more direct, like stories of kids dealing with anger or biting. After reading the book, the student will realize that they are not the first or only one going through it. They will also be able to distance themselves from the situation they are in. Confessing truths about yourself can be difficult, but discussing the characters and plot makes it easier for the student to reveal what they are thinking. The great thing about bibliotherapy is that it can be connected to lots of different methods. The student can draw the story or write a journal. This allows them to let their mind run freely without judgement, and again distance themselves so they do not get too scared of vulnerability.

How to Find the Right Book

          The best way to start reading is to join an online book community. Now, it is important, especially when starting reading, to find a book right for you. While reading may seem like a peaceful hobby, your brain is fully activated to process the words on the page. Therefore, you need to make sure the book is not too boring or difficult. Plus, however many books you want to devour it is realistically impossible to read every single book out there. It would be wise to find a book worth your time and effort as quickly as possible. This step is why so many people are afraid of reading in the first place: they do not know which book is best for them. This is where joining a book community will help. Book communities are a safe space for avid readers. Although reading is known to be a solitary activity, the book community is bigger than you can ever imagine. Interacting with others who go to the same bookstore or have the same taste in fictional men will make your reading journey more joyful and help you out when you do not know which book to read next.

1. Goodreads

          If you are a starter, an app called Goodreads will definitely pave the way. Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers. Pick out your favorite genres such as art or autobiographies and an endless list of recommendations will be spread out for you. Book details like the publisher, length of the book, a short summary and other users’ reviews are easily accessible. If you like what you see, you can shelve it as ‘Want to read’. When you have started, shelve it as ‘Currently reading’ and record what page you are on to see your progress. After finishing it, shelve it as ‘Read’, then rate and leave your own review. Even more recommendations based on your finished book awaits. Each user can set their own ‘Reading Challenge’ every year and get a celebratory message when they have reached it. You can even get recommendations according to the seasons or holidays like Black history month and Pride month. Using apps like this gets you easy access to genres you find interesting and out of your comfort zone. It is helpful that you can record your reading process because it may push you to read at least one page every day, which is a good way to start making reading your habit. Plus, reading for just six minutes a day is said to stabilize your brain and nerves, so keeping it up will let you find peace in life.

2. Bookstagram, Booktok, Booktube

          If you want to interact with more people and catch up with the latest trends, try utilizing social media. Bookstagram, Booktok and Booktube are the most popular ones. Aesthetic book stacks and bookstore tours will make you dream of that life but do not fall to deep in that road. Instead, look for book recommendations and book reviews. You will be able to see how people annotate and tab their books, how to appreciate hard core literature like the great classics. Lots of authors run their accounts on social media and advertise their books. Even public facilities like libraries, bookstores and publishers upload trendy videos and latest releases. The books that appear repeatedly on everyone’s feed do not have a certain criterion, from romance to thrillers, classics to recently published. What is certain is that it is trending, and next on an influencer’s shopping list. Barnes & Noble, the largest bookseller in the United States, even has a section for ‘Booktok Books’ and Kyobo Books which is the same for Korea, always pack the ‘Foregin Books’ section with the trendiest ones. These books are not for everyone, of course, so there are lots of booktubers with videos titled ‘Are booktok books worth it?’

3. Banned Books

          If you have browsed through the online book community, you may have heard of a ‘Banned Books Week’. A person with no particular taste in books might find a banned book interesting but let us find out more about banned books first. Banned Books Week is a week to encourage people to read books that have been banned. The government, organizations and individuals have been banning books from libraries and schools from the earliest time. This goes against the first amendment and blocks citizens from intellectual freedom and freedom to read what they want. From January to August 2022, 1,915 books were banned, most of whose authors were colored or from the LGBTQ+ community. This is a way of censorship, which is obvious from the absurd excuses for bans. For example, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was banned because animals speaking the language of humans placed them in the same rank as us. Tarzan was banned due to the two main characters living together before getting married. Even highly recommended classics today like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and 1984 were once banned. Thanks to librarians, teachers, students and community members around the world, many books were saved, so to celebrate this movement, Banned Books Week started in 1982. In 2023, it was from October 1 to 7, and during that week bookstores and libraries have a special exhibition for banned books so that more readers are aware of this censorship and encouraged to read them. Tags like #BannedBooksWeek and #LetFreedomReadDay were also used to participate on social media.

Book Community Glossary

Bibliophile: Someone who loves collecting or reading books

CR (Current Read): The book you are currently reading

Novella: A novel whose length is shorter than most novels but longer than short stories

TBR (To Be Read): Books you intend to read at some point in life. Usually used like so: ‘January TBR’, ‘2024 TBR’, ‘Never-ending TBR’

Dark academia: An aesthetic and genre dealing with students at ivy league schools with great passion for learning great art, literature, and Greek mythologies. Characters are secretive to each other, and the story revolves around dark affairs like murder.

Home library: People whose hobby is book-buying will normally exhibit their books in an aesthetically pleasing way like a bookstore or library. It could vary from just one bookshelf to a whole roomful of books.

Reading like a Pro

          Now that you got the book you want to read, you just need to read it, right? Unfortunately, there are many ways you can go from here. How people read differs based on what they want from the book. Some may want to relax and take a slow walk, others just pick out the parts they find useful, and then there are the intensive ones with pens ripping through the pages. Whatever stage you are at, it is always a good experience to try active reading. Active reading is manifested when you analyze and ask questions about the content of the book. The reader is no longer passive, but a partner with the author and can think of stories beyond the actual book.

1. Annotation

          The easiest way to start active reading is to annotate. You may not know this word, but there is no doubt you have done this before. Do you remember highlighting and summarizing main points of a passage in school? Although it was painful in school, it is actually good training for active reading. Whatever mark you leave on the book is called annotation: highlighting and underlining sentences, writing your thoughts in the margins or sticky notes. If you have an avid reader near you, you have probably seen them holding a book with hundreds of tabs sticking out. That reader probably has a color-coded system: pink for romantic scenes, blue for sad, yellow for memorable quotes. This is a great system to record how you felt in a particular scene or phrase. In fantasy fiction where there are loads of characters and plots to keep track of, it is helpful to write them down on a sticky note after each chapter. These annotations do not need to be philosophical or clear. Many people write quirky comments like “Omg!” and “Yesss!” even in great literature. You just need to record your thoughts and have fun.

2. Reading Journal

          When the margin of a book is not enough, you can turn to reading journals. Reading journals are used to document every step of the reading journey- from what you have read to what your reading habits are. There are hundreds of spreads on the internet, but if you are feeling artsy, it is exciting to draw your own spread. Bullet journals are used most because they allow you to produce any kind of spread with no limits.

          Typically, reading journals are divided into common spreads and individual spreads. For common spreads, there are Monthly Covers, Reading Logs, a Reading Tracker to see how many pages you read a day, and DNF spreads for a book you did not finish. If you get your books from the library, you can see how much money you saved by making a Library Savings spread. Alphabet Challenges or Book Bingos will motivate you to read books out of your comfort zone. You can also rank your favorite book as the Book of the Month and further, Book of the Year.

          For individual books, you can go in deeper: The title, author, genre, start and end date, and rating are the basics. You can add publisher and publication date, and length of book. Summaries and reviews can be added too. It is a good idea to write your own summaries because you will be able to sort out the main points from the pile of information. Summarizing the story into one sentence is also a good exercise. Artsy people tend to decorate individual book spreads with stickers or drawings. While it is a good way to enjoy various hobbies, it should not get in the way of writing a heartfelt review. Everyone knows how hard it is to sit down and ponder deeply about a book these days, but it is a good habit to write at least a one-page review by hand. First of all, things to write about will keep popping up if you set your mind to it. Second, it is important to write by hand especially in the digital era that we live in today. Now that even students are equipped with laptops and iPads in class, we can only handwrite in our own time. A reading journal is the perfect place to practice it. Writing by hand lets you think again about the structure and spelling of your words and retain what you have written.

3. Post-reading Activities

          If writing it out is not your thing, let your inner artist go free by making a bookmark based on the book you read. Although it is an inside joke among readers that they use anything they get their hands on for a bookmark- from receipts to remote controls- it is always nice to have a special bookmark by your side. You could draw memorable scenes or quotes, or popular bookish quotes like ‘Just one more chapter’ or ‘So many books, so little time’. Many people write a Reading Log on their bookmark as well.

          If you have a favorite character, it is fun to look for fanarts or character analysis. Everyone has an image of the character as they read a book, but since it is all words, there could be a detail you missed or interpreted differently. The character you thought of as blonde could actually be brunette, and some people even get the gender confused. This is usually it for fiction. For nonfiction, it is helpful to read other reviews because some parts you missed may stand out to others, making you appreciate the book more.

          It is also a good idea to see if the book was made into a movie to broaden your perspective. It will be easy since almost every popular book is made into a movie nowadays. However, you may not like both because the movie is never exactly the same as the book. For example, the Dreamworks film How to Train Your Dragon (2010) is based on the 12-book series by Cressida Cowell. Although the name of the protagonists and setting is the same, the movie entails only a small part of the first book, with whole new conflicts. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) in The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis portrays a majestic battle, and while the book’s description of it lasted two sentences, the movie made it one of the most beautiful battle scenes in film history. Like so, you can never be sure whether you will like both the book and the film. The best way is to find out by yourself- you may end up with two new favorite contents.

Conclusion

          In this Cover Story, you were informed lots of different ways to enjoy reading for your peace and happiness. Although it may seem daunting at first, reading is a hobby that is worth trying. Never underestimate the power of a book. Finding a book you like will bring tranquility in your life, and let you enjoy your own company. Besides, academic benefits will follow once you get into the habit. You will learn new words naturally and lengthen your attention span. Your critical reading skills will enhance, which is vital to become digitally literate. All of this is a given, but you must first like reading. A person can never know the excitement of being an avid reader before they become one. The world in the pages of a book can only exist when you have read and understood it. Treat yourself to various new worlds and discover the magical effect it has on you.