More Reading, More Books
Many years ago, I bought for myself a print of a Mickey Smith photograph. Her work still makes my heart sing. Of it, Louis Menand says, “One important thing about the images is their found-ness. The photographs are taken from life; they’re not made from props in a studio. The artist was on library safari.” I still love my More Books and recently moved it back into my study, as a reminder as I walk in. This is what the world needs, this is what I need.
And when you redecorate a bit, move things around (re: my theme song, Raise a Little Hell), new things might emerge. In this case, the books from my shelves are reflected in the glass of the frame. (Which I think you can see in a couple of the images below).
All I know is that I’m happier when I’ve read something that I love. My mental health is better when I’m reading something great. In a recent article in the Guardian (with librarians weighing in) titled, “The experts: librarians on 20 easy, enjoyable ways to read more brilliant books,” number 20 is:
“If you take 10 minutes a day to sink into a book, newspaper or read anything, it is very good for your mental health,” says Middleton. “There is lots of medical evidence of that being the case. Reading a book for 10 minutes is better for you than listening to your favourite record.”
Morrish makes a final impassioned plea: “It has been scientifically proven that reading increases your powers of empathy, social skills and ability to relate to other people. It relaxes you, it lowers your cortisol levels and blood pressure. It increases your vocabulary, your knowledge, creativity and imagination. If you read for pleasure, your grades will be better. To read from a book gives you time off the screen, which is hugely beneficial for your mental health.”
Neil Pasricha has written a post titled, “8 More Ways to Read (A Lot) More Books.” And he gives you 8 reasons and this:
“And, lastly, an incredible 2013 study at Emory University, MRIs taken the morning after test subjects were asked to read sections of a novel showed an increase in connectivity in the left temporal cortex. What’s that? The area of the brain associated with receptivity for language. Priming the brain. And the MRIs were done the next day. Just imagine the long-term benefits of cracking open a book every day.”
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then I know that you’re a reader, already. But if you’re like me, the last few years have really muddled up your life, your brain, your mindset, your thought patterns….
And I know that there are those who have probably read more in the last years than even before! This is wonderful! Interesting book clubs are popping up everywhere. Bring your own book book clubs, and silent book clubs are totally in vogue. This one that includes red wine and chocolate definitely appeals!
Perhaps you don’t need any challenges or reminders to read more. You don’t need to post it in all caps outside your study, like I do :) But I’d like to challenge you to read a book (or more) a week and if it suits, to post about it. It could be anything! If you’re not on social media, skip the posting part, and maybe start a reading diary, or list. A book a week, and tell someone about the book you read. Talk it up. I guess one of the things I’m really interested in right now is: how to get someone else excited about a particular book? and then about reading in general?
I’d like to end with that famous excerpt from Italo Calvino’s If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler (transl. William Weaver):
“In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following this visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricade of Books You Haven't Read, which were frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you. But you know you must never allow yourself to be awed, that among them there extend for acres and acres the Books You Needn't Read, the Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading, Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong To The Category Of Books Read Before Being Written. And thus you pass the outer girdle of ramparts, but then you are attacked by the infantry of the Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered. With a rapid maneuver you bypass them and move into the phalanxes of the Books You Mean To Read But There Are Others You Must Read First, the Books Too Expensive Now And You'll Wait Till They're Remaindered, the Books ditto When They Come Out In Paperback, Books You Can Borrow From Somebody, Books That Everybody's Read So It's As If You Had Read Them, Too. Eluding these assaults, you come up beneath the towers of the fortress, where other troops are holding out:
the Books You've Been Planning To Read For Ages,
the Books You've Been Hunting For Years Without Success,
the Books Dealing With Something You're Working On At The Moment,
the Books You Want To Own So They'll Be Handy Just In Case,
the Books You Could Put Aside Maybe To Read This Summer,
the Books You Need To Go With Other Books On Your Shelves,
the Books That Fill You With Sudden, Inexplicable Curiosity, Not Easily Justified,
Now you have been able to reduce the countless embattled troops to an array that is, to be sure, very large but still calculable in a finite number; but this relative relief is then undermined by the ambush of the Books Read Long Ago Which It's Now Time To Reread and the Books You've Always Pretended To Have Read And Now It's Time To Sit Down And Really Read Them.”
(And then, the question…what will you read next? Any of the above?)
