On The Pleasures of Reading

Those who know me know reading is my most favorite pastime – and, if I could have triple majored, it’d have been in English. So if there’s anyone to extol the pleasures of reading, it’s me. (I’ve been using that line quite a bit, haven’t I?)

In fact, I have a Substack (shameless self-plug!) where I review my recent reads, if you’d like to check it out. The following? Small. The authenticity? Large. 

But back to the column! 

We know of the “standard” benefits of reading, like strengthened brain connectivity, increased empathy, and an improved vocabulary.

But there’s another we don’t talk about enough – or I've just made it up – a healthy appetite for whimsy! 

I should note, I’ve decided whimsy, here, is synonymous with unadulterated joy, though the word itself holds a number of (similar!) meanings.

I've just finished Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility for a class of mine, and though the novel is not necessarily whimsical, it is romantic and clever and occasionally biting – all the things I love in a book.

I’d been in a reading rut for a minute, then came along Sense and Sensibility to remind me of the joys of reading, the whimsy of fictional narratives, and I'm sure a good book (of your choosing!) can do just the same for you. 

This may be a bit at odds with my initial argument, but so often reading is made to be an intellectual pursuit, a means of self-improvement, and it can be. But you know what reading can also be? Fun!

And why can’t we do things just for the fun of them?

P.S. The photo is of my self-imposed reading list from last summer, and I got through one of them... Somehow, I'd fallen prey to an assortment of "trashier" romance novels again!