The Art of Reading

We all know that I read a ton. Hell, this IS primarily a book blog. 80% of the content you’ll find while perusing this site has to do with some form of literature. I tote my Kindle around in my purse all the time and sometimes I’ll add a paperback for good measure. If I consider you a friend, you have probably received at least one book from me. I absolutely love finding new reads, discovering new authors and then passing that information along to others.

However, I am also aware that there are a number of people who don’t read and that makes me a bit sad, to be honest. I have deemed it vital that I encourage everyone I am around to read at least one extra book that they did the year before. I looked up a few statistics and found that one in four adults have not read a single book in the past year.

A few of my friends who know me and are reading this post are probably steeling themselves for an upcoming rant they feel is coming because they’ve heard it countless times. But listen, just hear me out here. Let me break down a few reasons why I believe reading is important.

1. Vocabulary expansion and confidence in conversations – A lot of times when I am having a conversation with someone I can almost immediately tell if they are a reader. I know that I can’t be the only one. Haven’t you ever had a conversation with someone and just know that they don’t read that much? Well read anything outside of gossip blogs and the occasional magazine? I have and I absolutely hate that. This is not to sound snooty but I believe you can always tell based on how limited the conversation is. Now don’t get me wrong – I watch these reality shows and a few aren’t half bad but if you are at a networking event, speaking with a mentor or even having a heart to heart conversation with a friend, you can only talk about a show’s latest episode or celebrity scandal for so long. Reading introduces you to new words that you may not have known, new concepts that were once foreign to you and new lessons and topics to discuss with people.

2. Boost in creativity – Regardless of the genre, I think reading can provide the reader with a spark of creativity when needed. Whether reading an article in Forbes or Money Magazine regarding financial tips or learning how your favorite entrepreneur attained success in a new memoir, I feel that reading about someone’s journey and/or listening to advice from someone who has already been “there” can help us as we are creating our own path. It can give us the needed push to becoming our own person.

3. Focus – Reading helps with your focus, believe it or not. With television, you can turn it on and talk with people, take care of a few household chores and for a majority of shows you can still follow along and not necessarily feel left out. With reading, you have to be extremely focused. You have to be very detailed because you don’t want to miss an important confrontation in the story line or a poignant lesson. You don’t want to skim that part and then when it is brought up again 100 pages later have to flip back to reread. Being focused in reading helps prepare us, if even a tiny bit, for being focused on our goals.

Now, I am not trying to force you to read 50 books a year, I am just encouraging everyone to read a little more. Even if its just one book more than you did last year or a subscription to a great business magazine – expand your vocabulary, increase your creativity and become more focused by reading more. Not sure where to start? Look no further! Take a look through some old posts with book recommendations and be on the look out for more as I will continually suggest new reads.

Signed,

Your favorite Bibliophile 🙂

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Natalya

Natalya is an Account Manager by day and an editor and author's assistant to passionate creatives by night. When she is not adding to her enormous book collection or stationery supply, she is catching up on her favorite television shows.

Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.

You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.