Category: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post. Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists. Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s topic is Reasons Why I Love Reading. And we’re supposed to limit ourselves to just ten reasons?

1. It supports a creative industry
2. It’s a way of helping small businesses, like my nearest independent bookshop Fourbears Books, or maintaining valuable public institutions, like libraries
3. Because books can be now consumed in a variety of formats – phyical, digital, audio – depending on preference or circumstances. For example, I’m currently listening to the audiobook version of A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende, have just finished a paperback copy of Business As Usual by Jane Oliver & Ann Stafford, and am reading an eARC of For Lord & Land by Matthew Harffy.
4. Because reading is a great way to pass the time on long journeys
5. Because books can transport you to different parts of the world, such as to India in my recent read The Secret Keeper of Jaipur
6. Because books can give you an insight into events you’d otherwise not – or perhaps rather not – experience, such as the evacuation of Dunkirk in Sword of Bone by Anthony Rhodes
7. You can learn things you didn’t know, and not only from non-fiction.  For instance, as I learned from the introduction to The Penguin Book of Spanish Short Stories, Spain has four recognised languages
8. Reading opens up the possibility of being part of a wider community of fellow readers
9. Picking up a book can help to lift your spirits just when you need it most
10. If you don’t believe me about the value of reading, then listen to the wise words of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as imagined by Alan Bennett in The Uncommon Reader – “A book is a device to ignite the imagination.”

What are some of the reasons you love reading?