Embrace the detours: Reading moves you.

I have been thinking about how much I love reading recently and what impact it has on me. I'm not sure how, or why, my love of reading has stuck with me throughout my life; my family are not readers, my parents are busy and prefer to read a newspaper instead of a novel and my brother would rather be dissecting a car (or whatever he does, I don't know) than pick up a book. Once we began learning to read in primary school with the Roger Redhat books (anyone else remember those?), I remember my nanna spending a lot of time with me, listening and helping me to read. I think that is probably when I started to enjoy it, and although I was still learning, it took me away to another place.

I think in the UK we are lucky to have a reading culture and for me, it's a shame that a lot of people no longer take advantage of that. We are encouraged to read at school and a lot of importance is placed upon the English literature curriculum. We were talking with a couple of Mexicans the other night and a friend asked me how many books I had read this year. I answered, worried I was putting in a poor show, but the other Mexican hadn't read any; not a single book. I have also been speaking to the teachers at my school, and they have commented on the lack of focus literature in the high school curriculum: not a single poem, play or novel. I was shocked and to be frank, saddened.

So why I do think reading is so important? It can be really hard sometimes. Now, I appreciate the works of Shakespeare and Dickens, but that doesn't mean I would read it for fun. I remember slogging my way through the play, An Inspector Calls, looking for all the symbolism and themes and not particularly enjoying it that much at the time either. But now, looking back, I realise that these challenging reads have helped me form a greater understanding of the world; of history, of culture, of people.

You can delve into the mindset of a specific time in history, you can find the supporters and critics of a way of life. The Great Gatsby, for example, is a criticism of the extravagant, decadent party lifestyles of 1920s America. It's so easy just to take things on first appearance without reflecting or challenging that point of view. A book can throw everything you thought you knew into disarray, making you a more well rounded, perceptive and pensive thinker.

A good book stays with you throughout your life and although it's messages may no longer be relevant, they take you back to the moment when they were, in the same way that a song or smell transports you back in time. I can recall what point of my life I was at when I remember reading my favourite books for the first time, and also what I was inspired to read afterwards. I can remember passages of books that also made an impression on me in the same way that I remember my favourite scenes from films. A novel can be appreciated in a million different ways by different people. It's adaptable and personal, an escape or a reality check.

When people ask me what I like to do in my spare time and I say read, I still get some really weird looks, like it's the strangest thing I could possibly do in my spare time. But I'm glad I devote my free time and effort to this hobby. I have learnt and continue to learn so much from reading; learning and speaking another language is greatly helped by having a firmer grasp on your native tongue. How can you expect to master another language when you haven't mastered your own? Reading feeds into every part of my life: my vocabulary, my other hobbies, relaxation, blog writing, to name but a few. What's more, I'm sure that I will continue to unwind and de-stress through picking up a book and I will also continue to share my love for reading.

I think these quotes are much more concise in saying what I am trying to say!

“It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it." - Oscar Wilde

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." - Charles William Eliot