Me sitting in my cozy corner reading the last of the Millennium series – The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. N comes closer to me and asks a very rhetorical question “Mama are you reading book?” Me in my don’t-bother-me-I-am-reading-a-book voice “Umm Hmm”. N speaks again “Mama why you read sho many books? You like em?”
Why do I read books? I asked myself. Because, came the answers –
– they take me to an alternate world far away from the real one, whenever I want. I love to dive in to a different world, be it the magic world of Harry Potter or a fictional town and city in a drama.
– they help me expand my horizon when I read stories set in different places and cultures. They make me more aware and knowledgeable.
– they help me unwind and de-stress, give me something to look forward to after a long and tiring day. Ah! the pleasure of sinking down onto some plush cushions with your current read and a hot cup of coffee is unmatched!
– they make me laugh, they make me cry, they inspire me and make me stronger. So many times books have helped me understand things and people better, they have motivated me and guided me.
– they help me survive boring conversations and irritating people! Yes books have been my saviour in a lot of these situations.
– and finally I love the thrill of buying or receiving a new book in mail. The joy of opening it and breathing in the pages. The flipping through the book and reading the synopsis on the back cover. The happiness in adding one more book to my home library! It is a great feeling – one of those little treasures in life that I will always cherish!
Those were my reasons. I would love to know why you read books. So let me (for the first time ever) start a tag.
The tag is simple.
- You have to answer the question – “Why do you read books (if you do)?”.
- It could be a one line answer or a 10 liner or a Godzilla sized post.
- It should just be a from-the-heart answer for why you read.
- You can tag on as many or as few bloggers as you want to. Try to pass it on though. It would be interesting to know why so many people read!
I would love to tag Arundhati, Aparna, Sandhya, Kiran, Choxbox, Divs and Uma. Ladies – Looking forward to hearing your reasons.
Other bloggers – Please feel free to take this tag up on your blogs!
Non-bloggers – I would love to hear your thoughts too. Please leave comments!
ChipsnChutzpah 
Since I don’t blog I’ll just write in the comment section…incidentally yesterday Vishal and me were having an conversation about books when Vishal said “With books one can actually do time travel”…very true…I love reading …thought I must admit I can’t read management books even thought I motivate myself a lot to read them….I love fiction and adventure because that lets me escape the daily life routine and go to an awesome world 🙂 where sky is not the limit.
Aur madam what’s with all ur latest entries being limited only for bloggers? Ur 100th giveaway was only for others who blog so I could not participate and now again tags in which others bloggers can only participate …not fair 😛
Parul!!! Not at all man! The giveaway was not meant for “only bloggers”. Sorry my bad, I should have mentioned more clearly!! Will keep that in mind next time.
And you are right, books allow us to time travel anywhere we want to 🙂 See that’s another reason why people read books.
I will update this post to make sure non bloggers and people not tagged can write their thoughts in the comments section. Thx for the feedback 🙂
🙂 its ok.I was tempted to start blogging only to participate in that 100th post give away but then never got around doing it…anyways would have looked a funny blog with only 1 entry 😉
Hey good tag Simran..i just posted an entry about purchasing two books to motivate me to dust off the dust settled on my reading habit..
will take it up soon..thanks for tagging me..
btw, whatever happened to my tag???
Thanks Uma! will read your post asap. And your tag is in draft mode and will be out soon 🙂
Sorry about the delay. Was sort of not-in-the-blogging-mode for the last few weeks but am back on track now.
Hmm…lovely tag, Simran. Just up my alley. Will take it up soon. Thanks for tagging me.:)
Great Sandhya! Looking forward to read your entry 🙂
Hey Simran.. I knew when I saw the word “tag”.. oh oh.. Though it looks like you’ve already given the couple of reasons I can think of, let me see if I can drag out some more ;)… Thanks for tagging me – will be an interesting one I’m sure..
One series I would love for you to try when you’re looking for a book to read would be the Bartimaeus trilogy (later became 4 books :)).. It starts with a book called the Amulet of Samarkand – basically comes under the Fantasy genre – try it out ! It’s one of my fav series.
Thanks Aparna! Will definitely try out that series when I am looking for a book next time. I am a fantasy series fan too – LOVED Harry Potter, Twilight series, Lord of Rings. So the Bartimaeus series will be on my list. Thanks for the recommendation.
I loved the Millennium series, both the books and the Swedish movies.
I love reading fiction for the amazing stories written so beautifully, they not only entertain but also increase my vocab in the written language. I recently learned the Punjabi script and reading poetry/fiction in Punjabi helps me learn the language more.
I love reading documentary/accounts/essays as they make me aware of the various facts of the topic involved and that makes me a smarter or in the least a better informed individual.
I love reading blogs and hobby books, as they inspires me to be creative and try out new things 🙂
I agree Puneet reading helps building one’s vocabulary too! And especially if you are reading in a new language. Blogs are always inspiring. I sometimes wish I could devote a big chunk of hours in a day just to read blogs.
and btw welcome back to blogging, I enjoy reading your posts and you were MIA for some time now 🙂
Thanks Puneet!! Thats quite a motivation booster 🙂
Hey didn’t know about this blog of yours at all! Thanks for the tag – will take it up asap.
What kind of stuff do you read typically – fiction or non-fiction?
Thanks Choxbox! I usually read fiction – loads of it 🙂 Very rarely non-fiction too. I enjoy my drama and suspense thrillers the most along with stuff like HP, LOTR, Twilight series etcetera. I also like trying out new stuff so am open to experiments 🙂
Ah a fantasy fiction fan then – much like my Firstborn!
I do like fantasy fiction and a lot of other genres too. I completed my Enid Blytons, Famous Fives, Nancy Drews, Hardy Boys, Tintins (ooooh how I loved all these series when I was a kid) then moved to John Grisham, Jeffrey Archer, Lee Child, Ken Follet, Arthur Hailey, Michael Crichton, then HP and LOTR came along, and then I started reading a variety of fiction, drama and other genre authors. Its been a great experience so far 🙂
Do try Diana Wynne Jones then – the Chrestomanci series is a good place to start off. There are 9 in the series.
[They used to travel everywhere with us couple of years back (incl. JLR Kabini – the child was sprawled for hours on those awesome hammocks with them!)].
Will definitely look it up and read. Am on “One hundred years of Solitude” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez right now. Its been on my to-read list for long.
Hmmm this is another one that will need me to sit down and think 🙂 So I’ll get to it soon Simran. Thanks for tagging me!
You are welcome!! And sure take your time 🙂
Oooh… a first time visitor(Thanks to Aparna) and what a blog to start with! Love this topic. I can go on and on about the smell of fresh parchment..and ink…ahem… paper and print *grins sheepishly*. Thanks for initiating this tag 🙂 One of my favourite topics.
Thanks for stopping by!!! I agree I love the smell of a fresh and new book! Its almost up there along with the smell of rain on dry earth *smiles*. Please take up the tag!!
Thanks. Have already been tagged by Aparna . Am definitely gonna take it up. I stopped by to say thanks 🙂
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I really liked the article, and the very cool blog
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