Title: Why do we read?
Headings: Why do we read?
Why do we read?
To read is to build your own imagination and strengthen resistance to prevailing commercial forces

Content: I’m reading Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans, and Mattie, the old and eccentric godmother, tells Noel, our young protagonist, that “hobbies are for people who don’t read books”. We are bombarded by popular culture, by advertising, television, fashions and trends – to read is to build your own imagination and strengthen resistance to prevailing commercial forces. We read to recognise what is true of human nature, and fiction most adequately grapples with what motivates us. Our values and assumption are challenged; we are invited to empathise with entirely alien points of view. We read to feel less lonely, to feel more connected to the greater reality of what has happened or is happening or may happen outside of our direct experience. We read to assure ourselves that the search for meaning is relentless and that many creative minds have made all sorts of wild and wonderful sense of it all, or not – but even the chaotic, nihilistic texts are bound in covers and are structured into comprehendible stories. We read to discover the consequences of actions without bearing any of the responsibility. We read with Schadenfreude, with pity, empathically; we look for validation, catharsis and humour and find common sense, confusion, absurdity and righteousness.