Top Ten Reasons I Love Being a Blogger/Reader

TTT is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I'm going to split this topic up and do 5 reasons each.

Top 5 Reasons I Love Being a Reader

Ever since I was little, my parents fostered a love of reading in me. I remember I had a collection of 25 fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella etc (all in Chinese of course) and my parents read them to me so many times that I memorized it all. My aunts and uncles were all really impressed with me sitting there with the books in my lap, reading out loud, never realizing I was reciting from memory and couldn't actually recognise all the characters. :D

English is my second language. Back in primary school, about 6 months after I moved to Australia, my grade 4 teacher was reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to the class and I had no idea what was going on. I can still remember how bored I was sitting cross-legged on the floor, listening to the teacher droning on and on in a foreign language. Curious, I went and borrowed The Chamber of Secrets and read the first five chapters or so - it made absolutely no sense to me. It was just a jumble of words on a page that I got through rather painfully. But yes, that was my first foray into reading. But afterwards, I just kept reading and never looked back.

1. Escapism

Books are such a great gateway to other countries, planets or universes. While you are immersed in between those covers, you could literally end up anywhere, in anybody's shoes and experience their lives. For those few hours, you get to escape from the problems and issues of your own lives and live vicariously through others.

2. Basking in the feels

There's nothing better than sinking into a good book and feeling all warm and fuzzy from the romance blooming in front of your eyes, or share in the triumph of the protagonists as they overcome obstacles.

3. De-stress

Now that I've commenced work this year, I often come home exhausted and still mentally going over whatever happened during work. So grabbing a book and reading on the train for 20 minutes has been a great de-stress therapy for me.

4. Knowledge is power

I've picked up a lot of knowledge from the various books I've read over the years. Sure, most of them are probably only applicable in the universe from which they originate, but you never know when you might need to know something. For instance, the Thoroughbred series is one I followed avidly as a child and now, whenever I watch the Melbourne Cup, I actually know vaguely what's going on.

5. Sharing is caring

When discussing the books we've read, I can actually have a decent meaningful conversation with friends rather than just talk meaninglessly about the weather or some brainless celebrity.

Top 5 Reasons I Love Being a Blogger

This blog is still very much in its infancy. But I have internally debated about whether or not I should start a book blog for quite a long time now. Now that I have, I must admit it was a good idea and these are the top 5 reasons why.

1. Meet people with similar loves and interests

There's nothing better than meeting people from all around the world who share similar reading interests as I do. All these wonderful people are from all walks of life with all different experiences. We can have an exchange of book recommendations and learn from each other.

2. Share my reading experience

Not all my friends share the same intensity of love for books as I do. And whenever I gush about a book I've read or compare a book to the movie, they all stare at me blankly or admit they've only watched the movie. So shouting out to the world wide web allows me to share my reading experiences with people who actually gets what I'm on about.

3. Broaden my horizon

I've been living in a literary hole for the last six years or so while I was slaving away in university. Thus, without the web and all the bloggers/booktubers I follow, I would never have stumbled across some fantastic works and/or authors. Can you believe I've never heard from John Green or Neil Gaiman until this year?!

4. Challenge myself

Without my blog holding me accountable, I would probably sink into a nice comfortable groove where I only read the books that I know I will enjoy. While there's nothing wrong with that, it also means I would never challenge myself to read outside of my comfort zone and discover great new works and/or authors.

5. De-stress

Again, blogging is a good therapeutic experience for me. For instance, I just had a really long day at the hospital today and am about to go to my volunteer organization in about 10 minutes from now. However, even as I sit here typing these words, I find myself calm and relaxed.

So there you go, those are the top ten reasons I love being a blogger and reader. I'd love to hear about your reasons too. Leave a comment or a link below!