I love books, I love lists. And when better than World Book Day for a list about why I love books? Half of these 9 reasons are massive clichés, but they’re true, so I don’t care. I’m not trying to be deep or intellectual, and I feel a little bit sick as I’m trying to write this on the train so it’s just as well – these are just my own little reasons why, a lot of the time, the best part of the day is settling down after all the jobs are done, just me and my book.
1. They’re just like real life, but more interesting. Through reading I can experience distant places, the past and the future, love and life and death and things I have simply not come across, and quite possibly never will in my real life. Through reading and reading about all different sorts of people, their lives, how they think and feel and react to the (sometimes amazing, devastating, or downright bizarre) situations they find themselves in, I think I’m better equipped to deal with real life itself. I learn from novels, about all sorts of things and about human nature itself, and they prepare me for reality.
2. They’re not real life. I can have an adventure, fall in love, fight a war. But I’m safe and warm and cosy in my bed with a cup of tea at the same time!
3. There’s a story for every mood. Feeling tired and bored, like nothing interesting ever happens? So is Cassandra in I Capture the Castle. Looking for an epic romance? Jane Eyre or Gone with the Wind is what you need. Wonder why your family is so difficult, interfering or downright bonkers? Try having Mrs Bennett (Pride and Prejudice) or Mrs Jones (Bridget Jones’s Diary) for a mother! Or pick up Anna Karenina – not exactly a cheery read, but will reassure you that all the most interesting families are dysfunctional!
4. Books are like promises. Each one sits there on the shelf, waiting for you to open its covers and allow it to whisk you away, sweep you off of your feet.
5. Books can teach you anything you want to know. World Book Day often focuses on fiction, but it’s in the vast realms of non-fiction where knowledge and learning lie, where you can forge your own never-ending path exploring the world and the people within it.
6. Sharing. Whether it’s with friends over a glass or wine, with Nana on the phone, the children I work with at school or my colleagues in the staffroom, I love to talk about the books I’ve read, hear what other people thought of them, and gather recommendations for books that I would often never have picked out for myself.
7. Novels simply allow me to be incredibly nosy. Stories are all about peering into other people’s lives, and getting to know the characters as well – and often better – than anyone in real life.
8. They never have a bad day, or don’t want to chat. A book won’t turn up late, or run out of batteries. Wherever, whenever (as long as you remembered to put it in your bag) a book can be there to keep you company, while away time waiting for the train, entertain you on an otherwise dull evening in. Whatever you need, be it the comfort of a familiar childhood favourite, half an hour’s escape from the daily grind to a land of magic, dragons and handsome heroes, or simply instructions on how to put up another shelf, you’ll find it in a book.
