Beginners Guide to Pleasure Reading: Home

".read" by .brioso. is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Were you an avid reader before college assigned reading took up all of your time? Maybe you never really read for fun but are looking to pick up a new hobby. Now reading for fun doesn't mean just sitting down and trying to read all of War and Peace by Tolstoy in one go, you can also grab a magazine or a newspaper. Heck, to this librarian podcasts and audiobooks count at pleasure reading! This series of posts are going to walk you through how to find books or other reading materials for fun, how to get them, and the benefits of extracurricular reading. Let's start with the benefits!

The Benefits:

Reading for pleasure during college is important for a variety of reasons. Benefits of reading include:

• Reduces stress
  • A 2022 article by Levine et al. specifically looked at the effect of recreational reading on college students , finding that the majority that read for fun did see a positive correlation in stress reduction as the semester progressed.
• Reading before bed can improve sleep
  • This might seem strange, but a research study in Ireland found that for a good portion of people reading before bed can help you fall asleep better and give you a better quality of sleep. While it may not work for everyone, if you have trouble falling or staying asleep, maybe pick up a book in addition to that cup of sleept yime tea! (Finucane et al, 2021).
• Improved performance in classes 
  • Studies show that reading for pleasure can improve your academic success, helping you understand written texts such as textbooks better and help improve your own writing (Whitten at al. 2016)! Other studies even show that reading for fun can improve critical thinking skills (Elder and Paul, 2004).
• Increases empathy
  • Reading for fun can help you walk a mile in someone else's shoes. Bal and Veltkamp (2013) argue that "because fiction is a simulation of social experiences, in which people practice and enhance their interpersonal skills" and lets you live multiple perspectives and even feel sadness over the people and characters in the books.
• Getting a cat

"Sossi loves books" by bibliothekarin is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Kidding! You can't have cats in your dorm rooms! You can read about cats, though. Ever heard of the Warrior Cats book series? There's 14 of them! All of them Game of Thrones meets cats.

AudioBooks by Colette Cassinelli is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

So here's the thing about audio books. You may see people online arguing over if listening to audiobooks or podcasts counts as reading, you always see the back and forth on Twitter for example, and you know what the answer is? YES! 

If reading a print book or e-book just can't keep your attention, or you have trouble with it, or even if you simply enjoy the sound of someone telling you a story then by all means download an audiobook! Not only do some narrators completely captivate and draw you in (I'm looking at you, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy narrated by Stephen Fry), studies show that audiobooks have similar cognitive and emotional benefits to reading print.