Reading…

I’ve been reading “One Man and His Bike: A Life-Changing Journey All the Way Around the Coast of Britain” by Mike Carter. A good read! 

I have also just finished the much acclaimed ‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig. I’m gonna let that one ruminate for a few days.

In my experience, often certain books come along at the right time. I wrote about my Steinbeck encounters before. Of course it only seems like this. If a book’s not resonating with you, then you put it down. Conversely, if a book’s hitting the right notes then you lap it up. But, when the experiences in a book really do ring true it’s invigorating. I’m not a great reader but I’ve had a few good reads over ‘lockdown’. Reading’s good.

Of course you really do need to read it to get the experience, but here’s some of the quotes that struck me from Mike Carter’s book:

“finishing lines are good, but their most important role is to get you over the start line in the first place.’” 

“… there was no end, only process, and that ultimately, this was just fine.” .

“The miracles are always found in the stuff of daily life if you have your eyes open.” 

“‘happiness is the acceptance of the journey as it is now, not the promise of the other shore’ “

“‘Assume Goodwill’.“

As mentioned, I’ve had a few good reads over so far this year:

• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• One Man and His Bike by Mike Carter
• Away with The Penguins by Hazel Prior
• The Decent Of Man by Grayson Perry
• My Abandonment by Peter Rock
• Human kind by Rutger Bregman
• The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis
• The Demon Club by Scott Mariani
• A Pocketful of Crows by Joanne Harris
• The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

I enjoyed all of these very much – for different reasons. What anyone might make from this selection, I wonder?

In a previous life I produced a lot of work designed to promote reading.

and I have written here before about the benefits of reading:

• Reduce stress:  Get lost in a good novel and take time out of your hectic lifestyle to unwind.
• Help you sleep:  Turn off the TV, get into bed, pick up a book and snuggle down.
• Keep the brain in shape: What better way to work out your brain than reading?
• Improve knowledge: Even a fictional novel can teach and inspire you.
• Health and well-being:  Regular reading is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of dementia.
• Feeling:  Reading boosts empathy. Fiction can simulate real-world problems and therefore has real consequences for the reader.
• Boosts Vocabulary:  What better way to discover new words?
• Reading is sexy:  Reading increases emotional and cognitive experience. It is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
• Achieve: Reading for pleasure helps to improve skills at the same time as increasing enjoyment, self-confidence, motivation and a sense of achievement.

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.

Ray Bradbury