Category: Reading

Lifestyle · Reading · Writing

Never played favourites…

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Born a crime Trevor Noah #reading #hobby #trevornoah #Ilovereading #books #fypシ゚viral #passion #favouritethings #bookreview #bookrecommendations Trevor Noah’s book is a gritty, hilarious and poignant memoir that shares his experiences growing up in a racially charged Apartheid South Africa. A delightful read that evoked every emotion in me.#CapCut

♬ Commando – Mavokali

I find such questions like ‘who is your favourite author and why‘ truly mundane and it almost seems as if eclectic, voracious readers like me are strange. I had to give this a hard thought and sadly came up short in choosing a favourite fiction, non-fiction author or writer.

Again like colors’, it makes me wonder why I can’t simply be simple in my choices and just pick a name. I usually don’t sit on the fence when it comes to voicing my opinion even if it is a dissenting thought and I can be a bit too straightforward in saying what I think or feel.

I love reading and when I was pretty young, I stuck with my Enid Blyton’s and my teenage years were spent reading uncountable numbers of Harlequins, Mill & Boons, Hadley Chase, Tom Clancy, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and many more.

My reading tastes has been generally diversified and having taken an in-depth look at why this might be so, I have arrived at the conclusion that it is because I like multiple things, I see the world from multiple perspective, that I am a pluralist and many things are good and not just a singular thing.

I also see that liking different things will ultimately improves my social life and that’s fine not to fit into a mould clustering around any particular taste. Liking multiple things makes me, me.

Without trying to sound proud, I think that a wide taste in reading is a sign of intelligence, of intellectual curiosity, open mindedness, and a willingness to absorb new ideas.

Sometimes, I find that though a lot of people can be extremely intelligent but have very closed minds but the love of all kinds of literary genres implies the love of creativity, of actively seeking out new approaches and ideas and the ability to appreciate different paradigms.

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Book · Reading

What Makes Reading Such A Great Escape From Stress and Worry

jacquelineobyikocha17 Comments

Reading is one of those activities that comes with many benefits, including a range of mental health benefits. There’s nothing quite like sitting back on your bed, on the sofa, in a coffee shop – or wherever you are – with a book in your hand and your favourite drink. It’s so tranquil spending time relaxing with a good book, there is quite literally nothing like it.

There’s no doubt about it, reading is a great escape from stress and worry, but what it is that makes reading such a fantastic way to escape your problems, and what other benefits does this hobby come with? For everything that you should know, read on.

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Keeps your mind active

Research has shown that people who read tend to have more active minds than people that don’t read, and people who have these brains are more than two times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease in later life or struggle with mental health problems. Studies have shown that by staying mentally alert, you can significantly improve your mental health and wellness in both the long and short-term.

Transports you away from stress

Studies have shown that snuggling up with a good book can transport you away from your worries and concerns, helping to relax your mind and relieve feelings of stress. A study undertaken by the University of Sussex found that reading for just six minutes can reduce your feelings of stress by up to 68%. Of course, a substantial article, such as the one by Daniel Handler, for instance, can also have the same effect.

You become more empathetic

By spending time reading about a large number of different people from various walks of life and circumstances than you can help you to better understand that everyone is different and realize that you are able to relate to different people in different situations to your own. By reading your mental state changes and you naturally become more empathetic, able to show more empathy to people in different situations to your own.

Strengthens your focus

Did you know that reading encourages your mind to train itself to focus better? This is because when you read, you have to retain the information that you have read, in order to continue the rest of the book. Reading requires your full focus – something that is lacking in today’s society with many people constantly multi-tasking. Simply by reading for 15 minutes per day, you can significantly improve your mental focus and ability to concentrate.

Reading helps you sleep

Then there’s the fact that reading helps you to sleep. Studies have shown that people who read regularly tend to be far better sleepers than people who don’t read. Stress can often make it difficult to fall asleep, which could indicate why reading can help to boost sleep levels as it can reduce stress levels significantly in a fairly short space of time.

Reading is an amazing hobby to have, it offers you an incredible escape from your day to day life, allowing you to reduce your feelings of stress and worry and escape into another world.

This is a collaborative post.
Popular Culture · Reading · Writing

4 Genres You Have Never Heard Of, But Promise To Be Entertaining

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Books, Reading, Narnia, Writing, Popular Culture

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The world has gone so absolutely bonkers and reality TV-ish that just picking up the newspaper today and reading the latest story about President Trump is akin to picking up a political-thriller, which makes the world of reading novels worryingly redundant.

Okay, maybe that last statement was a stretch too far, but you kind of get the drift. It is what led Matthew Quirk to construct his wonderfully sculpted article.

Luckily, there has been the emergence of some new genres over recent years that could re-establish novels as the go-to medium when it comes to people wanting to escape. We have to warn you, though, some of these genres are totally bonkers, while others are proof that the human race will never be short of creative ideas.

Butterflies, Blue, Fantasy

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1. First Off, Bizarro

If you have never heard of Bizarro Fiction, then the only way we can really describe it is, well, being totally weird for the sake of being totally weird. The aim of the game is basically to entertain the reader, but how the author gets to that stage is completely up to them and could see their literature delve into all things funny, gross, graphic, absurd or just madcap.

You may think this is totally niche and will never make it, but David Wong has totally proven that theory wrong. He even had one of his books made into a film. Crazy.

2. Next on the list, Literary Role Playing Games

That is right, Literary Role Playing Games are a thing. It is kind of hard to wrap your head around at first because books in the LitRPG Reads genre tend to describe a protagonist’s adventure with the context of a computer game, meaning there are added mechanics like
experience points, stats and the chance to level up.

However, as mental as this sounds, the chance to read about different quests and see achievements is a great way to read about the adventure from a whole new standpoint.

3. What About ‘Mannerpunk’?

Now you may be thinking that is just another genre that plays on all things punk – why wouldn’t you – but it is actually a genre that is based on the fantasy of manners.

Hear us out, but is basically the other side of the coin that is Steampunk. You see, Steampunk tends to focus on things like the weapons, tech and aesthetics of a particular age, whereas Mannerpunk prefers to focus on the etiquette, manners and social politeness of the era instead.

Of course, there is the punk element to it, in which its most famous title is probably Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a real twist on the Jane Austen classic.

4. Last But Not Least, Microblogging Novels

With the rise of certain social media sites, namely Twitter and Facebook, the world of communication kind of got flipped and squashed and squeezed and altered.

A number of words we use when it comes to online communication became limited and that meant the ideas had to be made concise.

Well, this concept and approach has seen some authors create entire worlds, stories, plots and characters within the confines of these status boxes, known as Microblogging Novels. Say what you want, readers get the chance to read entire chapters the moment they are finished, which is cool.

This is a guest post