READING BOOKS: A WASTE OF TIME?

 

Mohtasima Taiyeba 

Id: 24101326 

“Why are you reading books all the time?” “Aren’t you wasting your time by reading books?” “Why don’t you read some self-help or motivational books?” These are the questions I’m asked frequently as a reader.

My reading journey started when I was 10. On my tenth birthday, my uncle gifted me a book titled ‘Tututni O Chotacchu’ written by Muhammed Zafar Iqbal. I was really disappointed when he gave me a book while others gifted me dolls and dresses. I wasn’t a fan of reading books back then so the book was kept on the table for months. But one day I thought I should try reading that book then I read another book and here we are, me being obsessed with reading books. As John Waters said, “It wasn’t until I started reading and found books, they wouldn’t let us read in school that I discovered you could be insane and happy and have a good life without being like everybody else”. When I first read books the most common thing my friends told me was that reading is a waste of time. I know my friends were young too to understand the importance of books. But it was a demotivation for a 10-year-old. At that time my father got to know about my reading habit so he bought me more books. My parents encouraged me to read books. In my opinion, books are the thing that is for everyone. People can choose different books from different genres according to their choice. There are gripping thrillers books, heartwarming romance, science fiction, biography, motivational, self-help, and classic literature, any genre according to one’s mood & choice. You can choose from any genre. Books are a kind of emotion, a mixture of a lot of emotions. It's not mandatory to read classics or motivational books. In general, when people hear that you read books, they assume you read books that have educational pieces of knowledge or famous books. They become disappointed when they hear I read fiction mostly. From reading books for all this time when they say books are people’s best friend, they are right. Books are indeed peoples’ best friends. Books can bring out a lot of emotions from you. The way characters are described you can use that to understand people in real life. I like to discover every genre of book from difficult works of literature and different languages. Personally, I like Greek mythology books, English rom-coms, Bengali novels, and Japanese literature. There are still so many literatures and genres I want to explore but can't due to the language barrier. Our imagination can be highly broadened if we read books. And it allows you to look at a situation from different angles. Reading books improves critical thinking, emotional intelligence, etc. You can find these benefits when you ask anyone or search on the Internet but what I want to say is reading books make you happy. And reading books IS NOT A WASTE OF TIME. It’s a kind of lifetime investment. No offense to social media but spending time reading books is way better in my opinion. Again, you can read books on the Internet. Hardcover, paperbacks, and e-books there are different kinds. I absolutely love the smell of books, that inky smell on paper is so relaxing. You don’t need to be smart or intelligent, just find a book that you like and start reading. I can assure life before reading books and after are different, in a positive way.

                 "Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it's a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it's a way of making contact with someone else's imagination after a day that's all too real." – Nora Ephron