Why Do I Read?

Long time readers of this blog will know that I read a lot.  I am curiously very fortunate to be able to spend a lot of my life reading books; but why is it that I do this?  In the world of the internet, you tube, big budget films, why do I read books?

I will take you back to one particular lesson I had at secondary school, when I was in Year 8, and introduce you to a very special man:  Mr. Adams.   

Mr. Adams was my English teacher, a very wise, gentle man who loved a good anecdote to illustrate a point, and loved even more to teach us things that were not on the GCSE syllabus.  He also wrote poetry.  

At the end of one lesson he gave us homework, which was remarkably simple.  He challenged us to find a word in the dictionary that he did not know.  It was an open opportunity to expose his ignorance and never have I done such homework with more glee.  I couldn't wait to find something that would stump him and say the immortal words, I don't know.  

The word I came across that I thought might do this was the word Yid.  I had never heard of it before, it sounded so unusual that I was sure he would not know it.  The next lesson came around and we all presented our words to him hoping to defeat this man at his own game.  

Our words were rattled off and one by one he explained the definitions of each one with scholarship and real knowledge.  This one lesson has impressed me more than anything else I had learned as it was a true demonstration of the power of learning.  

How did this man know so much?  I thought:  he must have read a lot of books.

After that lesson I dedicated half of my lunch break to the library and started exploring the books on the shelves.  There I discovered the edgelands of Paul Stewart, the brutal fables of Philip Ridley, the epic fantasy journeys of William Nicholson and weird short stories of Paul Jennings; writers who told me wonderful stories and kept me company during my early school years.

 Reading began as enjoyment but at College it became much more vital.  

When I was 18 I tried to commit suicide and had to quit my study for rest.  It was a lonely time.  While all my friends completed their studies and went off to University or work I was left behind trying to fill the days as best I could, which usually meant drinking coffee and playing a lot of point-and-click games on the PC.

I was clinically depressed and would be later diagnosed with bi-polar and spent a year more or less unable to get out of bed.  

At some point during this time I started to read European dramatists, and was acting out the dramas out in my bedroom in the evenings.  

These writings were so vivid to me, so alive with feeling, so passionate with living that I no longer thought about my troubles and so aiding me in my survival in life.  

I did go to University in the end to read English Lit and ended up getting involved in student drama and wrote successful scripts and met wonderful people who made and created things for the joy of it.

Reading connected me to my own inner life and connected me with real people who I would not have otherwise met, like Iain Banks, Will Self, George Monbiot, Felix Dennis, Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Gillian Clarke, Luke Wright as well as many local writers from my home town.

Reading made me into a writer, though technically I was probably born one, and certainly helped me to develop a way of thinking and living.  I wouldn't have written 'Breakfast' without Pinter, 'The First Man In Space' without the Gawain poet, 'The Grand Masters' without Herman Hesse, Albert Camus and Franz Kafka, 'The Bandaged Hand' without Felix Dennis and 'The Pier' without Ovid.  And these creations I am very proud of.

It gives me a reason to get up out of bed in the morning and to see the world with someone else's eyes.  It also gives me a share in the great conversation humanity has had with nature for forever.

This blog indicates the many signposts I have passed along my way in life.  I am glad it gets something of a cult readership and I hope it does something to inspire you to read and get more out of your life.

Thank you for reading.