As a writer, I’ve found myself in an odd state of mind for most of my life. You see, I always had a passion for writing, but never one for reading other people’s writing. In middle school, I almost never opened a book. SparkNotes was my main source of literary comprehension, and I could hardly bring myself to read those all the way through. That all changed when my middle school librarian gave me a copy of the City of Ember. Ever since that fateful day in eighth grade, I’ve been adamant on a simple point: everyone should read.

Now please keep in mind: when I say you should read, I don’t mean go out and start trying to dissect Charles Dickens. The truth is most of what people consider “classic” novels, don’t really hold up to modern-day standards. It is always a fun time to look back and see what some of your favorite stories might be inspired by, but you won’t find the same amount of substance that modern authors provide.

There’s a wide variety of genres and subgenres within modern writing. Everything from sci-fi to fantasy, to horror, to romance, to everything you can think of. You see, books provide an indisputable advantage over other pieces of entertainment: they rely solely on your imagination. Whereas movies and tv and even comic books have to be able to satisfy your senses and are limited by budget and technicalities. Some might argue that this is exactly why books are outdated, but with a sprinkle of imagination, a book can completely immerse you in its world and themes.

Books have the option of telling abstract stories that can’t possibly be done justice in a physical form. It’s this variety that leads people to read and write so much. Ever since the boom of the internet, and the start of self-publishing, books have gotten far more abstract and varied in the themes and stories they tell. Take Football 17776 for example; this entire book is read through your internet browser and tells the story of sentient satellites that watch football fifteen thousand years in the future. If that sounded really weird to you, that’s because it is. There are so many books that cover ideas so far away from the mainstream that it blows my mind. 

Books also have the advantage of telling stories entirely motivated by characters. In Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves, a father finds that his family house has begun to grow. It starts slow, with him realizing his house measures the same length on the outside as the inside, but it gets slowly more intense. Doors begin to appear rapidly, leading to new closets and already existing rooms. Suddenly a door appears in his living room that opens into a seemingly endless hallway. This story would be intriguing at best if it weren’t for Danielewski’s character work. You really delve into the physique of each member of the family, and it makes the father’s obsession seem all the more real. In a movie or tv show, this concept wouldn’t work. Trying to show everyone’s character in a “show don’t tell manner” would be draining and impossible to dissect. Through the use of prose and the magnificent weaving of themes, the book manages to explain everything without feeling draining.

There also has to be something to say for the academic advantages books provide. It’s a known fact that reading improves your comprehension of writing (go figure). If you have any interest in storytelling or writing in general, you are doing yourself a disservice by not taking some time out of your day to read a little. It is also an amazing way to expand yourself to new ideas and inspiration from some lesser-known stories.

Overall I have to say that over my last four years of school I have fallen in love with reading. There’s just so much in the way of storytelling and escapism that I think everyone should enjoy. From the entertainment value to the academic value to my just pure enjoyment, I have to recommend you find a good book to warm up to and find yourself immersed in a whole new world.