Hi dear friends,

New year and the Top 5 Tuesday (hosted by Shanah @bionicbookwom)  is still going strong!

Seriously Shanah you are expecting us to list our reasons for reading???? You don’t see me here but this question generated an existential crisis. You know when you are wondering about life and its sense. About your purpose on earth. If you matter. Is it worth it etc.

But yes why do I read?
Why?

Obviously not to be more wealthy seeing the dent or rather the hole in my wallet buying all these pretties.

Not for decluttering reasons either if you listen to my hubs complaining about his assigned (by me) 2019 task of building more shelves to sustain the weighth of my addiction.
I know he told me the upper floor can’t bear as much weight than the ground floor but whatever! Let’s live dangerously!

Not to be more beautiful either with all the sleepless night wanting to read “just one more chapter”. Bye beauty sleep. Welcome bruises under the eyes.

So why do I read?

1.Because I was daddy’s girl!

And my daddy was reading all the time! So what did I do? Of course climbed on the couch just to read like the grown ups do! So that’s daddy that got me hooked on reading! Confession time: my dad loved reading ….in the loo! I guess because that was the only place he could hide from chatty little Sophie! So what did I do? I took my toilet training potty just in front of the door and began to peruse my kid’s books.

And I went on with it because …

2. Well for the first reason look at my header and the tagline: “Never underestimate the quiet girl reading in her nook. She’s lived a thousand lives.”

When you read you are close to immortal! You live countless lives. You have always more to do to learn and see!

When you tell people your hobby is reading they assume you are armless.
BUT THEY ARE WRONG!

3. Because I also read to be a badass and kick monster and demons @sses without ending with a hair out of place.
Chop chop I know all about round kick and strangulation with shoe lace! Fear me you will, as a fierce Jedi I am!

4. I read to live adventures! But that girl is not an adrenaline junkie and tremble at the idea of jumping from a plane! So this is just the perfect and brilliant solution! Sky diving from my couch…But then is it couch diving?

5. I read to meet other cultures! How so? Easy because the authors are no fools and they either researched thoroughly said culture either are born into it.
I already hear you telling me to travel or sometimes go to my own capital city which is a real Babel Tower.
Yes but do you know any other way to meet faeries, vampires, werewolves and demons?
No?
That’s what I thought!
Sophie 1- You non reader 0.

6. I read to open my eyes. To be more tolerant. To understand others different from my upbringing, religion, … I think we have preconceived notions on many things and percieve the “other” as a danger because we are not educated. Reading helps me to walk in someone else’s shoes and experience the world through his or her eyes. A splendid example was A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi. I’ll never look at muslim girls and women the same way.

7. And I also read to dream. To escape.

When I read everything fades away. My problems with unruly teenagers. The pile of files that I should have handled but couldn’t due to a shortage of workforce. The antics of some world rulers who sometimes make you ponder on what being a grown up means and does not mean.
I am in another world. I have new friends. Some great some stabbing me in the back *but that’s ok because I am a badass and will kick their behind later*. I have my HEA and my rosy glasses!
No wonder that Penguin Random House told us that reading lowers our blood pressure and makes us live longer.
See my Sunday post for more details about The Many Benefits of Reading.

When I read I can be a princess or a warrior. I can be fearless. I can fall in love with a different guy every time (Rhysand, Rowan, Julian, Archer, Ehd …. yes yes Darling you are my constant don’t be jealous!). I can visit new countries and new worlds. I can learn about new ways of life, about technology. I can revisit history better than in text books and learn every historical fact and elements while having fun. I can be whomever I want and do whatever please me.

I hold the universe in my hands.

I AM HAPPY!

What better reason do you need?

Now do share with me your reasons for reading!

Thanks for reading!

Sophie