why everyone should be reading

the importance of reading books and where to start as a beginner

“You read something which you thought only happened to you, and you discover that it happened 100 years ago to Dostoevsky. This is a great liberation for the suffering, struggling person, who always thinks that he is alone. This is why art is important. Art would not be important if life were not important, and life is important.” — James Baldwin

Throughout my entire life, I have felt undesirability rotten to my core. I feel misunderstood and unseen by everyone in my life. Friends, family, and the occasional romantic partner.

I used to look in the mirror to confirm my identity, to hate my body or to just insult myself. I listened to sad music, doom-scrolling on social media, or performed in front of people to try and fill this forever-lasting void in the centre of my heart.

It wasn’t until five years ago that I rediscovered my love for reading that something inside of me changed. Suddenly, my pain and solitude were shared by hundreds. I felt seen through the lines of Dostoevsky, through the mundanity of literary fiction novels like ‘Tennis Lessons’ by Susannah Dickey and ‘Normal People’ by Sally Rooney.

Jeanette Winterson, the writer who saved my life and saw me when no one else did, showed me a light at the end of the tunnel. Through her own trauma of growing up in a strict Evangelical community, and then being kicked out of her home at sixteen for coming out as a lesbian, Jeanette also felt like life was not made for someone like her.

Perhaps love is not as beautiful as the poets claim it to be, and that’s why we create fiction, to re-invent the dreadful reality of our own lives. However, when Jeanette found literature during the darkest times of her youth, something inside of her changed, too.

It slowly but surely healed her heartache, her trauma and her shame. Books became her safety net; they helped her discover her passion for literature and art, which led her to pursue a very successful literary career.

“A tough life needs a tough language — and that is what poetry is. That is what literature offers — a language powerful enough to say it how it is. It isn’t a hiding place, it’s a finding place.” — Jeanette Winterson

Reading books fundamentally changed who I am. It helped me understand and kickstart the journey to heal from years of childhood trauma that I was never able to comprehend.

Books made me understand the human condition, what it’s like to be alive, trying to make meaning of existence, all of which has morality, religion and circumstances that determine what happens to you throughout the duration of your life.

It was through novels, especially the genre of historical fiction, that made me understand other cultures and religions, how languages have been changed and lost over time, and how class, capitalism, racism and colonialism have broken entire generations.

Reading is not only an enjoyable experience but also teaches you about the world, forces you to confront your ignorance, and helps you reject the inequality that plagues the earth. I think because we live in such a corrupt world, people just accept things as they are, because they fear that things will never get better.

But I believe that we must confront and fight what we cannot accept. And I cannot and will not accept corruption, I will not accept authoritarianism, and I will not accept capitalism.

Reading is a transformative experience; it’s so powerful because novels have the power to change you from within. Whether you are reading fiction or non-fiction, everyone can see you reading a book, but you are the only person who knows the contents inside of this book, the words and the language you are absorbing, each sentence, each chapter changing you completely.

I have been reading books since I was about five years old. I have read hundreds of novels since childhood, and I will continue to read novels until the day I die. Every single time someone asks me about my reading habits, I always get asked the same two questions:

How did you start reading?

And how do you read so much?

Here are some tips to get started reading as a beginner, restart your reading journey, and read more.

How To Start Reading

Like any skill that requires effort, such as learning an instrument or a new language, it must be practised daily. Therefore, I always tell new readers to start. small, but to read a little bit every day, even if it’s only five pages.

Reading requires concentration and effort, and for someone who has never read a book before or hasn't read in a long time, the first time you try to read can be difficult, or in fact “boring”.

So, how can you start reading every day? Well, I would say start off with short books, no longer than 250 pages. On average, there are about thirty days in a month, and if you want to read a little bit every day of a book that contains around 250 pages, that works out to be eight pages every day.

When you put that into practice, that is very little and is definitely doable. One book every month is twelve books in a year, which is incredible.

Bring your book everywhere with you, read it on your commute to work, to school, when you have a lunch break or even while you’re waiting for your dinner to cook.

If you are struggling with finding time to read, check your phone screentime and replace your TikTok doomscrolling with reading instead:)

How To Read More

The more you read, the more you will build speed and find it easier to finish books. However, working full-time, taking care of children, and just life in general can get in the way of reading consistently. So, here are a few ways I read an average of 6 books a month despite working part-time, being a full-time uni student, and posting on social media and maintaining a social life.

1 — Put Down Your Phone

My screentime is RIDICOUSLY high. Every time that I complain that I haven’t read much in a week, despite being busy, I always check my screentime, and then I am silenced forever.

Don’t get me wrong, after a long day, there’s nothing more relaxing than doomscrolling on my phone or watching funny TikToks. But it’s all about balance. Making sure I’m getting in enough reading is important to me and helps reduce my anxiety, so I always try to use my time efficiently.

2 — Bring Your Book Everywhere

I make sure that I always have a book in my bag, whether that’s on the way to work, to university or even on the way to the pub to catch up with friends. When we think of all the little fillers of our day, like our commutes on public transport, it’s a great way to get reading time in.

There are so many times when I’ve been on the train and, instead of listening to music and zoning out, I’ve read my book. When you make time to incorporate reading into your daily routine, it becomes much easier than you think.

Reading has fundamentally changed who I am. It’s made me become a better person, has helped me understand my own trauma and triggers, and has helped me become a more empathetic person.

Books are my safety net and refuge; they have saved my life and my mental health, and I will always, forever continue to convince people to read a book. It will change your life. It has changed my life, and I hope it can change yours too.

For book recommendations, I’ve decided to make my entire social media for book content, especially my TikTok page.

My BookTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@kehindeslibrary

My Bookstagram:

https://www.instagram.com/kehindeslibrary

“I cannot remember the books I have read any more than the meals I have eaten. Even so, they have made me.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Stay tuned for future posts on The Playground of Ideas. Feel free to stay connected with me on TikTok and Instagram.