This is just one of the reasons why we should never neglect it.
We’re pretty keen on reading here at A Thousand Lives. You may well have noticed. The truth is, reading isn’t just about escaping into new worlds or discovering new information. It’s about making us better people, too. The act of reading can bring comfort during difficult times, whether that’s during a global pandemic or at a transitional stage in our lives.
Above all, reading makes us think, regardless of what genre we choose to pick up. When we read fiction, we are encouraged to feel empathy by getting behind the minds of others. When we read non-fiction, we think deeply about the world around us.
Because of all this thinking, reading can even challenge our own perspectives and views and open us up to new ideas spanning genres. We live different lives through reading, and as a result, we learn what we may not have been taught in school.
Books have so much power. They can create escapism from our hectic lives and soothe our minds when the world outside feels scary. But what do I love about them the most? From reading them, I always learn something new and feel better from it.
Updates on A Thousand Lives 🎉
- We have now reached a grand total of 200 followers — a small milestone but an important one.
- We published 26 stories in May (our most ever), and our stats were positively booming.
- We have plans to pay writers an upfront fee for their work eventually, but that’s not possible without funding. We now have a donation page where you can donate any amount to help make this possible.
- We would love to hear from authors to help boost our Writers on Writing feature, regardless of your size or how you were published. Please get in touch with us if you would like to be featured 🙂
Every month I do a round-up of some of my favourite pieces we’ve published. Please note, if you’re not featured, it’s not because I didn’t enjoy your story. This would be an awfully long newsletter if I mentioned everything! If you missed them, these are three of our stories I *particularly* enjoyed this month.
I’d Rather Read a Book Than Watch a Beautiful Sunset, Margaret Pan
Sunsets and being in nature is a beautiful thing, but there’s nothing that beats being curled up with a book. Consequently, I love both. What I particularly enjoyed about Margaret’s story is her message of doing what makes you happy. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. If you’d rather read a book than watching a sunset — you should do that.
Also, technically, you can probably experience a sunset by reading a book, depending on the story you are reading. The great thing about books is they enable us to travel without going anywhere.
Why I Waited So Long to Read, ‘A Little Life,’ Jena Whitley
I’ve seen this hefty book floating around a lot recently, and after reading this piece by Jena, I immediately went out and got myself a copy. I loved her story because it was so honest.
It can be easy to put off books because you know they will be hard to read, and there’s no shame in that. Sometimes, all you want to read is something light and fluffy. I’ve been re-reading the Harry Potter series for most of this year despite having many new books I want to read (like this one!) But A Little Life is firmly on the top of my TBR list now.
Why I Read the Last Line of a Book Before I Finish It, and Why You Should Too, Gulistan Elidemir
Before buying or starting to read a new book, I usually turn to the first page and read a few sentences to get a flavour of the story. I’ve never thought about reading the last line of a book before reading it, so hats of to Gulistan for making me aware of this idea.
The next time I reach for a book, I may turn to the final page and see if it is something I want to read. After all, we only have a select few books we’ll be able to read in a lifetime, so it’s useful to know when one will be worth our time.
We all read for various reasons, which is largely dictated by what phase we are at in our lives. Some of us read to escape, be educated or challenged, and those are all valid reasons. Books have the potential to do all of this and more.
But what I’ve noticed through starting this publication and fostering a small community of book lovers and writers is that reading has a true staying power because it can make us better people. It doesn’t matter what we read, as this can be achieved within any genre. All that matters is that we are reading at all.
Until next time, happy reading!
A reminder — we are always looking for new writers — if you or anyone else you know is itching to write about books and reading, please get in touch: athousandlives20@outlook.com
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“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” — Albert Einstein
This is a monthly newsletter, initially published on Medium.com
A Thousand Lives 
Congrats on your new milestone, and I hope this blog continues to grow! Yeah, reading is great for us indeed, and it’s not all escapism for sure. Anyway, thanks for this post!
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