If You Think You Don't Like to Read, Read This
Book, meet person. Person, meet book.
Source: unsplash
Or if you know someone who thinks they don't like to read, especially read this.
Maybe it's idealistic of me to think this, but I truly believe that there's no one out there who genuinely doesn't like to read. If someone says they don't like to read, they just haven't met the right book.
However, I can totally understand where feelings of not liking to read come from. You might not like to read if you looked around your school library and didn't see books with characters who looked like you. You might not like to read if you didn't grow up in a reading family and the house was full of distractions. You might not like to read if you had a crappy reading teacher or were forced to read aloud in class before you were proficient and the other kids made fun of you.
Really, there are a million reasons someone might not like to read---a million unique and deeply personal reasons.
But no matter what happened that made you dislike reading in the past, you don't have to continue the dislike today. There's a book out there that you'd love to meet. Even if it's only one book, it has the power to make you fall in love with reading, at least until the last page.
I realize I'm preaching to the choir with this one. After all, if you're reading a book blog, you probably like to read. But I bet you know someone or know a couple of people who say they don't like to read. You might have kids who say they don't like to read, or another family member who is totally obsessed with something, like stamp collecting or rocks, and would devour a book on that.
That's the thing about books. No matter who you are, what you look like, what you like to do, what you believe in, what your interests are, there's a book for you. That book may be at your library, or it may be out of print and you have to hunt it down, or it may be self-published, or it may be on audio, or it could be in plain sight at your local bookstore.
Or maybe it hasn't been written yet and you're the one to write it.
The reason I don't believe people when they say they don't like to read is simple: you never meet people who shun other types of popular media in their entirety. You might meet someone that says they don't like watching movies, but I'd be willing to bet that they could name at least one or two that they really enjoyed. The same is true for music. You might meet someone who is completely tone deaf and couldn't name a single living musician, but I bet they've got one or two songs or artists they really love.
Why should it be any different with books?
I'm not crazy enough to believe that everyone should be as obsessed with books as I am, but I am crazy enough to believe that there's at least one book out there that could make even the staunchest anti-reader love reading at least for a little while. And sometimes a little while is all it takes. Sometimes a little while turns into a long while and one book because two, and before you know it, the books have multiplied like rabbits and you've got a reader on your hands.
That's what I want---just to ignite that spark that says, "Maybe I do like reading after all."
With the holidays comes gift-giving opportunities. If you want to buy a book for someone, but aren't sure what to get them, I will personally give you book recommendations.
For personalized holiday book recommendations for those you love, leave a comment below or drop me a line at mandyshunnarahATgmailDOTcom with the following info:
age of the person you're buying for
hobbies, interests, TV shows, movies, and other things this person likes
sensitivity level (Granny may not like American Psycho, I get it)
books or authors (if any) this person has enjoyed in the past
anything else that would help me make a great book rec
Note: If I get a good number of requests, I'll likely turn this into its own post, but I won't give any names so you don't have to worry about your gift recipients finding out. :)
