Rediscovering the joys of reading
The power of a paperback, bookshop nostalgia & some recent reads
I spoke on my Instagram recently about currently feeling a little bit lost in life. For the last 5 or 6 years, I’ve thrown everything into competitive CrossFit and whilst I don’t regret this, it’s not always been easy.
When training and optimising performance is your main focus, life becomes very one-dimensional.
You’re training hard for 4-5 hours a day and when you’re not training, you’re eating, or stretching, or coaching and programming CrossFit. Other hobbies I used to enjoy slowly disappeared as I went ‘all-in’.
I’d put a lot of pressure on myself and would let training outcomes influence my mood. A bad training session would weigh on me heavily, because I had nothing much going on outside of the gym, or anything to distract myself with.
A couple of months ago, I started reading again - properly. Not the kind where you say you’ll start reading again, get halfway through a book and then not pick it up again for a few months (which I have been guilty of in the past).
I used to be a real bookworm growing up, so this seemed like an easy habit to implement. I enjoyed it so much that 10-20 mins of reading every night quickly became routine.
Ads got involved in it too and it became something we both enjoyed. It got us off screens and felt like we were doing something really beneficial for our minds.
I personally prefer fiction to non-fiction. I like to read self-help books or interesting autobiographies every now and then, but I like to escape into a story, and so fiction became my go-to bedtime fix.
Every other week, on our day off, we wander into town and we head to the bookshop, where we pick out one or two books to add to our reading collection.
I love bookshops. I understand the practicality and convenience of owning a Kindle, but nothing beats the feeling of turning a page and feeling the paper between your fingers. Bookshops are always peaceful, welcoming and bursting with colour.
I saw someone on Substack recently debating whether an audiobook counted as reading and it got me thinking. I think listening to an audiobook is a good way to enjoy a book if reading isn’t always accessible or enjoyable.
Someone pointed out that it made having dyslexia far more manageable, and I think that’s a good point. I wouldn’t call it reading, though.
To me, reading is an active eye-based task, where you absorb the words written before you and turn the pages.
Whilst I wouldn’t class listening to an audiobook as reading specifically, it’s still storytelling and I’m sure is many people’s preferred way of taking in information.
At the end of the day I think it all comes down to enjoyment and whatever gets you enjoying a good book.
I personally struggle to listen to words thanks to my short-lived attention span – I find it hard listening to podcasts sometimes because my mind will drift, or I’ll get distracted and have to rewind so frequently that I end up giving up.
I need a physical copy of a book so that I won’t drift, I have to be fully immersed in a book to reap the benefits of reading.
My grandma used to take myself and my sister to Ottakar’s (who remembers the pre-Waterstones days?!) during our school holidays, where we’d pick out a book and go for a hot chocolate. Being in a bookshop all these years later feels nostalgic and comforting, and I like knowing I’m supporting a bookshop.
I don’t have a favourite genre, so my list of recent reads may seem somewhat sporadic. But I’d like to share with you a list of some of the books I’ve enjoyed in the last couple of months, and which perhaps you will too!
The Whalebone Theatre
Joanna Quinn
Set during World War II, this book follows the story of three close-knit siblings who grow up in an old English manor house by the sea. It is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, giving it a realistic sense of what life can be like.
The children are intelligent and creative, constructing a theatre that brings them closer together and leads them to meeting and bonding with other interesting characters along the way.
It’s not a book I’d normally gravitate towards, but it was recommended to me by my mother (thanks, Mum) and I enjoyed it immensely.
Has anyone seen Charlotte Salter?
Nicci French
A very compelling thriller centred around the disappearance of mother and wife, Charlotte Salter, who never shows up to her husband’s fiftieth birthday celebration.
With no conclusive evidence, and a police team desperate to close the case and prove their competency, the investigation is shut down with no answers being given to the family.
It is only years later, due to a true crime podcast run by some of those affected by the disappearance, that new evidence comes to light and the case is reopened.
I rarely find a book so good that it feels like watching TV, where you can’t wait to find out what happens next - and this was one of them.
Fresh Water for Flowers
Valérie Perrin
I loved this book! I thought it might be a tough one to get into, but it gripped me early on. The story follows a cemetery keeper in Bourgogne, France, who you can’t help but warm to.
Violette is both gentle and resilient, and we follow her journey to finding the closure that she deserves after tragically losing her young child, as well as stumbling into unexpected love, that she had long given up trying to find.
A beautifully written story with vivid characters, complex emotions and light at the end of the tunnel.
Starling House
Alix E. Harrow
A bit slow to get going, (although in fairness I am impatient) but hard to put down once it did. This book was described as a gothic fairytale, and I’d have to agree. It certainly took me outside of my comfort zone.
Locations and characters are brilliantly detailed, conjuring the image of crumbling Starling House so clearly in my mind that it left me with goosebumps.
Our protagonist, Opal, is a feisty orphan who works a number of uninteresting (and sometimes shady) jobs to make ends meet and to support her younger brother. She lives in the town of Eden, a gloomy setting where strange accidents occur and people go missing.
It’s also the location of Starling House, a dark and looming mansion that seems to scare most people away, but draws Opal to it.
If you’ve read any of these books then I’d love to hear your thoughts - or if you have some of your own recommendations then I’d love to hear about those too!
Happy reading!
Loz x