Well firstly, reading is known to widen your vocabulary which can, in turn, improve your writing style, making it easier to achieve higher grades in written assignments on your course. Moreover, since it makes you focus on a world outside of your own, reading is a great way to relieve stress and it also provides mental stimulation, which is important because it keeps your brain active, slowing the progress of, or possibly even preventing, conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
Furthermore, reading can improve your ability to focus and concentrate in your day-to-day life, and through having to remember what is going on in the book, your brain forges new pathways, called synapses. These in turn strengthen existing memories, improve your short-term memory recall and help to stabilise your moods. Yet, despite these advantages, various studies have suggested that only half of young people read for pleasure at all, with this proportion being much reduced when it comes to those who read daily. So, why is this?
One of the key barriers to reading that students can face is being unable to access books easily and cheaply. The price of new books is continuing to creep up and this expense is hard to justify when your student budget is already stretched. To solve this, I think that Sheffield Libraries (the ones run by the City Council rather than by the University) need to promote their services to students. By signing up to be a member of the library, students can access thousands of books for free and you can also access e-books and audiobooks through them on the Libby app. This makes reading much more accessible to everyone and being a member is also a way of supporting the libraries and ensuring that they stay open for everyone who uses them.
Sheffield is also blessed with a plethora of charity shops which sell a wide variety of books very cheaply. I think my favourite has to be the Oxfam shop in Broomhill, which is really convenient if you live at Endcliffe or Ranmoor. By purchasing books from these charity shops, you’re not only saving money yourself but you’re also supporting some really valuable causes, so it’s a win-win really!
Having enough motivation and time to read can also be challenging when you’re a student. After a long day of going to lectures and reading journal articles for your course, sometimes reading a book is the last thing you want to do in the evening, and this is perfectly understandable! I have to say that, even as an English literature student, I often struggle to find time to read for pleasure during term time as I just have so much other reading to do for my course and I end up wanting a break from it. However, last year I found that a great way to circumvent this barrier was to listen to audiobooks.
Whilst these can be expensive, apps like Audible sometimes have student offers and you can also get them through the library for free, and I found that they were a great way to fit more reading into my day as I could listen to my book whilst I was walking to uni or whilst I was cooking. This meant that reading for pleasure felt less like a chore because I wasn’t having to miss out on other fun things in order to find time for it.
Finally, it may be fairly obvious, but when you are reading for pleasure, you should definitely be reading what you enjoy! Whilst fiction is often seen as the main thing to read for pleasure, no one is stopping you from reading a newspaper or a non-fiction title for fun if that is what you prefer. Also, even when it comes to fiction, you shouldn’t feel pressured to read a certain genre just because it is popular or it is what all your friends are enjoying, because if you don’t like it, you’re not going to want to read!
And, on that note, there’s no rule that says that you need to finish every book you start, so, if you take a chance on a new author or genre, and you’re not really feeling it, don’t feel ashamed about putting it down and giving something else a go or going back to your favourite book – I’ve definitely done that more than once or twice!
