I love to read. Always have, always will. So does my significant other. We often swap books, read, and then talk about them. And yes, he even reads romance on occasion.
So recently, when we were talking about our various hobbies, I proudly included reading in my list. To which my significant other replies, “Reading’s not a hobby. It’s a necessity.”
Hmm.
I’d never thought about it that way before. Of course, he’s right. To some extent, reading is a necessity. You have to read stop signs and e-mails from your boss and the nutrition label on the soup can at the grocery store. You have to read movie listings and your kid’s report card and restaurant menus and a thousand other things in your daily life, whether you want to or not. Insurance forms, blech!
But all that’s not what my significant other was talking about. He meant reading books was a necessity. And he’s completely right. I couldn’t imagine a world without books—or one where I didn’t read them voraciously.
There’s the entertainment factor, of course. I love being transported to completely different worlds, where vampires roam the streets, members of the ton scheme to marry off their wayward sons, and rough-and-tough cowboys stand up for what’s right no matter what. Books can make me laugh, cry, cheer, growl, and everything in between.
Then, there’s the education factor. Reading keeps your brain active, lets you learn about different folks and cultures, and helps you put yourself in someone else’s shoes, if only for a few hours. And that’s just for starters. Books can be entertaining, informative, frustrating, enlightening, engaging, intriguing, unpredictable, and much, much more.
But I’ve gotten much more than mere entertainment or education out of books. As a writer, I’ve learned so much just by reading the work of others. In seeing how people tell stories, craft scenes, create characters, pace the action, develop dialogue, and a thousand other things that go into any book. There are people I specifically read for various facets of writing, like Robert B. Parker for his great dialogue, Robin McKinley for her elegant balance of fantasy and romance, and Donald E. Westlake for his zany, screwball capers.
A well-written sentence is a thing of beauty just as much as a painting or sculpture is. Maybe even more so, because you only have your imagination and a few words to guide you instead of something concrete to look at.
So yeah, to me, reading is a necessity that really tiptoes over into passionate addiction. Books rank right up there with oxygen, water, and strawberry cheesecake ice cream. Now, I just need to find more time to do it and whittle down my ever-increasing, to-be-read pile. 
So what do you think? Is reading a hobby? Or a necessity? What do you enjoy most about books?
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Strictly speaking, our bodies will survive without reading for pleasure. However, human beings have always swapped stories; we have evidence of that on cave walls all over the world. Many of our most powerful lessons come from stories. What would a human life be like without having ever listened to a story? Probably so different from the rest of us that we would consider each other insane.
Therefore, since humans–to all evidence–have always had stories, then it follows that we probably would not be able to survive without them. Or if we did, we would be some other type of creature, not the type of creature we are today.
Maybe you didn’t want to get this deep but damn! You really got me to thinking!
Tia’s comment reminded me of Lee Child’s speech at SleuthFest this year. How humans found that communication helped them overcome the larger, more dangerous species — “Hey, look out, there’s a sabre-tooth cat behind that bush!”
But humans also took it one step further, in that they’re the only species who “lies”, and somewhere down the line, storytelling became a significant adaptation for the well-being of the clans.
Embellishing the truth probably gave hope for survival to those cave-men types, merely trying to live from one minute to the next. Telling a story about how Joe escaped from an entire herd of saber-tooth cats and killed them in the process was both entertaining and inspiring.
And, as far as the printed word goes, I can’t imagine living without reading books. I carve time from my schedule no matter what.
Personally, I tend to believe the reading process encompasses a little of both for me. I have to do it to feed both my brain and soul, yes, but it’s also a hobby in terms of “playing” with the books themselves and revisiting the characters and places within them. So, yeah, the obsessive collecting part is a hobby, but the reading is out of necessity I suppose. Maybe.
At least it sounds good put that way.
Reading is definitely a necessity for the well being of my own life. I can’t imagine a world without words and stories. When I was little, my mom took my sister and me to the library every Saturday and we’d check out the maximum amount of books allowed. By the next week, all the books were read and we checked out new ones. Reading has been such a huge part of my life for as far back as I can remember. It’s helped define who I’ve become. I think I’d be lost without the joy of reading.
The hubby isn’t a novel reader so I’d have to say reading is pure pleasure.
And I’m perverse (not the same as perverted, folks, - though I might be that too). I prefer not to do what I HAVE to do.
Great discussion!
I agree. Great discussion, guys!
One thing I wanted to add is that I feel sorry for folks who don’t enjoy reading or don’t think it’s worth their time. They really don’t know what they’re missing.
The ability to read is necessity. But reading books, magazines, newspapers, etc. is a hobby. Many people get by just fine without ever doing so, once they leave school.
Too bad for them. They’re missing so much!
Definitely a mental necessity for me.
I think I lurve your SO. Does he have brothers? LOL!
The thing I love about books, more than any other form of entertainment/recreation is that it’s the only activity to which I completely succumb. I’m not hungry. I’m not thirsty. I’m not sleepy. *I* don’t exist anymore, there is only *the book*.
Can’t it be both? Foodies consider ingesting food their hobby, and that’s definitely also a necessity.
Nope, the SO doesn’t have any brothers.
And I know what you mean about nothing existing but “the book.” To me, the sign of a really great read is when I tell myself just one more chapter … and then look up an hour later!
Reading is a necessity for me. I love when I open a book and can’t put it down…not even to eat. Work does eat into my reading time, but I always have at least one book with me.
Like all of you, not reading is unimaginable. I often wonder how people who don’t read entertain themselves. There’s so much pleasure in reading and what about the stress reduction benefits. I discuss books with my children all the time. Now that they’re older, they read many of the same books as me. And in the past year, my daughter has learned to love reading romance. It’s soooo fun. I couldn’t describe a perfect day without reading time in there somewhere.
You’re lucky your SO reads. Mine doesn’t read fiction. He misses so much.
I can’t imagine not reading. I’m the type of person who reads cereal boxes or the labels in the bathroom when I don’t have something else to read. Books are so much more entertaining than labels and boxes.
Reading is as important to me as breathing, and since it’s vital to my mental health, I would say it’s also a necessity for me. (As well as my favorite hobby.)