For many of us, books are a refuge from the harsh realities of the outside world. Especially during this time of crisis, reading books is a tremendous blessing. Reading is even better when you can share that love of reading with others. They don’t even have to be people closest to you, but neighbors, colleagues, even strangers on the street.
Reading may be an individual activity, but it doesn’t have to be. Reading can be as much of a group activity as you want it to be. These days, it’s more important than ever to stay connected with one another even if we’re living in isolation. Who knew that a solo activity like reading can actually bring people together?
How do you share your love of reading with others? Here are a few ideas to consider.
1. Teach someone else to read. Whether teaching a child to read or an adult who has never learned to read, you’re teaching them more than a skill. You’re teaching them to be curious about the outside world, about language and storytelling. You’re teaching them to tap into their imaginations. And those are experiences that can last a lifetime.
2. Write a blog about books you love. Do a Google search for blogs about books and you’ll find a laundry list of entries. Book blogs abound because people still love to read. Even more important, they love to talk about books and read about books. So if you’re an avid reader who wants to share a love of reading books, start a blog. Write about your favorite authors, or write a review of books you’ve finished reading.
3. Hold book readings in your own home. Invite family and friends over and each takes turn reading from a text. Or just keep it private – like between you and your dog or cat. Reading out loud has several benefits. For one, it can aid memory and learning, according to a study published in the journal Memory. Researchers found that word recall was greatest among those who read out loud to themselves rather than reading silently or hearing an audio recording of themselves reading out loud.
4. Set up a Little Free Library in your neighborhood. It seems a new Little Free Library is popping up in my neighborhood every month. A Little Free Library looks like a little school house built out of wood that holds a collection of books that have been donated by neighbors. You can take a book or two to read while donating a few of your own. It helps keep the books circulating so everyone has a chance to share a book.
5. Host a book swap. Invite people over to exchange books. For each one they bring to your swap, they can choose one from your collection (assuming you’ve already finished reading it.) Whatever books you don’t want from the swap, you can donate to a non-profit organization, a school or the Little Free Library in your neighborhood. Either way, it’s one more way to share books and your love of reading.
6. Host a book review party. Invite friends to review their most recent or a favorite book. Everyone reads their own book, comes to the event and talks about their selection for five minutes. Everyone has a chance to talk about the book they’ve read. Not only are you sharing your love of reading, you get a chance to add to your TBR list with the titles your friends recommend.
7. Set an example for young readers. A friend of mine reads as much as she can in front of her two young sons because she wants to set an example for them. She wants them to grow up to be readers too. When kids see you read, you demonstrate that you have a curiosity about the world, and it’s an experience they want to be a part of. So set an example for kids, and they may likely grow up to be readers too.
8. Re-enact favorite books or plays. Remember Jo March in Little Women? Her head was filled with stories, and she and her sisters created skits to perform her stories. If working with students or kids, have them pretend they are characters in a story, such as Harry Potter, then have them re-enact scenes from the series. Letting them participate in live action stories helps build their brain muscles for storytelling.
9. Use social media to share your latest read. Take a photo of the book cover and post it with a brief review on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Another idea is to form a private group on Facebook for book lovers, maybe of a specific genre, like science fiction or business books. Then host weekly chats among group members.
10. Host a reading challenge. Every year, Goodreads polls its members about how many books they want to read in one year. The estimations can range from 12 to 120. You don’t have to participate in theirs, however. Instead, you can do your own reading challenge and share that challenge with your friends. Maybe it’s not the number of books you want to read, but how many different genres you want to read or how many different authors you want to read. The challenge is whatever you make it out to be. The result is sharing a love of reading with other like-minded people.
The best part is that many of these activities don’t have to be done in person, but through a platform like Google Hangouts or Facebook Groups.
So while we isolate ourselves from one another for the sake of good health, reading is a solo refuge that many of us can still enjoy. And sharing that experience with others doesn’t have to make you feel so alone.
The Regal Writer 