What book do you recommend? – National Book Lovers Day
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)– Today is National Book Lovers Day, an unofficial holiday all about reading.
From exploring the various pieces of literature to appreciating the joys of books, the holiday gives everyone a chance to participate in their summer reading.
Despite the joy books can bring, The National Endowment for the Arts reports daily reading for pleasure has seen a significant, long-term decline. Falling more the 40% over the past two decades.
Felix Radford, the customer relations expert at Winnie & Mo’s, believes the problem isn’t a lack of interest in reading, but the pressure people put on themselves to read the “correct” books.
“I feel like sometimes when people want to get back into reading, they’re like trying to read like classics or things that they feel like they should read. But like, I feel like it’s totally okay to just read things that like, are really basically appealing. Like just read the read the things that appeal to you on a really basic level,” Felix said. “Don’t try to be strict on yourself. On what counts as reading. Read a graphic novel. Read manga. It all counts. Read audiobooks. Audiobooks count. I would say be easy on yourself and just read what you want to read.”
A memory that can stick with all our bookworms is that first book that really opened your eyes to the wonderful world of reading. Like Whitney, the co-owner of Winnie & Mo’s, who discovered this love as a young girl. “I really loved goosebumps as a kid and I remember reading that in first grade. I love that feeling of feeling like I was immersed in that scary world. And that was the first thing I remember really loving to read.”
Through Winnie & Mo’s, she and her team hope to create that same sense of discovery for other readers and build a supportive reading community for local bookworms.
“There is definitely a lot of people who come and sit at the counter and then are just like, naturally gravitate towards chatting with me or other people at the counter that I think probably don’t get a chance to chat as often as other people,” Felix said.
Finding that reading community can be a little intimidating, but there can be many opportunities around you!
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