6 #BookwormAdvantages You Forgot About

I got the idea for this lovely (though I do say so myself) little post from Beth @ The Quiet People, who wrote an awesome post with FIFTY ideas for book blog content on it. FIFTY. If you need inspiration, that's definitely the place to go.

I'm sure you guys will have heard of the #BookwormProblems hashtag. It's used a lot to complain about the perils of life loving books, and while those are many - generally just being broke all the time, not knowing which books to read next, and of course papercuts *shudders* - I thought I'd be all sunshiney today. Because being a bookworm can't be all bad, can it?

There are some advantages:

#1 ~ Intelligence! Intellect! Knowing Stuff!

Books equal knowledge. No matter what you read, from academic non-fiction to picture books, you're going to learn something ... and unless you're reading on a particular topic, chances are that knowledge will be completely random. I, for example, could run you through the basics of being a foreign ambassador, forensic science and 1920s boarding school etiquette thanks to various books. Those facts could save your life one day, if you time travel to pre-WW2 England or end up suspected of murder.

Don't doubt me. It could happen.

If it doesn't, you'll always have the quiet satisfaction of Knowing Stuff. It's fun. Those guys who don't read really should try it some time.

#2 ~ You always have something good to spend your money on

Yes. Books are ridiculously expensive when you can't get enough of them, and being broke all the time is more than a little annoying. But a lot of people are constantly penniless; you could be spending all your cash on sweets and rotting your teeth! Or ... drugs?

Sorry, that escalated quickly.

What I mean is that books are in no way a bad thing to hoard. And, if you were obsessed with clothes, you wouldn't be able to get them for free in a sort of fashion lending service, would you? But you can get books in a library. There's no excuse to play video games in the middle of an English lesson, but reading? Yeah, they'll spare ten minutes for that!

(Seriously, at my school they actually give us ten minutes at the start of each English lesson to READ WHATEVER WE DARN WELL PLEASE and it's pure bliss. Not sure if this will continue into GCSEs, but I'd better be glad of it while it lasts...)

#3 ~ The bookworm community is just so friendly

The moment you choose reading as a hobby, you immediately become a fully-paid-up, card-carrying member of one of the most supportive clubs in the world. I don't know if the act of reading turns people nice or whether it's only nice people that become bookworms in the first place, but something has to be going on here. Books just seem to bring out the best in people. ;-)

I promise you I'm not kidding! Look on Twitter! Go to your local library! Bring up books in pretty much every conversation you have! Soon enough, you'll find some lovely bookish friends to chat with, recommend books to and possibly rant at if your feels get too extreme.

The bookworm community is also one that understands how annoying the question "What are you reading?" is. You can't underestimate the value of that.

#4 ~ You're pretty much never bored ... while you're waiting for stuff, anyway

Chances are, if you're a bookworm, you have a near unbreakable habit of taking a book with you wherever you go. One is the absolute bare minimum. And while that can lead to heavy bags, along with possibly broken arms from carrying said heavy bags, it also means that you are pretty much never left with nothing to do. 

Waiting for a bus? That's okay, I've got a book. 

Friend's running a bit late? Oh, no probs, I can read my book.

In a ridiculously long queue that hasn't moved for at least, like, a week? Oooh, I might have time for a whole chapter if I'm lucky.

Yes, sometimes you finish your book too soon or you're in a reading slump and that leads to extortionate levels of boredom or frustration. But can you imagine what it'd be like if you didn't have reading? You'd be bored like that EVERY TIME YOU WAITED FOR SOMETHING.

Oh, the horror.

#5 ~ You have a weapon for the zombie apocolypse

I'm serious you guys. Have you even been hit with a hardback? I'd actually be surprised if you have, because I reckon most people who've been smacked with one are either dead or have been concussed to such a degree that they'd find reading tricky.

Watch out zombies, Lara's coming. And she's got The Complete Chronicles of Narnia.

#6 ~ And, of course ... you have a whole other world to escape to

There's something about reading that can only be described in one word - escape. The feeling of just being somewhere else, somewhere different, somewhere away from the rest of your life and the rest of your worries. It's just something I couldn't live without when stuff gets tough.

And I know that other people have ways of coping with this too. I know that you can get through tough times a million different ways, but reading is just my THING. It takes me to other worlds and other emotions, I get to meet new friends and who cares if they're fictional? I can go places I could never go in real life, places almost no-one could ever go in real life (outer-space colonies, anyone?), and just be someone else for a while, I guess.

Hopefully, it's that awesome for you too.

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In the comments: Are there any other advantages you've discovered to being a bookworm? Which are your favourites? They really make it worth being a bookworm, right?

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Labels: Reading Life