SOCIAL STUDIES National Read a Book Day


Julia Hart

Today, September 6th, is National Read a Book Day. Here are a few of the reasons you should join in on this holiday and read a book. How cool would it be if everyone in America was sitting down right now to read a book?! Please add your own reasons for reading  in the comments section below.

Read a book today BECAUSE

It’s the best excuse for peace and quiet.

You love sitting in your favorite chair.

That stack of borrowed books needs a dent.

All your friends are busy.

You need a new favorite quotation.

Books are on your schedule: you can pick them up and put them down at your own convenience.

Walking to the library is good exercise.

You saw the movie, but you heard the book is way better.

You’ve always wanted to read  Anna Karenina.

You’ve always wanted to reread  Anna Karenina.

There’s a swath of history you’re sick of having to admit you know NOTHING about.

Some sentences are better than kissing (See Nabokov).

Your perspective can be changed by a single passage (See Vonnegut).

Your life can be changed by a book (See The Year of Magical Thinking).

You’re going through something and you just need to get lost in a beautiful, made-up world.

You haven’t gotten to use your imagination in a really long time.

Today’s world  is so loud, hyper-connected and busy.

The world inside your head is yours and yours alone.

 

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  1. [...] just read that it’s National Read a Book Day. I thought “Really? I wonder if that’s true…” and I immediately set out to confirm that [...]

  2. “You’ve always wanted to read Anna Karenina.” It’s on my Goodreads to-read list! I promise! But I’m on a YA kick lately…

  3. I first read Kurt Vonnegut in college a long time ago. Then I got married and had a son and daughter. I got to meet Kurt Vonnegut because of my son. I got to work with Kurt Vonnegut with my son. Now my daughter teaches Kurt Vonnegut and tells people to read him like I did. If you read Kurt Vonnegut maybe good things will happen to you the way they have me. Thank you Kurt.

  4. whenever anyone has a child, I give a basket of books, with a note that reads ” at first you will read to your child as you hold them in your arms, soon they will be sitting and trying to turn the pages, then you will points to words and be joyous when they repeat them, then they will start to read to you (they will always have those special books) soon you will read together in their bed, as they fall to sleep, then the joy of when you see them in their beds with a book, that meant so much to you .. then they will go to College, and those books will stay behind as a reminder .. then one day they will move away and your joy will be, that those books, will be lovingly packed up in a box to be part of the new bookshelves in their lives and one day, they will hold their child in their arms with that book … that started them on their love affair with the magic of a story … I love you Julia, hold those books and my heart always …

    • I am so grateful that you taught me that books were the greatest gift you could give another person. I have the best parents. I love you guys. Your comments look REALLY cute next to each other.

  5. I love this! Reading is a passion of mine, and just finding time is hard, but in dedication to this day, I will read a book because that is what I love, and whats a better reason, than that?

  6. You can visit another time (Austen’s England) or become acquainted with someone long gone (Abraham Lincoln). I doesn’t matter if you read books on an E Reader or the traditional way, reading is still the best way to be entertained and/or learn.

  7. After I finish my history course reading, and maybe some of my accounting, I’m gonna try and finish Cat’s Cradle. Vonnegut (and Joseph Heller) has a way of making me laugh while thinking outside the box. I think everyone should read any Vonnegut (I started with Slaughterhouse-Five) and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. I tend to find one author I enjoy and read all the books they’ve written.

  8. It changes one perspective on how people view things. It helps us (sometimes) to look in other ways and see how we can relate to them while being kept entertained. Obviously, the joy of books is only appreciated and value to those who enjoy reading.

  9. A couple of other reasons:

    -Some writing is amazingly seductive (particularly Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff)

    -It’s a great feeling of accomplishment when you finish a monster-sized book like Youngblood Hawke (Herman Wouk) or Boys and Girls Together (William Goldman) or The Stand (Stephen King) or any of James Clavell’s books.

    -A good Dave Barry book can make you laugh longer and harder than any comedy film you could ever find

    And incidentally, I love the photo! Slaughterhouse-Five is a remarkable book!

  10. Because it’s there!

  11. Also, nobody can tell you what you have to read when you read on your own! Nobody can tell you you’re right or wrong, nobody gets to criticize your speed or interpretation of the plot….. you’re in full control! No pressure, no deadlines, no chance of messing up…. just you and the book.

  12. I read because the creativity of others nourishes my own.

  13. You should read a book because most are better than real life! Books were my saving grace as a child, and kids today rarely read by choice. If your kid sees you loving the book you’re reading, they might see that it’s not such a bad thing! Pick up your favorite novel and get your eight year-old a Magic Treehouse book. You’ll be relaxed and your kid will open up a world of awesomeness.

  14. “Some sentences are better than kissing”<— This should be a fact.
    I am reading several books today because they're required for my classes. However, I am going to read a "non-required" book today, because books connect me to the literary world (One of my favorite places to delve into).

  15. I am reading The Worst Hard Time about the dust bowl. Thank you, Becky, for the recommendation.
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