Why do you read novels?

Have you ever opened a book and started reading, only to find that by page five you're not in the living room anymore - you're in a world that someone wrote on a page, seeing things that you never thought you would, crying with the characters, laughing with them, fighting alongside them?

That's why I read novels. Sometimes, a person just needs a break from life.

(((Sorry, I just realized that was a really long sentence... does it still count?)))

Oh, man! I was so going to write that I like to pretend that I am a giant, fluffy bunny running across a pasture.

Well, no point in me answering now...

Lol.

No, I read novels because:

- When you feel like crap, you can sink into another world, get lost in another person's problems and a different world (oh, I read fantasy adventure mainly, btw, lol).

- Inspiration - If that author could get published then why can't I? Of course this one could completely backfire like it has done many times in that it crushes almost all of your confidence because "my book will never be as good as that".

xx :) xx

Nice question.

For me, it's definitely escapism. I like to be absorbed by a story and forget the world around me. There are so many more possibilities in the imagination than real life.

It's not why I read, but I have often noted that it's easier to write when I've been reading a lot. I'm more inspired because I've been using my imagination.

Another benefit of reading is that it improves your vocabulary and understanding of the English language (unless the author is particularly bad.)

First, reading is a mutual participatory action on the part of the reader. The reader actually "re-writes" the story, characters, scene backdrops and moods in his or her own mind to make them fit his or her psyche. Thus reading a novel strengthens the imagination of the reader and his or her own ability to write.

Second, reading a novel incites the reader to predict or anticipate the next step in the plot. Then the reader compares what he or she expected to what actually happens in the novel. If the reader is pleasantly suprised by the outcome, it strengthens his or her pleasure.

Third, all of life is a story. Each reader has his or her own story which they will compare or juxtapose to the story portrayed by the characters of the novel. The novel thus serves to validate or repudiate the experiences and stories of the reader.

Fourth, the reader admires the god-like capability of the author to create this imaginary fictive universe that's parallel to our own, because the reader also has fantasies that parallel the actual mundane, stressful existence here on planet earth as a homo sapiens. Reading a novel strengthens the readers' ability to engage in this self fantasies as they the fantastic world created by the author.

Finally, just a reader's life must end, so must a novel end. We all wonder how our lives will end, and observing or reading the end of the novel's story gives us fuel to ponder about our own life ending.

Because it gives you chance to go from reality to fantasy. Your mind enters a world where everything is possible, where no one can tell you that this or that doesn't exist because in a novel it does. In a novel, anything can happen, that's why I read a lot of them and that's why I love it.

I read novels because it gives me an escape from my own life and I love that I can totally immerse myself in the novel that I'm reading and get transported to another world. Also because reading is my passion.

When I read, I focus on the language style. Like, one is written in the 1800's, the style is gonna be different. and I read one from now, it's gonna sound mega different. I read books mainly to learn new vocabulary. Plus I read books to get a sneak peek at different writing styles that can inspire me to use for my own stories. I also love reading books that block out the outside world and you're just part of the story.

:)

i find novels are an escape from the real world. particularly if i am upset or stressed i find that reading a book and delving into another world helps me so much. once i get absorbed into a book it's like i have forgotten the real world and only when i close the book does it come back.

I read to put real life on hold for awhile and live someone elses. I also enjoy the imagery of some novels the style of the writer and his/her ability to weave words. I read so I can learn those styles and further my own desires to write well and continue to be published.

I love to read novels because I escape to another world!