BookQuest

Terry Newman's Bookish Newsletter

I’m Terry Newman, author of romantic comedies with a splash of fantasy. Thank you for visiting my newsletter where I talk about my writing, books, and topics that have grabbed my attention.

Defending your Habit: 7 Benefits of Reading

Need some ammunition to justify your reading addiction…I mean hobby?

Thankfully, the twenty-first century’s view of novels is not the eighteenth-century’s. In the 1700s, reading fiction was seen not only as a waste of one’s time, it was thought to distort a person’s view of the real world.

Still, even today there are individuals out there who don’t understand why people read. And worse yet, there are those Debbie Downers (my apologies to all the reading Debbies out there) who believe you can actually read too much. Pshaw!

We don’t need such negativity. So here are seven benefits of reading you can spout off to the next person who tries to ruin your day.

1. This is your brain on books.

• Tell anyone who thinks you read too much that you’re improving your brain. While that may seem obvious, research is now confirming it.

• Have you ever wondered what happens to your brain while reading? Or am I the only weird one?

• Emory University researchers were curious (thankfully, I’m not the only one), so they scanned the brains of people who read. Specifically, they took a group of individuals, assigned them all the same novel, and instructed them to read a certain number of pages each night. The following morning, they reported to the research facility to receive an MRI.

• The result? Reading strengthens your brain. Just the act of reading alone activates many parts of your brain. And the farther you get into the story, the more of your brain is activated.

• But wait, that’s not all. These areas stay active for several days after you’ve finished reading—even if you’re not actively reading. And not surprisingly, the more you read, the stronger the complex networks of activity become.

But here’s the curious part of the results…

• Reading also strengthens the areas of your brain that respond to movement, sensations, and pain: the somatosensory and motor cortex.

• Weird, right? The researchers believe it’s because when you read, your brain puts you in the body of the protagonist, the person you’re reading about, and changes the activity in these parts of the organ as a result.

Who knew all this was going on while you’re curled up on the couch under a blanket?

2. This is your memory on books.

When you read, you use both your episodic memory, that stores and retrieves the unique personal experiences of your daily life, and working memory—that keeps information in your brain while you work on different tasks. These are the two types of memory that, sadly, decline as we age.

But reading cannot only help with that, but improve both memories, it seems. In one study, older individuals were asked to read every day for eight weeks. At the end of that period, both their episodic and working memories significantly improved.

The more you read, the more you work those memories and strengthen your neural pathways, which can boost your overall cognitive functioning and help you to recall information with ease.

The bottom line.

• Reading consistently can help you prevent age-related cognitive decline.

3. This is your stress on books.

Got six minutes to read?

• That’s all it takes for your body to react. In that short amount of time, your stress levels are already down by 68 percent! Your heart rate slows. Your muscles relax. Even your blood pressure drops.

• What about audiobooks? Not to worry, listening to them affords your body the same benefits. Thirty minutes of reading a day, according to research, can help alleviate the physical symptoms of stress.

• There is one caution, though. You need to be able to read for the full half-hour without any interruptions. (Be prepared to cite this fact the next time someone tries to talk to you while you’re reading.)

4. This is your concentration on books.

• It’s not just your imagination. Our collective attention spans are getting shorter. A Canadian study showed that between the years 2000 and 2015, the average attention span was shortened from twelve seconds (already seriously short) to a mere eight seconds.

• Part of this, of course, is the effect of technology. Anyone who has tried to post on TikTok has been warned that you must grab your audience’s attention in the first three or four seconds, or they’ll scroll away.

• Now, let’s talk about those annoying, distracting phone notifications. Did you know that, once distracted, it takes the average person twenty-three minutes, nearly half an hour, to get refocused? And every time you stop for one of those, you’re only training your brain to do just that. In essence, you’re rewarding distraction. The future implications are grim, to say the least.

• But all is not lost. When you sit to read for a half hour or more, you’re exercising the muscles that are responsible for your focus and concentration. And the longer you read, the more you’re rewarding that focus and not the distraction. In the long run, you’ll discover your attention span will lengthen again, and you’ll be able to concentrate more fully on even the most difficult of your daily tasks.

5. These are your communication skills on books.

• Books are a wealth of word choices and writing techniques. They show us the communication of thoughts and emotions. And they do this through body language and dialogue. Your parietal lobe, located in the upper rear part of skull, is activated while you read. This just happens to be where your ability to write originates.

• Interestingly, your brain stores the linguistic styles of the books you read. On the surface, this may seem of little consequence, but never underestimate the power of the human brain. This helps strengthen your ability to communicate clearly, and not just in the written word. Your verbal communication benefits from your reading as well.

• But that’s not the only way you use that stored material. What you gain is not unlike a snowball rolling down a hill. By reading, you’re aware of new perspectives. You see things from another person’s point of view. And you not only discover new ideas, but you gain empathy. And the next thing you know, you’re looking for people who share your reading interests, and you begin talking more with others.

And poof!—before you know it, you’re communications skills are sharper than they’ve ever been.

6. This is your vocabulary on books.

• Books are amazing because you discover words you may have never have used before, or better yet, never have seen before. But from the context of the story, you can get a pretty good idea of what it means (even though you might not be able to pronounce it).

• Could you imagine sitting down and memorizing those same words?

• Adolescents who read just for pleasure in their spare time, according to one study, knew 26 percent more words than their non-reading friends. That should come as no surprise.

• And it’s only common sense that the more you read, the more words you discover, the larger your vocabulary becomes. Want to increase your vocabulary? You’ll see the results if you read as little as fifteen minutes a day, experts say.

7. Your creativity on books.

• Another no-brainer of a benefit here. Of course, reading stretches your imagination. But now, we’ve got science backing us up on this fact.

• When you read, you activate your occipital lobe. This is the part of your brain responsible for processing visual information. You can see how this works when you read fiction. As you read about other worlds, characters, and their actions, the occipital lobe helps you visualize it all. Those abstract concepts become very real in your mind.

• A recent study found that undergraduate students who read for pleasure possessed higher levels of creativity than those who didn’t. But the benefits didn’t end there. They also were more eager to learn and achieved their academic goals easier than those who didn’t.

• And of course, the more you read, the easier you’ll discover it is to be creative. Not only that, you’ll find yourself applying your creative visualization to all areas of your life.

• Oh, and get this, the occipital lobe is also used in decision making. So the more you exercise it, the better you’ll decisions will become. And it all starts with reading.

Whether you read just six minutes a day or a half hour or more, you’re strengthening your brain, boosting your imagination, busting stress, and more.

So the next time someone mentions you’re wasting your time reading, let them know what’s really going on in your brain on books.

What I’ve Been Reading…

Last we met, I told you I was reading The Marigold Mind Laundry, by Jungeun Yun (translated by Shanna Tan).

• Well, it seems I put that aside when I was able to get a copy of Father Material by Alexis Hall on Hoopla. Now, it had just released so I was shocked it didn’t have any holds on it.

• It’s the last of his trilogy. Boyfriend Material and Husband Material were both excellent.

• I almost gave up on it because it started a bit slowly. But I’m so glad I didn’t.

• The series follows the relationship of Luc O’Donnell, whose parents are both ‘80s rock legends (he’s a bit maladjusted) and Oliver Blackwood, a barrister. Definitely opposites attract.

• I love Hall’s writing as much for the plot and main characters as I do for the hilarious, over-the-top secondary characters. That includes his mother and her friend Judy.

• Luc, by the way, works for a charity called C.R.A.P.P. which solicits donations for to keep the dung beetle population healthy.

  

What’s on my TBR…

• I received a copy—a signed copy—of Ashley Poston’s new release The Someday Garden. It was one of my birthday presents. (Thank you, Ree!) She writes magical realism and frankly, the descriptions of her books sound, well, different. But the books always have me hanging on every page.

• She wrote about an apartment that slips back or forth in time seven years, depending on when you enter it, a woman who finds her way into a fictional town, well, get the idea.

• This time, it’s a garden on the grounds of Lilymoor House, that has a door that appears. But never in the same place twice. And oh, yes, there’s a man trapped inside.

What I’ve been writing…

• You had to ask. I’ve been busy working on making book trailers lately. You know, like movie trailers, but for books, and squeezing in writing when I can.

• I’m making a few fundamental changes to Love at the Speed of Light, my current work in progress, so I’m still in the thinking-the-whole-thing over stage.

• I’m also ghostwriting a project for a financial planner. It’s a huge undertaking and financial planning isn’t necessarily my area of expertise. But then, I’ve ghostwritten on a wide variety of topics, natural health, meditation, glamping, soapmaking, and making whiskey. So I’m sure it’ll be just fine. But I have to put the time in. And I will.

I realized I don’t talk much about Hearts on the Rocks, the second Alex and Blake book I wrote. So here’s the first chapter. If you like it, you can grab a copy here.

Chapter 1

Cagney

Cagney Adler knew this blind date would be like all the others. Agonizingly long. And it would end just like every other one. Tragically.

She might have exaggerated slightly. It certainly wouldn’t be a Pearl Harbor, or even a Watergate. But Mr. Rock Nerd to her left had all the charisma of, well, a box of rocks.

She wondered if the recent rash of blind dates had given her combat fatigue. Brian, no wait, Brad, was the fourth one in two months. Okay, maybe that didn’t seem like a lot, but every man could have been a cardboard cutout of Brian, no that’s not right, Bradley, it’s Bradley Townsend.

She knew it would be a disaster the moment her friend, Molly Driscoll, began the conversation. Molly had talked her—no, cajoled her—into this. By the way, it appeared she had looked forward to this pitiful occasion. Molly had dressed for it. She wore her favorite grunge jeans, striped short-sleeved blouse, and a snappy short jacket. It hung perfectly on her five-foot-seven frame. Cagney had dressed in her best T-shirt—it was a dark pink—and her jeans. She dressed for utility, not show.

“Brad, I hear you’re a geology major,” Molly said.

Cagney should have run then.

“Yes, I’m working on my dissertation.”

Bradley’s body did not match his area of interest. Weren’t scientists, especially those in geology, supposed to be less than attractive and more nerdlike? That’s how television shows portrayed them. Every single one she had ever watched.

He was easily six feet, and the gray button-down shirt only highlighted his deep-blue eyes. His dark brown hair had a relaxed and attractive wave that she actually envied. He wore a tightly cropped beard that gave the man a hint of mystery. Dammit, even his glasses didn’t detract from his good looks. And the body? It looked as if he worked out in a quarry. She might be watching the wrong television shows.

“Did you know Cagney’s working on her dissertation, too?”

That was Logan Adams, Molly’s boyfriend. She suspected he engineered this fiasco.

“Really?” He sat up a bit straighter and almost smiled. “What area of science are you in?”

Cagney shot Logan a quick glare before she answered. “I’m in the history department.”

“Oh.” The disappointment echoed in his voice. Then he smiled, as if he’d just thought of something. “Egyptian history? I love Egyptian history.” For the first time, he turned his body toward her. The curl on his right side teasingly tugged his ear as if defying the comb.

She pursed her lips. “No, American history.”

“Oh.” His body slumped.

Silence.

Why did she agree to this? Again. Brian, no Brad, wasn’t the bottom of the blind-date barrel. That position would always and forever be assigned to Morgan Belmont, zombie apocalypse prepper extraordinaire.

Surprisingly, this bizarre version of the end of the world didn’t come from a movie or television show. Nope. It came straight from The Centers for Disease Control. The CDC gives instructions on how to survive such an event on its website. Apparently, he intended to follow them to a tee.

“Why don’t we go up and order?” Logan pushed his chair back and stood. He nodded to Molly.

“That’s a great idea.” She got up too.

Her blind date rose and the three of them headed toward the counter. She forced herself to follow.

Molly hung back and waited for her. “Isn’t he cute?”

She cocked her head and studied his cute butt for the first time, all tight and taut. He could have easily been mistaken for a model. And in that one moment he thought she studied Egyptian history, he smiled. And it looked good on him.

But, my God, they lived in different universes.

And in her universe, her thoughts revolved around Alonzo Reichard, the leading expert on Warren G. Harding, the subject of her dissertation, and when he would get around to answering her email. And the one paragraph she couldn’t get to sound right for Dr. Bremner’s nineteenth-century social history class. And she wondered when the hell that book would come in that she had reserved on interlibrary loan.

So she just nodded and agreed.

“I think you two are going to hit it off just fine.”

“Really? He’s into geology and already disappointed I’m not studying Egyptian history. How’s that hitting it off just fine?”

“You’re just a little nervous. Relax. Logan said he thought you two would make a great couple.”

Cagney rolled her eyes. “You do remember I’m not looking to become a couple with anyone, let alone Brian the rock nerd?”

“His name is Bradley.” Molly’s voice spat out irritation. She pursed her lips. Hard. It looked as if she had just sucked a lemon. “You could at least do him the courtesy of getting his name right.” Molly usually gave her an admonishing look when it came to Cagney’s dating habits, or lack of them. But this look went beyond admonishing, crashing into new territory.

Apparently, she had crossed the line. It was one thing, she supposed, to be recalcitrant in accepting unsolicited help on the dating scene. It was completely another thing to get the name of your rock nerd and amateur Egyptologist date wrong. She should make a mental note of that so she didn’t make the mistake again. But she really didn’t care.

And yes, the evening certainly would be agonizingly long.

****

Brad

As he waited for her to arrive, he questioned his sanity. Why did he allow his roommate, Logan, to arrange a blind date for him…again? To be fair, saying no to Logan when he had made up his mind was like trying to stop a tornado in its tracks.

That’s how Brad Townsend found himself out on yet another Friday evening waiting to meet a woman who would ultimately reject him. It was a foregone conclusion, regardless of what Logan thought. Oh, his roommate always thought that the next blind date would be the woman Brad would fall madly in love with. “You two will make a great couple,” Logan blurted out every time he proposed a double date. Every damn time.

And every damn time, he and his date had decided they wouldn’t make a great couple, mumbled a few apologies, and never saw each other again. It would all replay over again tonight with Casey Adler. The only thing he knew about her was she was a friend of Logan’s girlfriend, Molly.

Logan’s nudge in the ribs interrupted Brad’s internal whining. “There they are now. They just walked in.” You’d think by the excitement in his voice, he was the one meeting someone new.

Brad glanced toward the door, not eager to meet his date. He did a double-take, though, when he saw the woman next to Molly. Short and slim, she wore her dark blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, accenting her high cheekbones. She carried a certain je ne sais quoi that gave her a natural elegance. Her simple T-shirt bore a striking resemblance to a dark pink quartz. While she didn’t smile—she probably felt the same way he did about tonight—she looked beautiful.

He gulped. Logan greeted Molly with a kiss on the lips as Brad shuffled his feet awkwardly as he stared at Casey. Her eyes were the color of expertly cut emeralds.

“Hi.” What a lame thing to say. “I’m Brad.” He paused. “Brad Townsend.”

He glanced over to Logan and Molly, already involved in the start of a conversation. They didn’t even bother to introduce Casey to him.

“I’m Cagney.” He barely heard her soft voice over the excited Friday-night buzz at the café. “Cagney Adler.”

Did she say her name was Cagney? He thought it was Casey.

Molly must have remembered them because she finally acknowledged them. “Cagney, this is Brad.”

She called her Cagney. Well, that’s it. He furrowed his brow as he recalled Logan’s announcement of the date. He never asked if I were available, or even interested. Anger and frustration gnawed at him, and he might have heard him say Casey.

He needed to remember her name was Cagney. He could do that. At least for the evening. He knew he’d never see her again. Guaranteed.

When Logan suggested they order, Brad had followed his lead. Keenly aware Casey—damn it, Cagney—lagged behind, he knew why. He had acted like a major ass, asking her the area of science she studied. Then he had to ask if she studied Egyptian history. Where the hell had that come from? He must have pulled it out of his middle school memory.

He had been anxious and awkward on the other blind dates, but this one rattled him in ways he couldn’t understand.