Remember Reading

Summers spent in the park with a book, cosy evenings in the winter curled up under the covers, our Remember Reading project aims to recapture those core memories and help us tap back into what we love about reading. Maybe it will encourage us all to pick up a book more often and to step away from our devices for a time.

Ask yourself

To kick off our little project I’ve come up with a few questions and answered them to help myself reconnect with that little avid reader who loved to lose herself in her favourite childhood stories. I hope to inspire you all to have a go at remembering reading and take yourselves back to a time when you loved reading, whether now or in the past.

What’s your favourite childhood reading memory?

I loved the Magic Faraway Tree and I remember spending hours reading all of those books curled up somewhere at home and losing myself in those stories. I loved the whimsical tales and fantasy worlds, where good always won over bad and kind souls were in abundance. I especially loved the friendships and sense of belonging within those pages.

How does reading make you feel?

For me I think it has to be a sense of connection – connecting me to people and places I’ve never met or been to, but a sense of understanding that reading can give me. When I read something that really speaks to me, it can feel like a sense of belonging that sometimes doesn’t reach me in the real world. There’s a sense of reassurance that someone else out there maybe thinks and feels the same things, it’s a skill that an author has to be able to reach people in this way.

What’s the one most important thing to you about reading?

It’s probably one of the only times where my mind is quieter, as I’m focused on the words and the story I’m reading. I become immersed in that world and it can help me to switch off the noise of my everyday. It also reminds me of home, both my childhood home and my home with my own children. I have such fond memories of sharing stories with my children when they were little and still have their favourite childhood books as well as my own.

What’s your current read?

I’m actually reading a poetry book a friend bought me for my birthday – ‘I still believe in miracles (poems to find meaning in difficult times) by Lucas Jones. I love poems and I think there’s been a real resurgence in this genre in recent years and my favourite book of all time is The Rose of Sebastopol.

Be part of our project

I’d love you to get involved and send us your answer and to help share our love of reading for the Year of Reading to help us all remember how much enjoyment there is in reading. We’d love to hear your book recommendations for all ages.

Get in touch with us to get involved: info@eco-able.co.uk
Download the questions and free book journal page here: Remember Reading