Whatever happened to reading for pleasure?

I grew up reading a lot of books. Reading is an old habit and a way for me to get away -- sometimes from problems, sometimes from reality and sometimes even from myself, and become immersed in a completely different world. However, I find that this is not the case for most people around me today.

Most children born in the '90s spent a lot of their time with their noses buried in a Goosebumps, or the Famous Five and later on, Harry Potter. In other cases there were the "Tin Goyenda" series, or even Sheba's engrossing translations of English classics. Today, however, children do not care for a good read. They don't seem to be as curious as we were back then.  

We are moving forward and embracing more of technology and the technological, of course. But I did not think this lack of curiosity was part of the bargain. Most of the children today are into consoles and movies and every time I think about it, I realise how different my childhood was. 

I wish children still found happiness in an Archie and Jughead Double Digest or Tintin. Actually, I wish children these days at least recognise Archie and Tintin.

It is not only limited to children, though. Being able to find some time today for pleasure reading seems to have become a luxury most people cannot afford. So often we hear that the 24-hour day is just too short, and of course, never enough to practice a hobby we once loved so deeply.

For argument's sake, let's say looking up authors, going from one store to another and hauling books can be a little time consuming and somewhat tiring. But then came something wonderful: e-readers like Amazon's Kindle.

You would think that the invention of the likes of Kindle and access to e-books would appeal to those readers who have lost touch with this beautiful habit, but, like many, PDFs just do not cut it for me -- I need to be able to hold the book and carry it around.

It is a big part of the whole experience for me, even though it is something to thank the digital age for, as it makes it very easy to access material on the go. Yet, it seems to be just not convenient enough, and that, is a shame.

There is, however, a growing craze for young adult novels. This relatively new genre consists of stories which seem to have similar plots to one another: A young couple, a love like no other, and a major complication -- which involves either of them dying or being part of the undead. These are books that have already been turned into or on their way to becoming plots for major motion pictures. Of course, I have nothing personal against these stories or authors, I just do not appreciate the effort to tag these as classics for the future.

Generally, people seem to think catching the movie version is all the same as reading the book. But it is not. Someone who has never enjoyed reading will never ever know what a magnificent effect reading can have on their life, even if is not for every day, but just something done sometimes, in moments of pleasurable leisure.

Books teach us so much. We know about people we will never meet, we learn about places we will never go to, and most importantly, we find out something new about ourselves. Now this is not something you can expect with every read, but when you do feel a connection to a book, you know it will be forever, close to your heart for life.

By Maaesha Nuzhat Nazmul