When the nation was told to self isolate, and shops were forced to close, everyone began to revisit their favourite pastimes. The scent of petrichor after rain, a cosy drink and a good book has since been a treasured pastime amongst readers; and one that people appear to have revisited during lockdown. It appears lockdown inspired many readers, to pick up reading again and start to read more books, compared to before lockdown.
A Reading Agency survey, which was conducted in celebration of April’s World Reading Night, showed that the initial stages of lockdown had an significant impact on people’s reading habits. The survey revealed that 31% of people started to read more, along with a 45% spike among young adults (18-24) reading more print, and e-books as well as listening audio books. Most read genres included classic literature, crime, and books detailing fictional epidemics.
It goes to show that many people have turned to books, particularly during the initial lockdowns, as books helped people to cope with the consequences of their new lockdown life. Books have provided a opportunity to step away from the screens during lockdown, and sit down with a good book. This can have both physical and mental benefits, regardless of whether the books people are reading more are print or e-books, as people are finding new authors to read or perhaps revisiting a favourite book series.
Meanwhile, a Nielsen Book survey revealed that people had almost doubled their reading time from 3.5 to 6 hours. The survey also included people’s responses as to why they were reading more during lockdown. 52% said they had more time to read, 35% said books provided an escape or distraction, and 51% said books kept them entertained.
The responses people gave for reading more, represent some of the common needs of people forced to self isolate in their homes; the need for entertainment and the need for distraction. Books are able to provide a more mentally stimulating activity self isolators, as with stressful working and personal lives, sometimes it can be hard for readers to find the time to read, let alone to find a good book to read in the first place. Although, the specific reasons as to why people would choose to entertain or distract themselves with a book, may come from the idea that books can allow them to step outside of themselves and their lives, and travel to another mind, another place or even another time.
A Sky News article by Lucy Cotter, which featured Hay Festival Digital Speaker, Historian Simon Schama, spoke about how books are allowing people to travel and leave their stressful lives behind; commenting that when you read “you are travelling essentially. Reading is a state of freedom – the freedom of the mind, the freedom of the imagination, and there is no better cure to feeing nailed to the spot than reading”. The past five months have seen numerous books released, which seem to fit the bill, for the type of books that Schama described. There has been a particularly huge spike in the number of fantasy and science fiction books released, including : Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas, Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins, and Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton.
However, to obtain the stories that let us leave our lockdown lives behind, most readers had to turn to online purchasing or digital alternatives (especially as bookstores only reopened in June). In a Bookseller article by Tracy Buchanan, Bookouture Associate Publisher, Isobel Akenhead spoke about what lockdown has meant for the reading and writing habits of authors and readers alike; commenting that “as readers are finding solace in words, so must we [authors].” She adds that writing, like reading, can also provide a means of distraction for authors, from the stresses of life of lockdown.
Readers and authors are therefore alike, in their quest to find or write books, in which they can take solace in. The reason for this is because books have the powerful to transport us to places, where battles are won, connections are made and adventures are had; which can give us feelings of hope, freedom and joy in these difficult times. After all, as Isobel Ackenhead said “now more than ever, the world needs good stories” and this is why we read (and write), we need stories to fulfill a void created by lockdown; just as much as stories need to spread their positivity to us. It’s space to say that the nations reading habits have definitely changed, and for the better, as stories have the power to transform us all.
the girl and the city of books 
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