Usually, at the end of any good book, I often have some kind of conviction to change my life. A reader or writer is somebody for whom that possibility is always open. This is why a person who discovers a great work of literature (or music, or art, or any other form of creative expression) often appears for the moment like a crazed animal, twitching and mumbling incomprehensibly. Don’t talk to this person – give them time – they are emerging from some sort of cocoon right now, and you are an unwelcome witness. For me, this happens when I am holding a book and this is actually why I love reading.

Undoubtedly, if you are a reader and a writer, you know what that thrill of change feels like. Meek? I don’t think so. In fact, the world is filled with meek people, and most of them hardly read. I look around me, and I see the bullied husbands, the forgotten wives, the slavish employees, the frightened politicians. But I don’t see any of these people reading. And if they tried, maybe it would inspire them to break out of their shells a little bit. 

Literature is what reminds us to take good care of our inner selves – that part of ourselves that the outside world will not keep safe for us. If you’re an obsessive reader and writer, I hope you will proclaim it proudly too. I am glad that I am not the only one who spends almost the entire day, every day reading. I, therefore, see my writing as fire, the reading as fuel.

You know when you look up a word, and the definition tells you to see another word, so you look that word up only to find that you’re directed toward another word. Pretty soon you’ve spent an hour chasing meanings, and maybe you don’t even remember what got you started in the first place? I find this funny. It happens to anyone most of the time. But for me, I would like to think of it as – if I didn’t read, then I would never know that this remarkable word or piece of writing even existed. This is why I love reading.

I cannot think of life without something to read: A magazine, a book, a cereal box, advertising signs along the highways. To me, reading is like that. From news to articles ranging in subject from the literary stylings of Chinua Achebe to the daily lives of strange creatures, I’m always reading something. Although the number of books I read has grown considerably smaller over the past year, I would like to believe that since I’m not so horrifically busy all the time now, I might as well try to get back in the habit. 

Quick question: What drives you to read? What would make you buy a book at the book shop? Or actually, what kind of content do you consume most of the time, besides text messages? Just out of interest lol.