I have a confession – I love to read and have even been accused of being a “bookaholic”. Books – especially fiction - are my escape and my solace in dark times. They helped me to figure out the world and better ways to live when I was a child and young woman, and still encourage me to “walk in another’s shoes”. 

It is one of my life’s great pleasures that I can travel to other countries, cultures, and times in history simply by reading a book. I can return to England via a novel set in the land of my birth if I feel a little homesick, and I can even time travel or visit imaginary future, past or magical lands.

I don’t remember a time when I could not read. I learned this essential skill very early in life, and using words effectively to communicate is vital in my chosen profession of marketing. I believe that reading makes me a better writer, and losing myself in a book is definitely my ‘happy place’. As a bonus, I was also pleased to find out recently that people who read books are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

I must admit I still prefer the feel and experience of an old-fashioned printed book. I do have an electronic book reader, but I associate screens with my work, which I enjoy but which is not an escape in the same way as a novel is. I prefer to read books rather than watch movies or TV series, and if I do watch a drama on screen when I have already read the book, I am often disappointed with the way that the characters look or sound because I have imagined them to be different. Over the years I have supplemented my reading habit, and fitted it into a very busy working life, by using first audio cassettes (remember those?!), then CDs and now book streaming apps whenever I am driving or doing routine household tasks. This does not stop me having a towering pile of books by my bed waiting to be devoured. I even have an informal reading club with my best friend where we loan and recommend books to each other and discuss what we have read whenever we get together.

So how did reading begin? It is generally thought to date back to the ancient world with agricultural prosperity and increasing complexity of social structures. Someone changed the course of human history in ancient Mesopotamia by using some squiggles on clay to represent a goat and an ox. That was the birth of the concept of writing and reading to communicate. This early writing was helpful to keep records of transactions and could be transported with goods over long distances. The earliest known clay tablets used picture-like signs to depict lists of goods. Around 2600 BC, cuneiform script was developed, believed to be the first writing system. Writing became more versatile as it was used to document laws as well as keeping records of transactions. This was followed by writing of the earliest works of literature and there are records of books, plays and philosophical works from scholars in both ancient Greece and Rome.

Did you know that the earliest written texts were meant to be read out loud? Punctuation was used for the first time only around 200 BC and was erratic well into the Middle Ages. The masses were still illiterate, and written material only reached them through public reading which often took place in royal courts and monasteries. Reading aloud from a book was considered pleasant dinnertime entertainment from the Roman times to the 19th century, when British author Charles Dickens, presented his work through public readings. Ever wonder why Dickens’ books are so long? Because he was paid by the word since most of his novels were serialized in weekly magazines. Readers would avidly wait for next week’s publication, just as today we wait for a new series on TV or streaming services.

To share a few interesting facts: Chaucer recommended reading in bed in the 14th century, while Henry Miller and Marcel Proust preferred the absolute solitude of the bathroom! President Franklin Roosevelt read an average of one book per day and Iceland tops the world in per capita book reading - it must be the climate!

Of course, the invention of printing and the development of libraries were vital to the history of reading but that is another column. There is more information at www.britannica.com.

I will leave you with a quote from American writer, Anne Lamott, which resonates with me. “What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.”

Now if you will excuse me, I must now decide whether to go to medieval France, 1950s Washington DC or a contemporary English village!

God bless America!

 Lesley grew up in London, England and made Georgia her home in 2009. She can be contacted at lesley@francis.com or via her full-service marketing agency at www.lesleyfrancispr.com