Introduction
Hello Bookworm Buddies,
If you are new to reading and are looking for books to begin your adventure, you have come to the perfect place. I will provide you with book recommendations to consider when you begin your reading journey, but first, let’s learn some facts about reading that will motivate you to get started right away.
I. Importance of Reading for Beginners
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In a world where you can get quick dopamine releases from social media, let’s give our minds a break and indulge in the world of books. Reading opens the doors to new worlds, sparks the imagination, and provides several benefits. Reading improves your concentration, memory, empathy, and communication abilities. It can help you live longer, reduce stress, and improve your mental health. Reading also allows you to learn new things to help you excel at your job and in relationships. What’s the best part? You may get all the benefits of reading books while having a great time.
II. Benefits of Reading
A. Cognitive, emotional, and empathetic benefits
Reading stimulates the brain, expands your vocabulary, and improves cognition. In an age where screens rule our lives, the old practice of reading remains a cognitive treasure. When compared to non-readers, regular readers have lower stress levels and reduced incidences of depression. Readers also have better sleep habits and more self-esteem. According to research, fictional books may be good empathy-building tools, providing readers with the closest they can get to a first-hand understanding of someone else’s experience.
B. Stress-relieving qualities
Reading can be an excellent (and healthy) way to escape the stresses of daily life. Reading can reduce stress by up to 68%, according to a 2009 study from the University of Sussex. Another study revealed that reading, rather than taking a stroll, drinking tea or coffee, or playing video games, is a great way to reduce stress.
III. Overcoming Barriers to Reading
A. Lack of time: Time management tips
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I can keep talking about the benefits of reading, but you must be thinking, how can one read in their busy life. Every day we have to go to schools, or colleges or work. It might be not easy to spare time from your busy schedules to read. But worry not when Chapter Chaser is here 😁. I will suggest some tips that I use for myself for incorporating reading into your schedule.
- Start reading first thing in the morning.
You can start reading as soon as you wake up and ensure your reading time is not interrupted by distractions like checking social media, emails, etc.
- Change some of your screen time to reading time.
It is helpful personally for me as well. You can replace scrolling reels with reading a book.
- Dedicate an hour before sleeping at night to reading.
You can dedicate an hour to reading before sleeping. It can be good for your eyes as well because of the reduction in screen time and it can help you with insomnia also.
- Read what you enjoy.
Reading what you enjoy can lead you to read more. It’s similar to watching your favourite show. You can binge-watch your favourite series without getting bored, but finishing a series that does not interest you will be difficult. You can read any genre you’re comfortable with and you will notice you have read more than any other time when you read the book that you didn’t like it as much.
If you want a detailed post for time management tips for reading. Please let me know in the comments!
B. Difficulty finding the right books
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Reading is undeniably essential – it teaches, inspires, entertains, and so much more. But, with thousands of books produced each week, how does a reader (particularly someone who’s a beginner at reading) select which book to read?
- Read what you like
You can try reading a few books to see what kind of novels you enjoy, and then you can identify which kind of books you prefer and get the right book.
- Find your reading taste
Do you prefer novels about mysteries or stories about swoon-worthy romances or Do you enjoy horror stories or getting lost in a world full of magical powers? Do you prefer comedies instead? You can select from a variety of stories that may pique your interest.
- Discover which genre you like
Another way to find the right book is to find what genre interests you the most. For example, we know that mysteries are typically fast-paced and thrilling. The fantasy genre is filled with chunks of description and progresses at an even pace.
IV. Book Recommendations
Now that we know all the benefits of reading and how to select the right book. I am providing a list of books of my favourite genres so you can get a head start in your reading journey.
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A. Book Recommendations for Beginners in Mystery Genre
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Synopsis: Ten strangers are invited to Soldier Island, an isolated rock off the Devon coast. Cut off from the mainland, with their generous host mysteriously absent, they are each accused of a terrible crime.
Then one of the party dies suddenly, and they realise there may be a murderer in their midst – a murderer who might strike again… and again…
And all the time, copies of a macabre nursery rhyme hang in each room, a nursery rhyme with an omen of death for all ten of them.
The Disappearance of Sally Sequeira by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay
Synopsis: With its pristine beaches and clear turquoise waters, the picturesque hamlet of Movim in Goa seems like the perfect holiday spot for Detective Janardan Maity and his friend Prakash Ray. But when the father of a local teenage girl receives a letter asking for a large sum of money in exchange for his daughter, Maity and Prakash find themselves in the thick of an unlikely mystery. For, they discover, the girl has not been kidnapped at all, and is safe and sound in her house.
As they begin to investigate, the duo encounter the mysterious characters who inhabit the tiny village, each hiding a secret of their own – not least the frail and shy Sally Sequeria, who keeps to herself but steps out at night to dance to the notes of a piano.
What truth does Movim hide? And how will Janardan Maity solve a crime that has not yet been committed?
The A.B.C Murders by Agatha Christie
Synopsis: ‘Let us see, Mr Clever Poirot, just how clever you can be.’
There’s a serial killer on the loose, working his way through the alphabet and the whole country is in a state of panic.
A is for Mrs Ascher in Andover, B is for Betty Barnard in Bexhill, and C is for Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston. With each murder, the killer is getting more confident – but leaving a trail of deliberate clues to taunt the proud Hercule Poirot might just prove to be the first, and fatal mistake…
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Synopsis: Alicia Berenson lived a seemingly perfect life until one day six years ago.
When she shot her husband in the head five times. Since then she hasn’t spoken a single word.
It’s time to find out why.
The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie
Synopsis: When a stranger runs his car into a ditch in dense fog near the South Wales coast, and makes his way to an isolated house, he discovers a woman standing over the dead body of her wheelchair-bound husband, a gun in her hand. She admits to murder, and the unexpected guest offers to help her concoct a cover story.
But is it possible that Laura Warwick did not commit the murder after all? And if so, who is she shielding? The house seems full of possible suspects…
B. Book Recommendations for Beginners in Romance Genre
I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
Synopsis: Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill, but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!
Well. perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.
What ensures is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents, she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.
The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
Synopsis: Tiffy and Leon share a flat
Tiffy and Leon share a bed
Tiffy and Leon have never met…
Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they’re crazy, but it’s the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work during the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.
But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven’t met yet, they’re about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window…
The Ego(Maniac) by Penelope Bloom
Synopsis: Something is very wrong with my downstairs neighbour. For starters? She appears completely immune to my charms. It’s odd… Downright suspicious.
But beneath those frowns and pantsuits, I know she feels the connection, too. Why else would she keep filing noise complaints against me? It’s like a cry for help. A demand for me to show up at her door…
One look in her barren apartment and I know her job is her life. The last male to see her bedroom probably had a tail and whiskers. I can see she needs my skills. Badly.
I happen to have a talent for people – fixing them, persuading them… pleasing them.
Except my past rears its ugly head at the worst time. Instead of dating my neighbour, now I’m roped into working with her. But what’s more romantic than a forbidden office fling?
I’ll find a way to solve my secret little issue and make time for my new office mate. On the clock, Off the clock, on her desk, on my desk…
But first, she needs to agree to go on a date with me. I think her exact words were “Absolutely no way.”
No way? There’s always a way. There’s blackmail, bribery, buckets of charm… Maybe all three?
All Last Summer by Stephanie J. Scott
Synopsis: Sometimes life doesn’t go according to plan.
My summer was planned from packing lists to trip itineraries. Or so I’d thought.
It’s the night before my trip abroad, and my boyfriend Matt showed up at a party with another girl. The boyfriend I’m supposed to spend seven weeks within Brazil.
No way can I board that plane.
With my trip tickets ripped up and the money down the drain, I owe my parents big time. The only job hiring is Teed Off!, the driving range that just so happens to employ Matt’s trio of best friends.
Matt’s friends don’t like my presence on their artificial turf, so pranking me becomes their second part-time job. They definitely don’t want me winning the bonus money our boss is offering for an idea to improve the business.
By chance on a summer night, Matt’s head crony best friend Aidan is there for me when no one else is around. Turns out he and Matt haven’t been close for a while. Aidan begins to see through to the real me- the me I’d kept from Matt to be the person I’ve always longed to be popular with a boyfriend, all according to plan.
As the summer unfolds, our secrets unravel.
All Last Summer is a young adult summer job romance and the first book in the Love on Summer Break series but can be read as a standalone.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we have seen the benefits of reading that it helps in strengthening the cognitive, emotional and empathetic qualities in us and it is a great stress buster as well. You are welcome to choose any book from my list of recommendations to begin your reading journey and don’t hesitate to share your thoughts after finishing the book; I’d love to hear them. Lastly, do share your recommendations that you feel I should check out in the comments.
Happy Reading!
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Do let me know the benefits of reading what you know and share any time management tips that you know and I have not mentioned. Do share your thoughts on this post.
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