✍️ Desk of Amy Suto: 3 Unexpected Benefits of Reading Fiction Books
Why you should make a trip to your local bookstore today.
Happy Sunday! In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about…
✍️ The 3 unexpected benefits of reading fiction books
☕️ Why it’s important to have a balance of fiction and nonfiction in your content diet
😎 How I’m going to hit my goal of reading 100 books this year
📖 3-Minute Story: 3 Unexpected Benefits of Reading Fiction Books
Last year, I only read 19 books — I wasn’t making time for one of my favorite pastimes, and this year I’m setting out to read 100 books.
As writers, reading isn’t just a critical part of our work: reading fiction has measurable benefits on our quality of life.
Here are 3 of the most unexpected benefits of reading fiction:
1. Reading fiction helps to combat stress.
Most of us turn to scrolling endlessly on our phones when we’re stressed or bored — but as it turns out, reading fiction in particular is a better way to de-stress.
The New Yorker reports that:
“Reading has been shown to put our brains into a pleasurable trance-like state, similar to meditation, and it brings the same health benefits of deep relaxation and inner calm. Regular readers sleep better, have lower stress levels, higher self-esteem, and lower rates of depression than non-readers.”
Anecdotally, I’ve found that life feels more peaceful when I’m in a regular habit of reading.
But why fiction? Nonfiction can feel more like “work” whereas fiction helps us get deeper into an immersive flow state.
2. Reading fiction improves your empathy.
Research published in Science showed that reading fiction can help improve empathy, as reading fiction allows us to relate to each other better and imagine someone’s life outside of our own.
Empathy is important no matter what you do, because we’re all just humans co-existing together in a complex society. If you want better relationships, better understanding of how the world works, and a nicer time of existing in general — pick up some fiction!
3. Reading (fiction!) makes you smarter.
We all know that reading nonfiction is a favorite pastime of the powerful, as reported by The Harvard Business Review:
“High-level business leaders have long touted the virtues of reading. Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, spends most of his day reading and recommends reading 500 pages a day. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban says he reads more than three hours a day. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, says he learned to build rockets by reading books.”
But where does that leave fiction reading?
In a 2013 study published in the Creativity Research Journal, participants were either tasked with reading fiction short stories or nonfiction essays, and the people who read the fictional short stories had less of a need for “cognitive closure,” which meant the fiction group was better at parsing through ambiguity and had more creative decision making.
📚 How I’m Making More Time for Reading This Year
I’m making reading a more important part of my daily routine this year by including it as part of my daily habit stack. Every day I’m going to read a minimum of 20 pages, and that can either be a physical book, an e-book, or an audiobook. I’m also making an effort to read more fiction — and I can’t wait to share more of my favorites with you this year.
Have you read a book you’ve loved recently? Share it in the comments or send me an email!
Here are more posts of mine about reading and writing you may find interesting:
✨ 2 Quotes to Inspire You
"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." — C.S. Lewis
"Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you." — Carlos Ruiz Zafón
✍️ 1 Journal Prompt for Reflection
Your favorite book. Write about one of your favorite fiction books. Why is it a favorite of yours? What would you say to convince a stranger to read it?
Feel free to share your reflections in the comments:
💻 New Blog Posts on AmySuto.com
📚 New Chapters of My Thriller Novel Let Me Be Your Ghost
🎥 Video of the Week: How Much I Spent as a Digital Nomad in 2023
Watch here on YouTube!
📸 Photo of the Week: My Newest Read
Read my book review of this pirate novel on my blog!
Follow me on X/Twitter or Instagram for more!
⚡️ Upcoming Wednesday Edition: 5 Secrets of Time Management for Authors & Freelancers
This Wednesday, ✍️ From the Desk of Amy Suto paid subscribers will get an exclusive issue about…
✨ How to write higher-quality material in less time
🧪 Why boredom and rest are key parts of the creative process
📚 How I manage my time while writing this Substack, writing for clients, and working on my own books
Sending creativity and good writing vibes your way,
-Amy
p.s. I create my newsletter voiceovers and my podcast episodes using the tool Wondercraft AI, a text-to-speech tool that speaks in YOUR voice. 🎙 Use my code SUTO50 or this link to get 50% off your Wondercraft AI subscription! (paid/affiliate link)
Techno thrillers are stories consisting of large-scale military battles and my two favorite authors of this genre are Tom Clancy and Larry Bond with my favorite book being Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising" about a World War 3 scenarios, you may have seen some of Clancy's works, he is the one who created the CIA character "Jack Ryan" in such books as "Hunt for Red October" and "Clear and Present Danger.
I like that fiction can take you to another world for a brief moment, I love reading fiction especially science fiction, fantasy, crime dramas and techno thrillers.