Being a Reader is a Superpower
And books are the source of that power
In early 2025, I wrote a post called “Why Read?” which has gone on to be one of the most popular posts here on The Rewrite.
And after a legislative session spent worrying about and advocating against an egregious book banning bill, it seems more important than ever to keep talking about why reading books is so important.
Why Read Books?
Mark Twain, American author and humorist, once said that a “classic” is a book “everyone wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” I’ve always found this quote humorous, given that his work The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn landed him squarely in the canon of Classic American Literature, alongside work like
It’s no shock to say that I’m a big fan of reading books. No one who’s been here a while or knows me will find this unusual. I’ve dedicated most of my life to reading—as a childhood bookworm, as a writer, as an English instructor with both an undergrad and masters degree—that’s a lot of reading! On top of that, I’m a certified Library Media Specialist and have been a school librarian.
So…yeah. Books are kind of my thing.
They’ve always been a joy, a respite, and a refuge all throughout my life.
As I look around the world right now, there’s a lot that brings my heart so much despair. It’s hard to wake up every day and wonder what horrible news is coming at me next while I’m raising my boys and attempting to maintain my perimenopausal sanity.
More than ever, I find books to be a safe haven in troubled times.
Which is why being a reader is a superpower, fueled by books, that will only become more powerful in our tech-ridden, curated social media, AI-soaked reality.
There are so many reasons why reading is good for a person: it builds empathy and connection, expands vocabulary, expands curiosity, among many other things.
When we read, we become better receivers of information and better communicators. It strengthens our attention spans and ability to follow logic, helps us learn to build arguments and structure ideas.
These skills connect us to our humanity, our ability to connect, to reason, to express emotions.
As societies remove themselves further and further from the natural world, those that retain and maintain a deep grasp on their humanity will rise up.
Those that create from their minds and hearts, write from experience, paint with their fingers, design with creativity: we’ll look to them for something real amongst all the slop.
We’ll look to them for authenticity and humanity.
They’ll be sought after.
Longed for and desired.
Prized.
Books offer us both humanity and authenticity when they’re written by humans who pour themselves into them.
And if you’re looking for grounding in the midst of all the chaos right now, I can guarantee you can find it in a book.
Books offer us glimpses of lives we’ve never lived and experiences we’ve never known, which is one of the reasons they build empathy. They show us the different experience of another person in close up ways so that we can understand them.
Book can also give us language for the things we’ve lived and not found a way to talk about. In that sense, books offer us a sense of community and belonging.
This is why reading is a superpower.
In the film The Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams’ character looks into the earnest faces of his pupils and says, “No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”
Yes. Yes, they absolutely can, when followed with thoughtful action.
And books are a primary vehicle for this.
Which is why they’re currently under attack on a variety of fronts.
Not only are we seeing reading for pleasure continuing to decline, but we’re seeing books being destroyed: banning and burnings (how I wish I was kidding), as well as AI companies destroying copies after they’ve stolen then information they contain.
In a world that’s rampant with war, famine, infighting, noisy news cycles, doom and gloom, knowledge is powerful. As author Tomie dePaola says, “Reading is important, because if you can read, you can learn anything about everything and everything about anything.”
To riff off Elizabeth Gilbert’s words in her book Big Magic:
Books are sacred, and they are not sacred.
What we read matters enormously, and it doesn’t matter at all.
We read alone, and yet we read to know we aren’t alone.
We retreat into stories when we’re afraid, and we come out of them with courage.
Reading is a crushing chore and a wonderful privilege.
Books want to be read, and they want to be read by you.
Being a reader is a superpower, friends.
Books are the source of that power.
Let’s remember to love and protect and advocate for them.
Looking for your next read?
Get lost in one of my historical fiction stories:
OR
Check out some of my prior reading recommendations:
You made it to the end! Thanks for reading.
Your support here means a lot to me and you make a huge difference with every like, share, or comment.
If you want to support The Rewrite further, you can
OR
Preach!!!