Hello book lovers! Welcome to this week’s Top 10 Tuesday.

I thought this was a wonderful prompt to get us ready for Thanksgiving. I think it is easy to forget to reflect on how thankful we are for certain things, but this is a great prompt to help you remember.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Artsy Reader.

1. Books teach me about the world.

Books can open me up to the world, introducing me to different cultures, societies, and worldviews. It is my hope that every year I become a slightly better, more knowledgable person because of the books I read.

A book that comes to mind is one I am reading right now: Babel. As Kuang says in the introduction, Babel is a fictionalized version of Oxford, but many of the experiences are real.

2. Books help me improve skills.

And I’m not only talking about self-help books here. Reading books, regardless of the genre, has numerous benefits! I have a giant poster in my high school classroom with only some of them for whenever students want to ask, “Ugh, why are we doing this?!”. Well *ahem* let me grab my reading glasses.

To name just a few, reading increases our ability to critical think, teaches us new vocabulary, and builds our senses of empathy. I am not kidding when I say books are the best!

3. Books give me the opportunity to connect with my friends.

I have been part of numerous book clubs in the past decade, but my favorite is the one I started at my school with my coworkers. We are not the most on top of things (we definitely don’t meet every month and we pick and choose the books we read), but I have found people who share my love of books! Even when we don’t meet or have a book, we are always talking about books we are reading.

4. Books give me the opportunity to connect with my students.

This is a big one for me recently. I dedicate a lot of time to checking out Young Adult books, not only so I can recommend books to my students, but also so I can read their favorites! One of my biggest goals as a high school English teacher is to foster a love of reading. I recently had a student ask if I would read a series with them (The Skullduggery series), and I said “Yes, of course!” It was not something I would typically gravitate towards, but seeing how happy my student was to talk about the book with me was worth it.

5. Books push me outside my comfort zone.

Tying in with the last one, books give me the opportunity to read and learn about things I would not normally be exposed to. Every year, I try to read a few books I normally would not pick up. It does not always work out, but I am never upset that I tried something new.

6. Books help me relax.

Whenever life is stressing me out, I know I can escape by reading a book. This is why I have read so many books this year — I’ve been avoiding a lot of responsibilities! Maybe I should write a post for what books are great when you need to escape life…

7. Books give me something to do when i’m bored.

Whenever I find myself with nothing to do, books are a good way to feel entertained but still relaxed. Although, while I say this, I wish I reached for books more when I am bored. I have recently become re-obsessed with Disney Dreamlight Valley, so most of my free time has gone to playing that.

8. Books inspire me to do more.

Have you ever finished a book and thought “Wow, that character has got life figured out!”? Whenever I read a book with an aspiring character, I get a little push to try a little harder in life. Sometimes we just need a little extra inspiration to keep moving forward.

9. Books can be read anywhere.

You can read books at home, in your car, in waiting rooms, etc. I almost always have an e-book (with my Kindle and the Kindle app on my phone), audiobook, and physical book that I am reading at the same time. I want to be able to immerse myself into a story wherever I am.

10. Books allow me to connect with anyone.

Most importantly, books give me the opportunity to connect with anyone around the world. It is so great being part of the online book community because something as simple as a favorite book can bring an entire group together.

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I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and if you don’t celebrate, I hope the week brings you lots of joy anyways!

Until next time, xx