{"id":16067,"date":"2021-04-01T16:28:18","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T22:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=16067"},"modified":"2021-04-09T07:09:23","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T13:09:23","slug":"reading-around-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2021\/04\/01\/reading-around-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading around campus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Sara McClaran and Ellie Shelton.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Print book sales had their best year in a decade in the past year, the New York Times said, according to NPD BookScan. Additionally, ebook and audiobook sales increased, highlighting the solace many people found in reading a book throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of this is a need to get into other people\u2019s shoes to learn about other people\u2019s lives \u2014 fictional or real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe really do connect better with others, [and] we relate to other human beings more fully when we\u2019ve had a chance to walk around in James Baldwin\u2019s skin, or, you know, Virginia Woolf\u2019s,\u201d Dr. Nathan Henton, associate professor of English, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henton said he has a specific theory when it comes to the increase in physical book sales over ebooks or audiobooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor years, print sales have been declining, we know this,\u201d Henton said. \u201cBut what happened during the pandemic is that we all switched to all screens all the time. My suspicion is that it\u2019s actually kind of a bit of screen fatigue. That people want to read, but the idea of doing it on your Kindle or any of the other apps around involves one more screen, and that is exhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Henton thinks the tactile experience of a physical book may be more of a factor in a time when physical contact has been so limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHolding an object that\u2019s not going to beep at you, but that also maybe has a particular smell to the pages or texture of the paper \u2014 I think there may be something to that, too,\u201d Henton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many classes enforce or suggest books as a part of the curriculum, some Harding campus members have enjoyed reading for pleasure throughout the past year. Senior Raissa Ames said that reading is the single most important thing that a person can do to liberate themselves and that reading leads to awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReading helps me understand the person that I am and want to be,\u201d Ames said. \u201cI want to remind people that it is OK to commit a DNF (Did Not Finish) on a book they aren\u2019t enjoying. I think a lot of times we view reading as a chore and something we have to get through, but reading should be a fun, challenging and exciting experience, and the sooner a reader realizes that, the more open they will be to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ames said if she could suggest three books to a friend, they would be \u201cJane Eyre,\u201d \u201cOn Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous\u201d and \u201cFreedom Is a Constant Struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior Anna McLain said she likes reading because it is peaceful and quiet, while still stimulating the mind and keeping the reader interested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a total clich\u00e9, but it really does take you to a different world,\u201d McLain said. \u201cI fell in love with reading when I was around 10 and started the \u2018Harry Potter\u2019 series. Anyone that knows me knows that I\u2019m obsessed with it. I related to so many of the characters in different ways, and the writing was so descriptive [and] so imaginative that the reader felt like they were truly in Hogwarts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLain said that if she could suggest three books to a friend, they would be \u201cGone Girl,\u201d \u201cThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes\u201d and \u201cGirl on the Train.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henton\u2019s long list of literary recommendations included \u201cEast of Eden,\u201d \u201cThe Poison Wood Bible\u201d and \u201cVelvet Elvis,\u201d among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Sara McClaran and Ellie Shelton. Print book sales had their best year in a decade in the past year, the New York Times said, according to NPD BookScan.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15086,"featured_media":16103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16069,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16067\/revisions\/16069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}