let’s talk bookish | reading relatability?

Hello, dear friends, it’s me again! I hope you all are well, and if not then I hope brighter days head your way soon! Today I’m taking part in Let’s Talk bookish, and we have a really interesting topic of discussion: reading for relatability. This is interesting to me as both a reader and as someone studying anthropology. Let’s check out why…

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish discussion meme created by Rukky at Eternity Books and now hosted by Aria at Book Nook Bits and Dini at dinipandareads. This week’s prompt is…

reading relatability

do i like to read relatable books?

The short answer to the question of if I like to read books that I find relatable is “yes…and no…”

I won’t lie: at first I was tempted to say “no, because I read to escape reality.” But then I thought about it a bit more and realized that conclusion—for myself, at least—was a bit silly. Why? Because I think even when we read to “escape reality,” typically, one way or another, reality finds its way in anyway.

What I mean by that is, not to sound like a quote straight from r/Im14AndThisIsDeep or anything like that, but we really are chained to our own perceptions, which are inherently shaped by our reality, which is inherently shaped by our perceptions, and so on and so forth. I guess what I’m saying is that no matter how hard we try, we can never get out of our own singular consciousness. This is actually something us anthropology students discuss in the fundamentals of anthropology because the desire to get out of our own singular consciousnesses and to be as close to other beings as is physically, emotionally, and mentally possible is one of the driving reasons why humans create culture. Culture, which includes—you guessed it!—stories, both oral and written. Stories help us be close to others, and also help us become closer to ourselves at the same time. Because no matter how different we are—and we are all beautifully, wonderfully different from one another—we’re also all human. We need food and water and shelter and protection from the weather. We seek meaning in our lives, be it through understanding God or understanding ourselves. We come face to face with our mortality on a daily basis. We laugh, we cry, we smile, we giggle at fart noises. And we all want so desperately to not be alone.

This is all a big way of saying that even in the most farfetched of fantasy worlds, so long as it was created by a human, there will always be some kind of element of humanity within it. Am I always specifically looking for that element? Maybe not consciously, but I have found that regardless of whether or not I’m consciously seeking out that element, I tend to find it.

do i pick books depending on my mood or headspace?

The short answer is, yes, I do pick out books depending on my mood and headspace. As someone with clinical depression and anxiety, I always tend to avoid books that I worry will trigger those things. I typically don’t enjoy reading books which deal heavily with suicidal ideation and/or on-page suicide, as I tend to find those topics very emotionally overwhelming. I also tend to avoid books that could be billed as “tragedy porn,” which show off hopelessness and tragedy seemingly “just cause.” I’m a really sensitive and empathetic person, so consuming tragedy porn can lead me to being in a really negative headspace for days. I will say that when I’m in a particularly depressed or anxious state of mind, I tend to look to read books that I am certain have a happily-ever-after, as reading books without that element can compound my depression or anxiety when I’m already in a bad state.

spill the beans, friends!

Do you read books that you relate to in some way? Do you find yourself relating to aspects of books that you read for escapism? Does your mood/headspace affect what you read?

Learn more the author of this post:

Lila @ Hardcover Haven

Lila is a 30 year old anthropology student and lover of literature who's been book blogging for an eternity. Her hobbies include reading, singing, writing, arts and crafts, and snuggling her two cats, Snoopy and Clementine.