The Pleasure of Getting Lost in a Good Book

On stories that stay with us, afternoons that disappear and the simple pleasure of reading for no particular reason.

We've all done it. Promised ourselves we'd read just one more chapter, only to look at the clock and realise it's nearly midnight. The sensible thing would be to put the book down and go to sleep. But there's a mystery to solve, a relationship that's becoming increasingly complicated or a character who's just made a spectacularly bad decision.

So, naturally, we keep reading.

By the time we finally turn out the light, we've already started wondering when we'll get a chance to pick it up again.

It's a feeling that never really gets old, no matter how many books we've read.

The books we can't put down

Some books take a little while to get into. You read a few pages here and there, occasionally forgetting who's who, until one day something clicks and suddenly you're completely invested. Others have you hooked from the opening paragraph.

You start taking the book everywhere. It comes with you on the train, sits beside your coffee in the morning and finds its way into your bag whenever you leave the house. You might even find yourself arriving a little early for an appointment, secretly pleased that you've got twenty minutes to read.

And then there are the books that make you slightly antisocial. You cancel your plans for the evening, put your phone on silent and settle down with every intention of doing absolutely nothing else.

We think those evenings are rather underrated.

A whole world between two covers

One of the great pleasures of reading is discovering places and people we might never encounter otherwise.

You can spend a rainy afternoon in England following a family through several generations in Italy. Find yourself wandering around New York in the 1970s, or become completely absorbed in the life of someone living on the other side of the world.

And while films and television show us exactly what a place looks like, books leave so much to our imagination.

We create the rooms, picture the streets and decide what the characters look like. Sometimes, when a book is adapted for television, it's almost disappointing to discover that the characters look nothing like the people we've imagined. A good author can make somewhere you've never visited feel strangely familiar.

And occasionally, a book will leave you with an overwhelming desire to travel. You'll finish the final chapter and immediately start looking up flights, accommodation and little cafés in a city you hadn't given much thought to before. Whether you actually book the trip is another matter.

Reading without an agenda

When did reading become another thing we were supposed to achieve?

There are lists of books everyone should read before they turn forty, challenges to finish fifty books a year and recommendations promising to make us more productive, more successful or generally better versions of ourselves.

We enjoy a good personal development book as much as anyone, but sometimes we wonder whether we've made reading unnecessarily complicated. What happened to choosing a book simply because it sounds interesting?

A funny novel, a family saga, an old-fashioned detective story or a romance with an entirely predictable ending.

Not everything needs to offer a lesson.

You don't have to take notes, underline important passages or come away with five new habits to implement before breakfast. Sometimes the only thing you get from a book is a few thoroughly enjoyable hours.

And surely that's enough.

The books that become part of our memories

It's surprising how often we associate books with particular times in our lives.

A paperback with a slightly battered cover might remind you of a holiday years ago. You remember reading it beside a swimming pool, the smell of sun cream and the sound of people chatting nearby.

Another might take you back to your teenage years, when you had entire weekends to spend reading and very little else competing for your attention. Then there are the books that find us at exactly the right moment.

Perhaps it's a story about starting again when you're contemplating a change yourself. Or a character who puts into words something you've been feeling but haven't quite been able to explain.

Sometimes it's only a sentence, tucked away in the middle of a chapter, that makes you stop reading for a moment.

Those are the books we tend to keep. They might sit untouched on a shelf for years, but we know exactly where they are. And every now and then, we take one down and read it again.

A home with books in it

We have a soft spot for homes filled with books.

Not necessarily enormous libraries with floor-to-ceiling shelves and rolling ladders, although we'd certainly never turn one down. We mean the everyday sort of collection.

A few novels stacked beside the bed. Cookbooks with flour on the pages and handwritten notes in the margins. A travel book on the coffee table that someone inevitably picks up when they come round for a visit.

Books collected over the years, some carefully chosen and others bought on a whim.

There's something quite personal about looking through someone's bookshelf. You discover what interests them, where they've travelled and perhaps a few things about them you didn't know.

We also love a good bookshop. The kind where you go in looking for one particular title and emerge an hour later carrying three completely different books. Independent bookshops are especially good for this. The handwritten recommendations, unexpected discoveries and shelves you can happily browse without really knowing what you're looking for. And if there's a café attached, even better.

Making room for a little reading

Of course, enjoying books and actually finding time to read them are two different things.

We can have every intention of finishing a novel, only to spend the evening answering messages, catching up on things around the house or watching something on television. Before we know it, the book has been sitting on the bedside table for six weeks.

We don't think the answer is to create an elaborate reading routine or set ourselves another daily target.

Perhaps it's simply about giving reading a little more space in ordinary life. Taking a book when you go out for coffee alone. Reading while you wait for dinner to cook. Spending half an hour in the garden with a paperback instead of automatically reaching for your phone.

And if you haven't read anything for ages, start with something you genuinely want to read. Forget the books you feel you should enjoy. Choose something that makes you curious enough to turn the first page.

It doesn't matter whether it's a literary classic, a bestselling thriller or a novel you picked up at the supermarket.

The best book to read is usually the one you're looking forward to opening. And if you get fifty pages in and realise you're not enjoying it? Put it down.

Life's far too short to spend your free time struggling through a book you don't like.

More than novels

Of course, getting lost in a book doesn't always mean following a story.

We're equally fond of the beautiful books that invite you to browse rather than read from beginning to end.

Photography collections, interiors books, travel journals and cookbooks can be just as absorbing.

You might spend half an hour looking through photographs of homes in Copenhagen, discovering the food culture of a city you've never visited or planning a meal inspired by a recipe you happened to come across.

These are the books we like to leave within easy reach. They're wonderful for those moments when you want a little inspiration but don't particularly feel like concentrating on a long chapter.

And unlike the endless stream of images on our phones, there's something satisfying about returning to the same book and noticing details you missed the first time. A photograph, a recipe or an interesting little story can suddenly catch your attention in a completely different way.

The luxury of an unhurried afternoon

At Maison Kasbah, we often talk about slowing down and making time for the things we enjoy.

Reading seems to fit naturally into that idea. Perhaps because it asks very little of us.

There's no need to make an occasion of it, although we're certainly in favour of a good coffee and a comfortable chair. You don't need to go anywhere or spend much money. You can borrow a book from the library, swap one with a friend or rediscover something that's been sitting on your shelf for years. And for a little while, you get to forget about the washing that needs putting away, the emails waiting for a reply and whatever else is on tomorrow's to-do list.

We spend so much of our time thinking about what needs doing next that it's easy to forget how enjoyable it can be to become completely absorbed in something. No multitasking. No checking the time every few minutes.

Just a good book and nowhere in particular you need to be.

Just one more chapter

There will always be something else we could be doing.

A cupboard to organise, a message to answer, a job we've been putting off. And most of those things will still be there tomorrow. But the next time you find yourself with an unexpected free afternoon, perhaps you could leave the list alone for a while. Visit your local bookshop. Borrow something from the library. Pick up the novel you've been meaning to start since the summer. Find somewhere comfortable and see where it takes you.

You might only read a few pages.

Or you might look up several hours later, slightly surprised to discover that the afternoon has disappeared.

Either way, time well spent, we'd say.

Looking for your next read? Explore the books we're enjoying in The Book Edit, our curated collection of favourite finds.