Can You Keep a Secret?

Hello, readers! This happens to be the first book I added to Goodreads. So I will consider it my first “review”.

Since I was young I've identified as an avid reader, and I believe I'll remain a lifelong lover of books. In my formative years I fortunately gravitated towards literary classics. They made me love reading, by 1) being imaginatively epic, and 2) letting me eclectically explore a diversity of perspectives. Reading has been deeply personal for me. I do not know why others read. I know I read so immoderately in my youth, books left concussions on my mind rather than conclusions. Feeling like a cosmic misfit, I turned to contemporary fiction in my teens to ease a discontent of the mind that classics couldn't and found it to be too blindingly brilliant, offering little relief. Most of the books I have read in between have been for solace or escape - a plain but sustaining fare of romance, fantasy and thrillers providing a sanctuary from reality.

I found connection and community through reading too. I met my former partner, the strongest reader I know, on Goodreads. He remains a cherished friend because I can confidently say he is one of the best people I know, and the world is a better place because he exists in it. Would I have been able to say that if he had not been a reader?

This was one of my favourite books as a teenager, Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella; I had a dog-eared paperback of it back home. When I first reviewed it I'd written “Nothing I've ever read in this genre has measured up to Can You Keep A Secret. I've read this book a gazillion times, and it still makes me laugh until my sides split every time. A lot of people (okay, none) agree with me, but this is Kinsella's best book.” Thinking of it years later, I can still say I remember it affectionately.

To me, this ordinary book is akin to a long, hot bath. So as you can tell, reading to me is a comfy escape from life's discomforts.

You've reached my review's finale, so I will take your leave with these questions:
1) What compels you to read?
2) How do you measure a book's worth?
3) Are bookworms as precious to you as books?