Once a week, members of a Wellington, New Zealand, book club arrive at a cafe, grab a drink and shut off their cellphones. Then they sink into cozy chairs and read in silence for an hour.
The point of the club isn't to talk about literature, but to get away from pinging electronic devices and read, uninterrupted. The group calls itself the Slow Reading Club, and it is at the forefront of a movement populated by frazzled book lovers who miss old-school reading.
via online.wsj.com
"Solitary reading is as much a vice as solitary drinking." Some British wag said that. I spend more of my time reading than I do anything else. I seem to forget a great deal of what I read. Then I read it again. I get excited about getting a new book on Amazon and then find that I already bought it, three years ago. Then I get to search for it amongst my many books. Books are a vice. Kindle is great though because you can indulge the vice without anyone knowing. I agree it's good for stress and who knows, maybe for your brain as well.