Researchers at University College London’s Institute of Education recently reported that teens who read novels rather than non-fiction are six months ahead of their peers in reading skills.
After analyzing data from 250,000 teens in 35 Western countries, they concluded that the 15-year-olds had significantly stronger reading skills than those who read non-fiction, magazines, comics, or newspapers for pleasure. The lead researcher pointed out that fiction requires a person to focus on long, continuous text, which improves not only reading skills but learning to avoid distractions.
This apparently holds true even when a novel is poorly written.
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olderfatterhappierdotcom 
This doesn’t surprise me, the issue I hear more and more is “How do we get young boys to read?” I happy to say I think Jason Reynolds, has resolved this issue. You and your readers may enjoy this review on one of his novels
https://reallifeofanmsw.com/2018/08/30/when-i-was-the-greatest/
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Thanks for the suggestion! Reading for pleasure is one of life’s great joys; I wish my own kids read more.
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I wish that someday, they should research how and what we senior citizens read. I read books in Spanish, French and Portuguese.
Happy new year.
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A study like that would be fascinating. All I know is that I have to keep reading to keep my brain active. Sounds as though you are doing that and much more!
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