Home Preparation for National Talent Search Examination (NTSE)/ Olympiad
Chapter : 5. Novels, Society & History
Pleasures of Reading
(c) Pleasures of Reading : (i) The novel became a popular medium of entertainment among the middle class. Picture books, translations from other languages, popular songs sometimes composed on contemporary events, stories in newspapers and magazines – all these offered new forms of entertainment. (ii) The novel also assisted in the spread of silent reading. Individuals sitting at home or travelling in trains enjoyed them. Even in a crowded room the novel offered a special world of imagination into which the reader could slip, and be all alone. In this, reading a novel was like daydreaming.