ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a specific model of “shared reading,” developed and delivered by The Reader, a national charity dedicated to extending literary reading to hard-to-reach communities in the United Kingdom and in Europe. An introduction to the history and inspiration for shared reading is followed by a summary of findings from the Centre for Research into Reading, Literature and Society (CRILS), University of Liverpool, on the value of shared reading for mental health (depression, dementia, and chronic pain, in particular). The chapter highlights the psychological benefits of literary reading (such as a renewed sense of purpose and meaning) as well as the processes by which such benefits are produced (through, for example, literature’s triggering of emotion, memory, and forgotten aspects of being). The chapter closes with a case study of one reader’s experience of literature’s enlivening influence, and with information on how to become involved in The Reader’s international volunteer movement.
