Reading according to one’s present mood is what makes the whole exercise pleasurable and fruitful! The issue is, we may know about our mood, but how do we know what books and authors to read to be able to suit our need of the hour?
It is here that technology and the digital platform come into play. There is a website Love for Livres (Love for Books), that uses a search engine to suggest books according to one’s mood and emotions of the moment. This is significant since reading has several virtues and one among them helps us manage our emotions. Books can also help in combating stress and improving our capacities of memory and attention.
A book for your feelings
The website Love for Livres offers users suggestions in a format that is both original and useful. The platform is available in two languages — French and English – and came into being in December 2019. The platform offers users a wide selection of literary works based on their emotions.
All one has to do is simply click on the tab "search by emotion'' and a scale appears, composed of six emotions. These are love, fear, anger, sadness, surprise and joy. Depending on one’s mood the search can be launched.
Going beyond the moods, for the exacting users, those who are looking for more specifics, other criteria are also proposed, such as the season, the reading time and the price.
Along with each book which appears on search, there is an image of its jacket with a key emotion indicator provided by the book. Besides, there is a summary also to help the user. This brief also provides additional information on the reading time, as well as the seasonality of the book and the optimal time or occasion to read it, such as on a trip or before bed.
The website has been created by Céline Mas, a former literary agent and the objective of this platform is to bring readers and books closer together and to make books more accessible.
Going beyond reading
The purpose of the website does not end with this. Studies have shown that reading books is beneficial for mental health. Emotions brought out through reading help combat stress, stimulate cognitive functions by up to 30 per cent. It also facilitates memory and attention capacities, the site outlines. Most importantly reading promotes empathy.
Books have a capacity to heal. This idea is called bibliotherapy, and it is even used in some hospitals. One of its pioneering advocates in the US in the early 20th Century was Sadie Peterson Delaney. The head librarian at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama used reading to help African-American veterans traumatized by World War I.
Today, this adjunctive therapy is used to help people who are isolated, undergoing social rehabilitation, or still traumatized by the Covid-19 pandemic.
