What’s better than losing yourself completely in a book? Those precious hours when time and distractions melt away and you’re transported to a different world, feeling all the feelings of characters who’ve become as real to you as your own friends.

Research by neuroscientists has shown that reading improves brain health, reduces stress and boosts our mood. But these days, it can feel harder and harder to fall down the rabbit hole of a really great story; notifications ping, anxieties creep up and being able to truly switch off, even in the downtime of high summer, is a struggle. 

But recently, thanks to a happy accident and some inspiration from #BookTok, I found myself in the kind of magical flow state I haven’t experienced for a very long time. Usually when I’m reading, no matter how beautiful the writing or engaging the plot, I’m also thinking about my work to-do list and what I’m going to have for dinner. This time it was different, and I’m sure it wasn’t just down to what I was reading, but also where I was reading it. 

I had picked up a copy of Liv Little’s debut novel Rosewater to pass the time on a warm evening, sitting on the grass of Peckham Rye. Before I knew it, I was fully immersed, and semi-consciously I was connecting the smells and sights in my peripheral vision with the story, which happened to be set in the same neighbourhood. 

I could practically hear the protagonist talking with her friends behind me and see her walking past the same shops and restaurants as me to the station around the corner. Something about the novel’s setting aligning with my own made the story fizz with a little more magic than usual. 

You might have fallen into immersive reading by accident once or twice; a tropical adventure that became more vivid thanks to the fact you were on a beach holiday or a plotline that you were experiencing in real time. Maybe you took a dog-eared copy of traveller’s classic The Beach by Alex Garland on your gap year around Thailand or found yourself reading a moody Sally Rooney romance that enhanced a city break to Dublin all the more.  

But it doesn’t always have to include travel to far-flung places – I’m a firm believer that the benefits of immersive reading can be felt closer to home. It’s all about the vibe, you see. 

Got a dark academic thriller like The Secret History in your pile? Pack it in your LRB tote and hunker down among the ceiling-scraping bookshelves of the British Library or your favourite museum cafe. Reading an Austen or an Eliot classic set in a beautiful manor house? Set up shop for an afternoon in the grounds of a stately home such as Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath or a walled garden like the ones in Brockwell Park and Fulham Palace – you’ll feel like the Bennets could appear any minute. I’ve been known to spend a Sunday in bed reading My Year Of Rest And Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, because what better excuse is there?

Simple yet effective, immersive reading is my new favourite way to give my brain a break from the stresses of the week and escape wholly into my imagination. If you’re feeling a bit uninspired, noticed your attention span dipping or you’re simply stumped about how to choose your next book, I cannot recommend it enough.

Images: Getty