“I Don't Want a Book That's Going to Make Me Sad or Stressed Out, Especially in This Day and Age”: Fiction Reading (and Healing) in a Pandemic

Abstract

To understand the roles of fiction reading in mitigating readers' stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study explores readers' motivations, preferences, and reading behaviors. Through an open-ended online survey posted on social media platforms and an online reading community, the researchers collected 76 responses from adult fiction readers. Through qualitative coding, three prominent themes were identified: escapism, re-reading behavior, and access and format. Readers actively escape into fictional worlds, often through re-reading books, to cope with the pandemic. Also, cost and available channels of access shape readers' selection of fiction book format. These themes highlight elements of fiction reading that are pertinent to emotionally-strained individuals, which can provide insight for reference and recommendation services. By advancing researchers' understanding of pleasure reading behaviors and the important selection criteria for fiction readers during stressful times, this study contributes to the body of knowledge in Readers Advisory (RA) and information behavior.

User-centered categorization of mood in fiction

“…Based on interviews with 194 participants, Ross (1999) found that readers' current mood status may link to different needs regarding book selection; for example, a stressful mood may lead to a choice of old favorites. Similarly, Miesen (2003) surveyed 522 participants and found that a positively oriented mood after reading a book may strengthen readers' motivation for future reading, such as “ experience feelings of beauty ” or “ become surprised .” And Cho et al . (2021b) argued that fiction reading helps readers alleviate their moods, especially during stressful times like the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…Scholars have indicated that mood is a prominent characteristic for searching fiction books (Cho et al. , 2021b; Mikkonen and Vakkari, 2016; Moulaison-Sandy et al.…”

“…Similarly, Miesen (2003) surveyed 522 participants and found that a positively oriented mood after reading a book may strengthen readers' motivation for future reading, such as "experience feelings of beauty" or "become surprised." And Cho et al (2021b) argued that fiction reading helps readers alleviate their moods, especially during stressful times like the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…Scholars have indicated that mood is a prominent characteristic for searching fiction books (Cho et al, 2021b;Mikkonen and Vakkari, 2016;Moulaison-Sandy et al, 2021) and books in general (Ross, 1999). To incorporate mood as a search filter in an information system, a classification module or a taxonomy of mood is needed.…”

From amused to : enriching mood metadata by mapping textual descriptors to emojis for fiction reading

“…Like movies, fiction evokes readers' feelings (Miall, 2006) and readers' moods influence their book-seeking behaviors (Miesen, 2003). For example, stressed readers tend to re-read old favorites, which brings them comfort and enjoyment (Cho et al, 2021;Ross, 1999). Acknowledging the role of emotion in fiction reading, scholars examined mood/emotion descriptions in book search systems.…”