The Reading Break

We all have those times at work when too much is going on, when we find we can't think and when we struggle to relax and switch off during our scheduled breaks. Research tells us that taking breaks from work improves mental well-being, stress levels, productivity and job satisfaction.

Sometimes, even if you take a break, it is hard not to think about the next thing you have to do and to give yourself some space.

At Scottish Book Trust, we believe that short reading breaks can help with this. Listening to or reading a short story or piece can take you to a different place and transport you into somebody else's experience, even for a few minutes. We would like to test this theory and we need your help.

During Book Week Scotland, if you feel like you need a way to switch off during your scheduled break, pick an audio story from the list below, put on some headphones and take the time to listen. Afterwards, click on the survey link and fill in a few questions to let us know what the experience did for you.

(this link will open in a new window)Take our survey

Choose from the following pieces from the Book Week Scotland book, Blether:

• Blether by Jane McCarry – find out what Isa from Still Game gets up to when she isn't on the telly and how a chance encounter with strangers on a train can have the most unexpected impact on your day.
• A Guid Blether by Craig A Mudie – what do Alf and Catriona, generations apart, have to offer each other by way of friendship and support.
• Cash by Caron McKinlay – a story about stories and how sharing them connects families together.
• Thicker than Blood by WJ Sharp – a grandmother and her grandson have a blether in the garden that each of them will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
• Blether by Nikesh Shukla – Nikesh reflects how conversations with his daughter force him to be honest and force him to think about how to change things for the better in the world.
• Blether by Chic Gibson – a wonderful, honest piece where Chic shares what it is like to be autistic and how important the words he can share with his son are to him
• Blether by Chris McQueer – a story about the lads and how even a group of friends who communicate soley in "banter" can help when one of them is feeling down
• R-E-S-P-E-C-K by Janet Pelerin – a sharp, blackly comic poem about a woman who disturbs choir practice with her constant chatter.