{"id":134987,"date":"2022-01-26T10:28:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T09:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=134987"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:05","slug":"letthes-love-for-reading-is-helping-her-deal-with-academic-stress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/01\/26\/letthes-love-for-reading-is-helping-her-deal-with-academic-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"Letthe\u2019s love for reading is helping her deal with study-related stress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why do they make it so hard for someone who reads books about economics for fun to do a degree in economics? Letthe Riemen does not understand. When we visit the Donner book shop with her, it is obvious to us that she really does love reading. \u201cCan you tell why I don\u2019t allow myself to come here often? This place is dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The bookshop is a dangerous place for Letthe. She reads all kinds of things and what she reads, she likes to read.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Immediately after arriving at Donner\u2019s, 25-year-old Letthe Riemen turns left, into the English-language book section. She walks past the piles of \u2018popular books\u2019, where Matt Haig\u2019s The Midnight Library<\/em> and many other titles are featured prominently. \u201cThis is how I learned English,\u201d says Letthe. \u201cAll the other kids were watching a lot of English-language films and TV shows. I would read. So I was reading English-language books from a young age, but my pronunciation left a lot to be desired.\u201d Audiobooks aren\u2019t always the solution to this problem, because sometimes the audio quality of the recording isn\u2019t high enough for Letthe, who is hard of hearing.<\/p>\n

Letthe briefly stops in front of the shelves holding the English-language fantasy books, because she loves fantasy literature. These were the first English-language books she ever read. She immediately points out which books she liked (for instance, the ones written by Deborah Harkness), which ones are on her to-read list (The Inheritance Trilogy<\/em> by N.K. Jemisin) and which ones she didn\u2019t really care for (Robin Hobb\u2019s oeuvre).<\/p>\n

Stress<\/h2>

Letthe reads fantasy fiction to relax, and Lord knows the Master\u2019s student needs some relaxation. The audio quality of online videos and streamed lectures often leaves a lot to be desired<\/a> and some videos do not have subtitles. Therefore, she got in touch with her student counsellors and academic advisers last spring, to discuss the courses to be taught in the fall. She asked them to tell the lecturers to make some changes. They did not spring into action in time, which is causing her a great deal of stress and despair.<\/p>\n\n\t

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Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t