Why was reading so popular in the Victorian period?

Answer 1

It reflected the growing literacy.

First-generation literates were especially keen to read anything they could lay their hands on. Book-borrowing was an active routine, with friends and neighbours eagerly competing for a place in the queue, and strictly obliged to return the books on time.

This was the heyday of the long novel, and fathers would often read aloud to their families, encouraging the reading habit in their children.