I used to read a lot as a pre-teen and teenager, and
then somewhere along my college years I stopped reading for pleasure. I
specifically remember my mom buying me the Hunger Games series in college
(before all the movie hullabaloo), and as I was reading it I thought to
myself, if I was going to read, it should be my textbooks. I closed my book
and started studying. I think in my college years, I’ve only read a handful of
books for actual enjoyment.
A couple of weeks ago, I was having a really hard time
sleeping. It was so hard to actually function in the outside world when you’re
sleeping at four in the morning and waking up extremely tired. I was on my laptop one night, online window-shopping and etc. for a
couple of hours when I realized that I was wasting a lot of my time doing
absolutely nothing and realized that maybe all the technology use before bed
was hindering my sleep. I picked up a book from my bookshelf and it was a book
I’d previously read a long time ago, and it was The Catcher in the Rye.
Ironically this was one of those books I read in college, but not for college.
I immediately transported into the world of this little book, and after reading
it, I started craving more books. I also want to mention that I had an amazing
nights sleep that night.
I’ve since then began a book-reading binge and am reading
constantly. I’ve so far after Catcher in the Rye, completed The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan and K.A.
Tucker’s Chasing River. The only thing I hate about reading is spending money
on them. I could go to a library to read books, but when I was like 8 years old
I didn’t return a ton of library books and have been afraid ever since then to
go back and get a new library card (guilty confession).
I thought that I could start putting up quick book reviews
here, and since there is nobody reading this but myself, they are for myself. I
read mostly fiction, and sometimes I’ll read the occasional Christian book or
inspirational self-help book. Science fiction and fantasy books are what I love
reading the most, because I’m a Harry Potter kid. Actually, Harry Potter is
what got me into reading the first place. I remember being so excited for each
book, and the countless number of times I would re-read each book in elementary
school and high school.
I do want to step out of my comfort zone a bit. My aunt gave
me Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth a while back. It was my first historical
fiction kind of book and I really did enjoy it. For this year, I want to start
reading more in general, but more books I wouldn’t normally pick up. A friend
of mine recommended a couple of Humour/Comedy books so I definitely want to
pick that up because I’ve never even dipped into that world. I should just make
a list…
Here’s my list so far:
- World Without End by Ken Follet – It isn’t a series after Pillars of the earth but it follows the same years after, so I thought I would enjoy it as much as I did Pillars. I actually just bought it today
- Bossy Pants by Tina Fey – A recommendation by a good friend
- Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari – Another recommendation by said friend
- Burying Water by K.A. Tucker – I didn’t know she started a series and I read Chasing River without reading the first two books. I don’t think it would really matter though because the story line doesn’t continue like a series would.
- I want to finish the Mortal Instruments Series because I read the first two a couple of years ago, but there are like 4 more books? So I guess the one I’m to read next is book 3 – City of Glass by Cassandra Clare. It’s ever since I finished book 2 years ago, been bothering me that I haven’t finished the series. The first two books were good but eh, I feel committed to finish them.
I think I’ve already got a handful for now. If you're having a hard time sleeping, try reading for an hour before bed instead of using your tech stuff.
