This year, because with studies becoming more hectic and full on, I hadn't the opportunity to read recreationally for so long. I would have to read two novels a week for some subjects, and other further readings with my other subjects, so I never had time to sit down, get a book of my own choice and just read recreationally. And because it had been such a long time since I had read recreationally, now that I have entered the winter holidays and have the chance to pursue this much loved hobby of mine, I realised that I had no idea what type of book I wanted to read. Hence the "existential reading crisis" heading.
I realised that the period of my life where I read almost a book a day, was when I was in high school. I used to read books that involved teenage girls in high school and the hot new guy would be paired up with her for a project and then they fall in love, etc. or when there was a new guy in town and she finds out he really is a fallen angel/ vampire/ demon hunter/ werewolf and while discovering this new world, she had to work out how to finish her maths homework... the point is, they were usually 16 years old and struggling through high school. It was a great escape for me when I was that age too, but now that I'm 21, I really don't want to read about school for fun. And I don't want to read books that my mum reads, about 50+ year olds who find out that their husband is cheating on them and so they decide to go on a holiday in Spain where they find new love. I wanted to read about people who are roughly around my age group, 18 years old minimum and 35 years old maximum, preferable in their early 20's (ha! just realised I sounded like a relationship website) so I can relate part of myself with what I'm reading. But where on earth are these books found on the library shelf????
My public library isn't that big, and walking through the 'young adult/ teen ager' section, I saw that I had read the majority of the books on the shelf. And the ones I haven't read, I have read the blurbs at some point over the last decade and had no desire to read them. So I ventured to the fiction section of the library and it was unfamiliar territory, where I had no choice but to pull out books at random and read the blurb. After 45 minutes of critical selection, I came back from the library with seven possible reads. And I'm actually really excited, but I want to be impressed because I just finished an incredible book.
At the beginning of this year, I saw the movie trailer of 'Me before you', which is coming out in a few days time. I have been so excited about seeing this film and have watched multiple versions of the trailer since I first saw it in late January. So I decided to read the novel before I see the movie. Jojo Moyes's novel is absolutely excellent! On Sunday, I spent the entire day in bed reading. I was so thrilled to be able to do that like I used to. It was such a wonderful day, of me just reading all day like I used to, and loving the story I was getting emotionally invested with.
I realised that the period of my life where I read almost a book a day, was when I was in high school. I used to read books that involved teenage girls in high school and the hot new guy would be paired up with her for a project and then they fall in love, etc. or when there was a new guy in town and she finds out he really is a fallen angel/ vampire/ demon hunter/ werewolf and while discovering this new world, she had to work out how to finish her maths homework... the point is, they were usually 16 years old and struggling through high school. It was a great escape for me when I was that age too, but now that I'm 21, I really don't want to read about school for fun. And I don't want to read books that my mum reads, about 50+ year olds who find out that their husband is cheating on them and so they decide to go on a holiday in Spain where they find new love. I wanted to read about people who are roughly around my age group, 18 years old minimum and 35 years old maximum, preferable in their early 20's (ha! just realised I sounded like a relationship website) so I can relate part of myself with what I'm reading. But where on earth are these books found on the library shelf????
My public library isn't that big, and walking through the 'young adult/ teen ager' section, I saw that I had read the majority of the books on the shelf. And the ones I haven't read, I have read the blurbs at some point over the last decade and had no desire to read them. So I ventured to the fiction section of the library and it was unfamiliar territory, where I had no choice but to pull out books at random and read the blurb. After 45 minutes of critical selection, I came back from the library with seven possible reads. And I'm actually really excited, but I want to be impressed because I just finished an incredible book.
At the beginning of this year, I saw the movie trailer of 'Me before you', which is coming out in a few days time. I have been so excited about seeing this film and have watched multiple versions of the trailer since I first saw it in late January. So I decided to read the novel before I see the movie. Jojo Moyes's novel is absolutely excellent! On Sunday, I spent the entire day in bed reading. I was so thrilled to be able to do that like I used to. It was such a wonderful day, of me just reading all day like I used to, and loving the story I was getting emotionally invested with.
The reason why I didn't write a music post yesterday was because I was out all day and when I got home that evening, I continued reading and couldn't put the book down until I finished it at 2am, where I was silently bawling my eyes out (because of the content, not because I finished the book). It is an absolutely beautiful read which I highly recommend and I can't wait until I see the movie.
'Me before you' has helped me overcome my existential reading crisis, giving me faith in recreational reading again. When I was younger, I was really addicted to reading, to the point where I would take off days of school so I could just read. I still remember the first time I did that, which was when I was 12 and the last Harry Potter book had just came out; I took a week off school for that. There was a point when I didn't do homework because all I wanted to do was read, and my mum threatened to confiscate my book from me... yes, I was the child who would read until the early hours of the morning with a torch under the blankets.
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