Blurbs: On Reading

I miss reading. It was one of my well-loved hobbies as a teenager. It helped to fuel my interest in writing, and was also my companion when I was alone. 

I continued to read for leisure when I started working, but there was a period when I was completely without any reading time. I could blame it to my work or to #adulting, but I think what impacted it the most was the internet and social media. All the entertainment and information I wanted, fast and easy at my fingertips. All these instant-ness dulled my patience to read, made me bored easily, and made me constantly look at my phone than focus on a book. I can’t even read long articles anymore. Now I feel like I missed out on so much. 

I’m trying to get back into reading, as if I’m back to pre-school days. Here’s some of the things I’m doing or will do to help me get back on track as a prodigal reader.  

– Started off by dedicating reading times. I originally set my reading time to evenings but I find myself too sleepy to understand what I read. So I’ll try to change it to mornings. Operative word: Try.

– If I’m itching to get my internet fix, I consciously time myself to read on short increments, like 10-15 minutes. 

– Reading “light books” with topics  that are relatable and / or applicable in my life. 

– In the same vein, I am trying to choose books that require lower reading levels. For example, books that can be read by someone who is in 8th grade in school.

– For now, If I will buy books, I will stick to fiction. I realised I’ve been wasting my money on non-fiction stuff which I don’t really enjoy. If I need that kind of information, I can just go online and find either a podcast or a youtube video that talks about that subject. I will reserve my reading willpower (mostly) for fiction. 

– Of course I like physical books. Which book lover doesn’t? But for the purpose of minimalism, I have to stick to E-books. 

– As with the many aspects of my life, I don’t multitask. However, I think I will make an exemption to reading, with a maximum of 2 books at a time… just to keep my reading momentum going if I find myself bored with one book. 

– I will not judge. I should not judge what other people are reading. I am no longer the High Priestess  of Reading. At least those people make an effort to read. I should stick to my own journey. 

– Goodreads.com. Good way to keep track of what I’m reading and what other people think about it. I’ll think of it as a nice virtual bookshelf I browse at whim. 

– Book previews. Will use these so as to not waste my money on stuff I don’t enjoy. They have this on Kobo/Rakuten butI ignored it. I just discovered Google has book previews too. I’ve yet to check if Amazon has this function for the Kindle app. 

– Audiobooks. Ummm. I don’t know..yet. I feel like I’m betraying the actual books if I use audiobooks instead. But it would certainly help speed up my progress on my book list… 

– Current and Planned books – They said when you share your goals, you sort of have an accountability to complete it because other people are expecting you to do it. So in a similar manner, let me share some of the books I’m planning to read or currently reading. 

Any recommendations will be gladly considered 🙂

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On Writing by Stephen King. Current read. Borrowed from my partner. Trying to get some writing lessons from the horror king himself. So far, so good. 

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert. Uh, is this both Elizabeth’s life story and foreshadowing of her future?

Educated by Tara Westover. A Woman who educated herself and got out of a strict religion? I’m in.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – Did not watch the series. I’ll start with the book first.

Braised Pork. It’s not a recipe book. Chinese woman’s husband dies and left a letter. I wanna follow her quest of discovery. 

If I had your face by Frances Cha – Me is curious about Female Korean culture. Maybe it’ll finally convince me to watch K-dramas, listen to K-pop, buy K-beauty…..

Fairy Tales for Millenials – Finally, someone got it straight about those stupid fairy tales. 

How to read a book by Mortimer Adler and Charles van Doren – I don’t need to explain this. I know it’s non-fiction, but I need to re-learn reading by reading. 

Kim Ji Young, 1982 by Choo Nam Joo – #Millenials #Girlpower

Men without Women by Haruki Murakami – I miss Murakami. Hope this doesn’t fry my brain. 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley. Recommended by a Youtuber I follow

Where the Crawdads Sings by Delia Owens. Recommended by a Youtuber I follow. 

The Golden Cage by Camilla Lacksberg – Woman up for a revenge. Good Girl-esque

The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan – Japanese woman who disappeared/died, I think. Sounds like a Murakami.