My Reading Journey

 “Keep reading. It’s one of the most marvellous adventures that anyone can have.” ~ Lloyd Alexander

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Dear readers,

I got into reading very briefly when I was in grade 7. But let me tell you, I hated reading as a child because I wasn’t too good with languages, so reading, spelling, and even understanding more significant words were struggles for me. It is still a struggle, but I’ve improved over the years. However, learning languages, especially speaking, is a big struggle, even though I have been learning the language since childhood. I grew up in a Chinese environment but live in North America, so I simultaneously grew up with English and Chinese. It was too confusing for my brain, especially learning one language, which was especially hard for me as it is. Then, my parents put me into an all-French school once I was six years old, and well, I almost lost all my chances of being fluent in one of the languages. So... all languages were mumble jumbles in my brain, and I could barely understand any of the three languages. I’m pretty sure I have some language disorder or learning language disability, but... welp.

Anyway, I got off-topic.

This was around 2015/2016 when my entire class in my elementary school was reading ‘The Land of Stories’ by Chris Colfer. We were all essentially buddies reading the book together. It got to the point where a few of us would have the physical copy of the book, and then we would pass it around. I ended up buying my own copy because my mom wanted me to read, and during the English period, we had a 15-minute reading break, so I got my own copy. The Land of Stories series was the beginning of a costly hobby. I continued reading the series and waited for every new book until the last book came out. So, from grade 7 to 10, I read that series. I didn’t actually get into reading until COVID happened.

Between reading The Land Of Stories, I started reading the Scarlet and Ivy series by Sophie Cleverly. The first four books I read. Despite reading these two series, I wasn’t too into reading yet. I didn’t have the time to sit down and enjoy them properly; it was more of a passive hobby. It wasn’t until COVID-19 happened that I wanted to add reading to my morning routine because I was working on myself. By this point, I've read all the books I’ve had (which weren’t many). I ended up reading The Darkest Powers by Kelley Armstrong mainly because during a book fair back in elementary school, I bought The Rising, the last book in The Darkness Rising, the second series to The Darkest Powers. So, I purchased The Summoning because I had The Rising. So… I had to buy five other books to read The Rising. At first, I was annoyed as I had to buy five books just to read one.😒 But... once I started reading the first book, I wasn’t annoyed anymore and thus started reading more often. It became a problem once I spent all day reading and would stay up all night because the book got to the climax, and I couldn’t put the book down.

Now—at least according to BookTok—I am a slow reader. From 2021 to 2024, I’ve only finished about 76 books, which is slow, but according to my past, 76 books in three years is 65 books more than before. I count that as a win!!!

I have 26 books to read (TBR), which isn’t so bad, but I still want to buy more books.

Let me tell you, buying books and reading books are two separate pleasures. Explaining that to my boyfriend and/or friends is hard because they always say, “You have books. Just read those.” But no. Just no. They don’t understand the happiness it gives me to be standing in a bookstore (with a drink) and slowly looking through all the aisles and—this might sound weird—smelling the books. I love it. I love the aesthetic of a bookstore. I love how calm it is in there. I love how peaceful it makes me feel. I just love it all. 

Another thing I have to explain to the non-readers in my life is that physical books are far better than digital books. Reading a physical copy differs from reading off of your Kindle/kobo/e-reader. I love that you can have multiple books ready with an e-reader. It's lighter and travel-friendly, but it will never be like a physical book despite all the pros. Physical books just hit differently. I like to display them on my bookshelf, holding them in my hands, flipping the page, and the slight smell of a book. A physical book reminds me of a bookstore; bookstores and cafes are my calm, happy places.

I have always dreamed about opening a book cafe—something small, with no commercial feel, just a tiny book cafe. I don’t even want to branch out. I want it to be a tiny little thing where people can enjoy a drink and their books and find other people who like the same things as them—a tiny little community.

That was off-topic… oops.

But I love mystery and thrillers, and that’s the genre in which my creative writing is heading. But my reading friend tells me I read too much mystery and thriller and should try branching out, so I’ve given romance a go. However… I’m not a romance girly. The thing I hate about romance is that nothing really happens in the book. Any major conflict in the story occurs within the relationship, and most of the time, it makes the relationship toxic. When it comes to romance, I like it as a secondary genre and not the main one. The Selection series by Kiera Cass… I hated it. Now I think it’s because I read it about two years ago when I was in my late teens, so I wasn’t the target audience, but America pissed me off. There was so much back and forth with her and doing a bunch of dumb things that I didn’t think she belonged to Maxon or anyone by the end. It wasn’t my cup of tea, and probably because I wasn’t the target audience, but that was the first romance/dystopian book I’ve read, and it put me off romance. One of my friends' favourite books is The Selection series, and I know it’s popular on TikTok, but I just couldn’t join that boat. I’m sorry to whoever loves this book. I don’t think I can ever love a solely romance book.

My current favourites are Kelley Armstrong's The Darkest Powers/The Darkness Rising trilogy, Holly Jackson's A Good Girl's Guide To Murder trilogy, Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Cros duology, Kelley Armstrong's Rockton/Casey Duncan series, Alex Michaelides's The Silent Patient, Jennifer Lynn Barnes's The Inheritance Games (books 1 and 2; I haven’t read the third one yet), and Stephanie Garber's Caraval.

Anyway, this entire post is a mess, honestly. I’m all over the place today.

Oh! Final thought. What I love most about reading is that I can live a million different lives while living one. I read for the escapism since my real life isn’t too enjoyable.

Now…

Thank you for reading

A.B.💜

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The reason for the bow and arrow emojis is that I found this explanation of the bow and arrow and fell in love. One can take any symbol to mean whatever they want, so your meaning of a bow and arrow might differ from mine, and that’s okay. A bow and arrow helps me keep my hope and determination in my future. An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backwards. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it will launch you into something extraordinary. Just remember to focus and keep your aim.

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