Note: this is a very long post and some parts may sound tangential.
When I closed the book, I thought of my past self a year ago. That self would not believe that I managed to read 55 books in one year.* I always liked reading ever since a kid, though I thought of reading a book a week to be an unfeasible goal, given that there was always some commitment I had. But there was always this cognitive dissonance in my brain because I would always think about how one of my favorite YouTubers, John Fish, successfully read 55 books in a year. For some context, John Fish is a college YouTuber who studies at Harvard and his channel discusses various topics ranging from self-improvement to book recommendations. I always thought to myself, "If a college student at a rigorous university can still make time for daily reading, then what excuse did I have?" I had no excuses. Watching John Fish's video in ninth grade planted a seed in my head about pursuing that goal in the future, but it didn't happen until three years later.
I didn't read my first book in 2021 until the last week of January for English class, the book being Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest. I don't think I grasped the nuances of the play, but I still loved the humor. I don't recall why I didn't think about reading a single book for leisure during the whole month of January. If I could come up with a reason, it would probably be that I never considered reading ebooks before 2021, so I was limited to books I had at home. I did buy books, though I tried to avoid buying books if possible since I didn't want to spend too much money. In early 2021, COVID was still pretty bad, so going to the library wasn't an option.
As I am writing this, some memories are starting to come to the surface of my consciousness. I believed that I had this 2021 New Year's resolution of reading 55 books, though I wasn't keen on achieving it. Being a cynic, I was aware that the success rate of sticking to a resolution was not that high. I didn't do research to back up what I said before, but it is some feeling that I have. Anyways, I gave up achieving that goal after being reminded of the fact that I only read a single book after one month passed. At that time, I wondered, "How was I even going to catch up to 5 books by the first week of February?"
Despite that dismal thought, I reconsidered the idea of giving up and decided to still try. I mean, it is better to try than to give up right away. I thought of books I always wanted to read that I haven't read yet. I could request a physical copy, though I didn't want to create a new hassle of driving to the library. For this to happen, that meant using Overdrive. I don't have my written book list with me now, but I think one of the first few books was Simon vs the Homo Sapien Agenda. I thought reading the e-book online would make the reading experience less enjoyable, but to my surprise, it made reading feel more addictive. I kept clicking page after page, wanting to get to the end of the book because I wanted to know so badly what happened to Simon and Blue. After finishing that book in one night, I began to have hope that I could read 55 books in a year, assuming that I binge read for a short period.
Not having much to do my senior year second semester, I used my ample free time to binge read books. Another factor that allowed me to read a lot of books this year was that I was bored during the pandemic and I was stuck in my house for most of the time. If I had to medically define the symptoms of senioritis for me, it would be reading books instead of doing my work. Fortunately, this lifestyle only lasted during February and I decided to take a break from this somewhat reckless lifestyle. I still wanted to do well in school and science competitions. After Simon vs the Homo Sapien Agenda came Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I needed more of this thrill, so I spent a decent chunk of free time searching lists of book recommendations. Then came Dear Martin and Dear Justyce. After reading a number of young adult novels, I decided to switch to other genres like memoirs.
To make my online reading experience more book-like, I downloaded the Libby app on my dad's old iPad. Unfortunately, the app stopped connecting to the internet ever since October, so I now borrow physical books if possible. Using the iPad was a good idea because I could use my fingers to tap the screen to flip pages, which reminded me of a Kindle. Another benefit of Libby was that I could use more than one library under the same app. If one book had no more copies left, I would check if the other library had at least one copy remaining. Borrowing some books felt competitive as if I had to tap it as soon as possible or else a random stranger would take it away.
Over time, I became serious about my reading goal, trying to devote some free time to finish a book in time. Of course, I did not read books for the sake of reading them, but I made sure to be on schedule. I had no good reason to stop reading since I had a fair number of books on my Overdrive wish list. The wish list was a reminder that I had no excuse for saying that I couldn't think of an interesting book to read. I kept on using Libby on my iPad until I came to college.
In college, I was constantly surrounded by other people. Unlike my home where I lived with three other people and no place was walkable, at college, there were a lot more options to have fun. As a result, I did not have to restrict my leisure to reading books. My weekend nights were filled with options such as watching a school concert or hanging out with my floormates. Looking back, I think I spent a bit too much time socializing. Don't get me wrong; socializing is beneficial, though it is also important to have alone time. I think what caused me to socialize more than before was that it was an easier way to relax than to read a book. Reading a book is fun, but some books can be intellectually demanding due to their content and vocabulary. The new environment along with the more challenging school semester made me stop reading for a while until Thanksgiving break. Before the break, I was worried that I would not get to achieve my goal, but I proved myself wrong. I picked up reading again by finishing two books on the bus trips from NYC to Boston and back. Since my iPad stopped working around October, I decided to go back reading physical books, which was a good idea because electronic devices have blue light. Also, it felt like a waste not making the best of my college's library that had most of the books that I wanted to read. I think the break was very helpful for me to relax and allow myself to spend some leisure time.
Then came December, the last month of the year. By that point, I told myself that it was ok to readjust my goal to 52 books a year as it would equate to 1 book per week. I decided to give in to this idea until winter break. The first few days at home were surprisingly miserable. I hated being stuck in the suburbs. Home felt suffocating. I wanted to go back to Boston so badly. After a few days, however, I got used to my former environment and appreciated the isolation and quiet environment. It was this isolation that allowed me to finish a lot of books within those two weeks because I had nothing much to do in my town.
Some improvements I could make to my book list would be to read more challenging books, specifically more classics. I think one issue with my book list is that I didn't read as much fiction as I wanted to and I didn't read a variety of genres. To some extent, I am still stuck in my comfort zone because I let literature and scholarly books scare me for being too difficult or sophisticated. I also could have branched out to genres that I normally don't read like science fiction or mystery. Another improvement would be reading even longer books as that would test my mental endurance. A problem with reading n books a year is that I avoid reading books that are longer than say 300-350 pages. If I do read a long book (400 pages or more), I only do that during academic recess.
I am less optimistic about whether I can still read 55 books in 2022. I will no longer be on pass no record and my classes for this upcoming semester are more challenging. I will have more club obligations and a research position on the side. Despite being busier, I am confident that my love for reading will not waver. There are so many books out there to read and my time on Earth is finite.
*I am not saying that the ultimate goal in one's reading journey is to read as many books in a year, but a quantitative metric can be a helpful way to define an initial goal for people like me. I believe that future goals could be tackling challenging books instead of focusing on the number of books.
Comments
Post a Comment