Why read?
Why do people read? Maybe to gain knowledge, or become smart. Maybe it’s for school or for fun.
Let me tell you about why I read.
It started about four years ago. A few of my friends just died. I didnt want to do anything. So, I picked up a book. I found I liked it. It allowed me a few hours to not think about grief. Then my mom and I went book shopping all the time. And she funded my newly found book addiction. Then she died. And I still have all the books she bought me. The day she died, while the police were still at our house, I was sitting in our driveway, an Amazon driver pulled up with a package and handed it to me. It was another book she ordered for me the night before. After her death, I read books about grief. Trying to find solace and comfort in other people (even if fictional characters). Knowing that someone had to write them, and they understood what I was feeling. It was an amazing thing to me, that someone could write exactly what I was feeling. It was like they took the words all jumbled in my mind and made sense of them. After that it was just something I did. I noticed I was on my phone less and watched less tv. I liked that. Then I fell in love with writing and stories. It made me feel connected. It made me fall in love with life. It’s a short time, where you can walk in someone else’s shoes. It gives you a new perspective.
For instance I just read this book ‘Book Lovers’ by Emily Henry. It is just a fun romcom. But it allowed me (as the youngest) to see how the older sibling could possibly think or feel. And this was proved to me by my mother in law. She was the oldest and we were talking about something and she started talking, similar to that character. And I asked her if she was the oldest sibling. She told me yes, she is. So now I can understand a little bit more my older sister. What it could possibly be like for her.
Take the book ‘A Little Life’ I read that book because everyone was talking about it. I read it shortly after my mom died. I soon realized there were a lot of similarities between her life and Jude’s. She grew up in a similar manner. And I was able to realize how much, everyday she was going through. How just because the trauma is over doesn’t mean you just move on. It made me so grateful for the mom she was. And how much she was able to be there for me even though it is now so obvious how much she was hurting. And I’m grateful that book allowed me to possibly know her a bit better.
Or take a “Once upon a time, in a land long since burned to ash, there lived a young princess who loved her kingdom.” (Kingdom of Ash) That book changed me so much. Yes it’s a fun fantasy book, but its so much more to me. It makes you refelct on small acts of kindness. The butterfly effect. What you do matters, whether you think it’s insignificant or not.
‘The Poppy Wars’ introduced me to the horrors of history. No matter how forgotten or never learned to me. It sent me on a trajectory to dive into the past. To understand the injustices done. How history just keeps repeating itself. How people can lie. History books can lie. How people can start with the best intentions, but it’s possible their judgement gets clouded. And that book has stayed with me. Oh my gosh, that book man.
‘The Boys of Tommen’ series. Oh my gosh that series has so many reasons for me loving it. First, again the connection to my mom. She grew up in an abusive home and has experienced horror no one should have to. And that’s what has given me such a heart for the foster system. But the found family in this. I cannotttt. It’s everything. Mrs. Kavnnagh is everything I want to be. I am so happy a book showed what it is actually like. Especially Joey’s books. They destroyed me but they were real. And Affoie’s ability to stay was everything. “Don’t give up on him. I know he’s difficult and can be a right pain in the hole at times, but you need to not quit of him, Edsel. No matter what. If you quit one time, one single time, then that’s it. He’ll be done. That flicker of hope? That tiny semblance of a bridge he’s offering you and John into his world? He’ll burn it to the ground the minute you let him down, and you’ll never get it back.” (Redeeming 6). I’ve never been more grateful for an author to show and put to words for what it is like. How important it is for people to understand that. That they need someone to stay. Cause the second you don’t, it confirms what they thought all along.
The ability to gain knowledge just by reading is an incredible thing to me. Yes, you have to go to a school to get a degree or. Certificate, but I can learn the same stuff just by reading at my house. All this knowledge just at the tip of my fingers.
Not to mention how fun reading is. It’s so fun to talk to friends about books and bond over mutually loved books. It’s better than watching a movie because I get to make it all up in my mind. I get to control it all. Oh what an amazing thing reading is. And how grateful we should be that we were given the privilege of being taught to read. So many before us and even now, are not granted that same privilege. I feel immensely lucky I get to experience the world of reading. That. That is why I love reading. What about you?
As always, see you next time.
-PJ
(Enjoy some of my favorite book quotes at the end and a long list of recommendations)
“You won't understand what I mean now, but someday you will: the only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you are-not smarter, not cooler, but kinder, and more generous, and more forgiving- and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you, and to try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad -or good -it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well."
Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life
“… things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully."
Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life
"The world will be saved and remade by dreamers, Rolfe."
Sarah J Maas, Empire of Storms
“What if we go on," he said, "only to more pain and despair? What if we go on, only to find a horrible end waiting for us?"Aelin looked northward, as if she could see all the way to Terrasen. "Then it is not the end."
Sarah J Maas, Queen of Shadows.
“Man is no island. We need those who love us. We need those who hate us. We need others to tether us to life, to give us a reason to live, to feel”
Pierce Brown, Morning Star
“That's just what translation is, I think. That's all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they're trying to say. Showing yourself to the world, and hoping someone else understands.”
-R. F. Kuang, Babel
“Painful things can still be beautiful things, in case you didn’t know.”
- Jesse Hastings, Magnolia Parks
Book recommendations
Light hearted romance
The Seven year slip - Ashley Poston
The Dead Romantics - Ashley Poston
Better than the Movies - Lynn Painter
Book Lovers - Emily Henry
Funny story - Emily Henry
Hello stranger - Katherine Center
The Body Guard - Katherine Center
Just Last Night - Mhairi McFarlane
Pain, Pain, and more Pain
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
A Little Life - Hanna Yanagihara
The Boys of Tommen series (specifically Saving 6 and Redeeming 6) - Chloe Walsh
Manacled - SenLinYu
Babel - R.F. Kuang
All The Bright Places - Jennifer Niven
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab
The Great Undoing book #4 (Magnolia parks universe) - Jessa Hastings
Fantasy (+Romantasy)
Dance of Thieves - Mary E. Pearson
The Prison Healer - Lynette Noni
The Serpent and the Wings of the Night - Carissa Broadbent
Powerless - Lauren Roberts
Throne of glass - Sarah J Maas
Throne of glass - Sarah J Maas
Throne of glass - Sarah J Maas
Dystopian?/ sci-fi
Shatter me - Tahereh Mafi
War strategy/ historical/ sci-fi fantasy (idk)
The Poppy Wars - R.F. Kuang
Red rising - Pierce Brown
Contemporary romance
Binding 13 - Chloe Walsh
Magnolia parks - Jessa Hastings