Growing up I was a reader. I could spend hours every day, over the summer, reading. My mom used to joke that, while I was reading, the house could explode and the only way I would notice was if the book flew out of my hand.
Then something happened. I blame it on college, career, and social media. I stopped reading. I went for years and never read anything unless it was assigned or part of my job. I stopped reading for myself, for joy, for relaxation, for personal growth.
During Covid, I spent a lot of time video messaging my cousin in Nebraska. She was and is a reader. I was inspired by how full her reading life was.
Somewhere in this timeframe, my friend invited me to be a part of her homeschool moms’ book club. I am neither a homeschooler nor a mom, but I joined. Again I was inspired by the group’s enthusiasm for books. Twice our little group was able to connect with the authors of books we were reading. It was so cool!
I discovered my love of audiobooks. While reading The Help, for the homeschool moms’ book club I would get in my car and drive around just to listen to the amazing reading of that book. I started to recognize the reader’s voices and sometimes made reading choices based on whether or not I liked the sound of their voices.
I discovered BookTok. I truly believe that you can find whatever you are looking for on social media. I was inspired by readers and libraries that shared favorite, popular, or DNFed (did not finish) books on their channels.
I discovered the joy of a TBR(to-be-read) list.
I accidentally came across a sweet little reading journal where I keep track of the titles I’ve read and my thoughts on the book. I started it last October and I believe I will have read at least 50 books at the year mark.
I am a reader…..again.