2024 Reading Resolution
2/12/2024
Like many other kids, I grew up a big reader. Every week in elementary school, I was ecstatic to go to my school’s library and check out a stack of books to tear through that week. I have so many fond memories surrounding books. I remember being a fourth grader and the librarian letting me read the YA books, even though those were *technically* only for the older kids. I remember our school getting playaways for the first time- little portable audiobooks that we could check out and listen to- and how high-tech it felt listening while I read. I remember working on my own ideas for novels, inspired by the literature I consumed.
As for many kids, reading was an escape for me. There was a certain feeling I’d get when I was fully immersed in a story and loving every second of it. It was better than any movie or TV show. Just me on my own, traveling to a different world through the words on the page.
Books played a huge role in who I am today. My parents love to read. The amount of books they have is astounding, and they always made sure we had plenty, too. Every year, right after school let out, my mom would take us to the used bookstore and let us pick out some books to read for the summer. I still have many of those novels, some of which helped to make me who I am today.
Slowly, but surely, other things took up my time and attention, and reading started to fade into the background. I don’t think I ever actually stopped reading, as I don’t think there’s been a single year that’s gone by where I haven’t read at least a couple, but the passion I used to have for books certainly began to fizzle out. The last memories I have of feeling that excitement, that enchantment with a book, are from high school (I’m in my last semester of college now). Two specific memories come to mind:
The first takes place in January, not long after my fifteenth birthday. I was in ninth grade, and the weather forecast was predicting snow over the weekend. Our English teacher told us we could grab some books from the overflowing bookshelf in her classroom to read over the weekend and when we inevitably didn’t have school on Monday. I helped myself to the novel Divergent, which I had wanted to pick up for a couple years at this point. I remember spending that weekend curled up in various spots reading it, and excitedly chatting to my cousin about the plot. I find myself remembering that weekend often, the feeling of being all cozy and happy and just reading the hours away. It’s a feeling that’s hard to access as an adult.
The other memory is from later, in eleventh grade. I was taking AP English, and we read several nonfiction books throughout the year. I think everyone in that class would agree that Educated by Tara Westover was our favorite by a lot. The gripping memoir really made me rethink how much I took for granted having access to education and question who I would be without it. A masterfully written memoir, Educated excelled at both entertaining us and making us think.
I’ve read a couple more really good ones since then- shoutout Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson- but for so, so many reasons, I really want to make reading a habit and an integral part of my life again.
I decided that I am going to read (at least) 12 books in 2024- one for every month. So far, I’ve finished John McWhorter’s What Language Is, which is a nonfiction book discussing exactly what the title says, and Tracy Deonn’s Legendborn*, which is a YA fantasy novel that hit very close to home for me and which I didn’t expect to enjoy as much as I did. I enjoyed both of these for different reasons. I didn’t realize I could enjoy a nonfiction book as much as I loved What Language Is, but the language nerd in me was absolutely enthralled by the explanations of the nature of language. Legendborn, on the other hand, gave me that feeling I mentioned earlier that I used to get when I was immersed in really good fiction. The worldbuilding was super intricate, the fantasy elements were really intriguing, and the protagonist, a young, smart Black girl who’s sort of in over her head, really spoke to me.
I will continue to post updates on this endeavor, and hopefully I can get in the habit of reading again and maybe inspire some others to get back into reading, too!
*Special shoutout to my bookish roommate for letting me borrow her copy of Legendborn and helping me get back into reading!
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