• Note: I never got around to publishing this page, but since I’ve already written it, edited it multiple times (8 revisions, according to the history on my site), and whatnot, I am going to post it, if for nothing more than to remind myself of how much I have always loved reading. So, while it is almost two years late, here is the impetuous for some of the upcoming posts that, also, never got a round to getting published.

One of my goals for 2022 – no, not resolutions – is to spend more time with my nose in a book. I used to love reading and could spend an entire day wrapped in an entirely separate world from reality. My whole family will tell you that I would forget to move, to eat, and to drink when I was focused on a good book. But, ever since graduating high school in 2014, it’s been harder to find that kind of peace and escape into a realm only I have access to.

The first roadblock to reading was working. I took time off after high school to spend a few years working. I probably could have read more during that time, and maybe I did read a bit, but I was never able to reach that level of separation from reality where I could tune everything out and become completely engrossed in the written word. 

The second roadblock was college. I have to say, I loved college. The research, the learning, the environment that encouraged me to be interested in the obscure and – what some may say – nerdy aspects of language and culture. But, at the same time, reading all of that academic material always left me in too much of a fog to be able to enjoy a book purely for pleasure, and, more often than not, there simply wasn’t time to. I did get to read a lot of interesting things and was introduced to genres I normally wouldn’t choose, but there is nothing like finding a book and diving into it for the simple pleasure of discovering a new world. I have since graduated from university with my Bachelor’s degree and moved halfway around the world to teach English.

So, how do I expect myself to achieve my goal of having my nose in a book? First, by defining what I think achievement looks like for this particular goal. That would be 25 books for the year. Now, I know that I can – and have – read more than 25 books in a year, but I am also living in a country where the first language is not English and, while I like the convenience of ebooks and audiobooks, nothing beats opening the cover for the first time, turning a page, and the satisfaction of closing a book once it’s finished. Therefore, 25 physical books is a reasonable goal. To keep track of my reading, I have revived my use of Goodreads and set my goal there. I will be able to see the titles I have read and keep a list of books I would like to read so that I can keep an eye out for them whenever I go out.

As of January 9th, 2022, I have finished book number one, Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones, which I started on January 2nd. I was thinking that part two of my plan to achieve my goal would be starting a book review section on my blog to keep myself accountable via a wider audience, but I am undecided. I  was going to start it immediately after I returned from the coffee shop where I finished the book. However, as I started writing, I realized that wasn’t the story I wanted to tell. I wanted to talk about my journey to making this goal. That led to me writing about the last two years of my life, without even a mention of the book or my goal. That draft is still under revision and will likely need significant editing before it is published, especially considering the title is still “Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.”