On January 3, 2021, I had a New Year’s Resolution — read at least one book a week, which should total around 52 books a year. I thought 52 was a stretch, so I decided to round down to 50 this year. But, lo and behold, I have just reached my 50 book goal on August 11, 2021.
In third grade, I detested reading. It took months to complete one non-picture book and I never earned enough AR points for a golden star. Reaching the bare minimum of 15 points was excruciatingly difficult and as a result, I got an F in the reading category every trimester.
I realized by the time I ‘graduated’ elementary school that I was forcing myself to read books that I didn’t even like. Take The Wind in the Willows, for example. What was that even about? My only memory of that book was sitting in my room for thirty minutes every night with my brother in the corner (my distaste for reading was so bad that my mom made him watch me read), rereading the same paragraph and nodding my head as I fought to stay awake. I only got three points out of eight, crying about the fact that I wasted weeks trying to understand why frogs could talk!
Thankfully, my spark for reading began in middle school, when AR points stopped becoming a requirement and the world of Percy Jackson became somewhere I wished to visit. Visiting Barnes & Noble helped me realize that there were actual books beyond Junie B. Jones and Nancy Drew, like Michael Vey or Twilight.
But when watching Netflix and hanging with friends became more appealing, I slowly lost interest towards reading. My “Don’t Read a Book Unless You Have To” streak began in seventh grade and ended in eleventh.
It all started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when I feared for the well-being of my family. My cousin lent me a The Power of Now, a mindfulness book that teaches people how to stay in the present. I read by the pool and felt a sense of accomplishment after finishing the book. When school came around, I had to read Catfish and Mandala for my AP Lang class. This was the moment I fell in love with reading again. This memoir touched my heart in a million ways. I saw myself relating to Andrew X. Pham as he journeys through Vietnam, understanding the Vietnamese phrases and experiences. I had memorable late night talks with fellow classmate Lauren Kao about being Asian American and wonderful discussions with my class during school. After finishing the novel, I laid in bed and promised myself that I was going to go back to my old bookcase and reread some of my favorite books from years ago.
I finished the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu in a week. I sobbed in the far corner of my bed, heartbroken over the tragic ending. Luckily, this devastating moment lasted a few minutes when I found out that a fourth book (Rebel) came out recently. I begged my brother to take me to the bookstore so that I could end this pang in my heart.
I was frustrated when Barnes & Noble didn’t have Rebel in stock, but was excited by the idea of starting something new. I left the store with three new books in my arms and a surge of excitement in my chest. This trip stimulated my unhealthy obsession of buying books.
You might find this an exaggeration, but I was purchasing books left and right, before I even finished reading a book. My Amazon cart was full of wanted books; my Notes app containing a list so long you had to scroll endless times; my Google search history just about recent book releases; my wallet and close friend Khue begging me to stop.
I’m proud to say that I am over my book buying phase and that I have created a healthy relationship with borrowing library books. But unable to escape my past, I still have a bookshelf full of unread, purchased books.
But I would like to thank this obsession of mine for helping me reach my reading goal. I always felt anxious whenever I looked at all the books that I bought and couldn’t find the time to read. This feeling pushed me to read whenever I could — the bathroom, during study break, before bed — helping me with maximizing my reading time and developing a habit of reading everyday. By doing so, I have enhanced many attributes of myself like my reading pace and analytical skills. It became easier to distinguish similar writing patterns of plots in many stories, which helped me draw connections between novels.
To blog my experience, I posted on my Instagram account of every book I read. I rated everything, from books I didn’t finish to books I hated, using a 10 star scale. Below it all, a full paragraph of my personal thoughts would engulf the post. To track the days I finished each novel, I used a sticky note and attached it to the last page of the book. To analyze the story, I used the Notes app to record every provocative thing that happened.
I am very proud of myself for achieving a goal I expected would’ve taken longer to reach. But, it doesn’t just end here. My journey still goes on. I will keep reading because it has always been something I enjoyed. It shaped my personality and taught me many lessons.
So yeah, thank you Eckhart Tolle, Andrew X. Pham, and Marie Lu for taking me beyond just ink on paper.
