I am a reader, and you are?
Sweet magnolias of reading breakthrough
The newsletter might get cut off in email, make sure to read the entire essay in the substack app, happy reading! <3
I often get asked ‘why do you read so much?’
‘What do you find interesting in reading?’
These questions aren't asked in an interrogative and intimidating tone, rather in a astonishing and i-cant-believe-this-girl-finds-joy-in-reading exasperated tone which honestly sometimes amuses me.
I don’t read for the sake of reading, nor do i read to establish a mysterious, dark academia personality or even to be interesting. I read because i enjoy good writing whether it’s an article, a play, a poem, an essay, a novel, a haiku or just 2 lines of dialogues. I read because reading has been there for me for as long as i remember.
Along the pavement of growing up, we lose people we never thought we’d lose, we find ourselves in sticky ends much like those when reverse transcriptase cuts a gene with little less intention. In this sunny yet mundane matter of things, I have found myself often in sticky ends that drained me of all energy to socialize or to find fulfilment in school friends. I’ve been a bystander of too many needless and frankly, juvenile behavior. When my school friends became too much of too many things that i could not care less to deal with, books became my ultimate companions.
I started reading religiously when I was 12 years old and before that it was picking up a random book in a sporadic attempt to prove to my mom once and for all that i r e a d and frankly just to stop her reminding me to read again and again. For an 8 year old, it was boring, mind-numbing work only to fall in love with it 4 years later. Despite my bittersweet relationship with my school, the library was a big encouragement of pursuing my love for literature.
Rows and rows of bookshelves made of the finest wood with glass doors would hold thousands of books ranging from children’s to classics. My school had mandatory reading classes known as “library classes”. Every week we were forced to go to the library, spend 40 minutes reading a book and take that book home for a week and we had to finish the book and return it regardless of how uninteresting we found it. The best thing about library classes was that I did not had to socialize nor pretend that I liked these people. I would grab an Enid Blyton book, pretend I am an elf or a fairy or a little rabbit living in a tiny burrow and plummet to a life of the best delicacy - reading.
For those 40 minutes, I'd be someone else, from a faraway land and would like jams and pies and wear fluffy dresses and live in a tree.
I would spend countless hours being a baker in a small town to being a friend of the famous five and go on adventures then I'd slowly set out to do pranks and complain about how famous I would become and lead life like our favourite middle school character - Greg.
As i aged more, stepping into complete teenage hood, i found refuge in the books that i call to be a source of comfort and also the pinnacle of my reading habits and rituals : Harry Potter.
I was welcomed into a world of magic and fine literature with the second book. This new girl in my class recommended the series to me so that week when i went to the library i took the first book i found that said Harry Potter.
Hidden away between thick and floppy spines of books was a tainted green and gold book with a large and mighty snake on its cover. I picked up the book with a baffled look and decided to give it a try. And so it became a journey that would stem itself to become what it is today - a propensity to read.
From the world of wisdom, friendship and advice i moved to the world of Greek heroes of Rick Riordan and enjoyed the childish yet mythological aspect of humanhood. I enlightened myself with rich fantasy and learnt about the Greeks and the myths they carry with pride. My school at that time was teaching Shakespeare and i was taken in his masterful skill of writing plays, poetry and jest all in one book. I can now say that i’ve read, analyzed and understood the literature of Shakespeare’s plays and was not bored with it. On the contrary i found the portrayal of love, life and jest during shakespeare’s time an interesting array of essays filled with passion and a love for the description of people’s personalities.
At that same year, we started reading Animal Farm by George Orwell which became the starting pointing of my love for political, thought-provoking, questionable policies that some people acquire and lead others life along those lines. I became an avid Animal Farm reader. I started seeing world as it truly is - A capitalist, Autocratic, fascist and a production house for producing emotionally exhausted humans whose work is to pretend everything is okay while being blown away by the realities of this harsh world filled with dirty politics and unjust judgement.
Slowly but surely I explored more topics that ranged from racism to slavery with “to kill a mockingbird”. Later, I expanded my library to old literature and classics of Jane Austen, Franz Kafka and so many other artistes. I still enjoyed reading this genre of books but i was a lot more excited to solve a mystery and so my reading of crime novels began, quite literally. I became a diehard fan of Agatha Christie’s and I have bought her books each month regardless of what my financial situation was. The bucks were either my pocketmoney for lunch that was saved to buy a copy of another poirot or marple or occasional treats of my birthday.
To conclude, reading has lent a hand in understanding human nature, it has assisted me in many encounters where I could foresee what a person would do because they do what every suspicious character in a crime novel does - become a timeless character of materialised information, unnecessary fussiness and give very wide meaning to being insolent.
So, my dear readers, in conclusion, I am a reader and you are?
Thank you for reading my attempts on printing out the mishmash of thoughts that I have. Have a great day!