Some books mark milestones in my life. I couldn’t tell you what event they would mark, but they were stepping stones in my reading journey.
Little Me
I have loved Fantasy books since I was a small child. I would get lost in the worlds of Redwall and His Dark Materials. I made every effort to try and watch all of the Redwall cartoon when I was a kid, but that was before I understood TV schedules. My friends and I had a mermaid phase, and shortly after that a witch phase. I liked Harry Potter, but, honestly, read it more to stay up-to-date with my friends’ obsession (I skipped the whole 3rd book and took a year to read the 4th one).
Smells Like Teen Spirit
My witch phase was still going strong once we hit middle/high school. I also fell in love with spy novels. The idea that you could pretend to be somebody else and run secret missions, even as a teen, felt so exciting. As always, I read what my friends did, and when one of them had a Meg Cabot spree, I did too. And, of course, we had a Twilight phase in our friend group that started when the book came out and quickly faded once the series was over. I read the first Hunger Games, but couldn’t get into it when it first came out. I don’t think I was really into the dystopian phase that happened in the early 2010’s.
AP English Taught Me Literature
It was in AP English Composition that I started to pay attention to the way words showed up on the page. Before that, even in classes, it was all about the story. I didn’t care if it was well-written as long as it entertained me. Sure, there are a few books in middle school and other high school classes that I remember vividly (Bridge to Terabithia) or stand out as one’s I absolutely loathe (Catcher in the Rye). But, none had shown me that writing was an art you had to refine and polish. I hated The Grapes of Wrath, but it forced me to pay attention to allegory and metaphor and I truly think that changed my writing life.
College Changed Me
If you were to ask me what I read for fun in college…I honestly don’t think I could answer you. I remember so many of the books I read for classes, but nothing for pure enjoyment. I hit a “reread” phase in college. I wanted comfort and predictability. I still followed Ally Carter’s series as she wrapped up Gallagher Girls and moved on to Heist Society and Embassy Row. Otherwise, it was literary after literary. I may not have had a dystopian phase in high school, but boy did my professors love to assign them.
The Post-College Dry Spell
After I graduated, I couldn’t get myself to read. I could maybe force a few books in through the year, but I can’t say I had much fun reading them. Then, I decided that YA books weren’t just for teenagers. I needed something short, fast, and entertaining to get me back into reading like I had before. I had a little spark of reading some romances, but nothing was really sticking except for those fun YA books.
Slow and Steady Return
Year after year I would tell myself that I would read a certain number of books. Usually, that number was 12. Some years I would hit that number and others I would lie on my goodreads and put down that I finished books that I DNF-ed or fall back on the many audio books I read. But, slowly, oh-so-slowly, I returned to reading. It helped that I was in 2 separate book clubs (one with family and one with my boyfriend-now-spouse) for a while.
The Pandemic Reading Renaissance
Something about being stuck in the house for months on end really forces you to reconnect with your hobbies. Those stressful years of being unsure set my nose back into the pages of books. I read so much starting in 2020. So many favorite books came from those few years where it felt too dangerous to go do anything else — The Lunar Chronicles, Fangirl, anything Emily Henry or Alice Oseman.
That Time Rachel Got A Kindle
My Kindle journey is an entirely different beast. Getting gifted an e-reader changed the way I read. I went from reading and connecting with the pages to devouring content like a malnourished stray. So began my romance era, my manga era, my actually-reading-whatever-I-want era. Did I stop fully connecting with the prose of a lot of the books I read? Yes. Did I have a blast reading every fluffy romance I could get my hands on in Kindle Unlimited? Also Yes. I’m still having a blast doing that.
The Journey Continues
I’m reeling things back in. I’m still devouring fun books like they’re my one true escape from the chaos of -gestures vaguely at world-, but I’m also taking the time to read physical books again. I’m annotating, and flagging sentences, and genuinely reconnecting to why I loved literature enough to go for a degree in composition in the first place.
Looking back, I love that I can pinpoint exact transitions in my life with the books I’ve read. I’ll always remember middle school for my bestie’s and my obsession with Twitches. I remember knowing I wanted to major in English thanks to An American Childhoos. I remember cursing out my professor in my dorm room for making us read Les Mis in the span of 8-weeks. I remember The Lunar Chronicles getting me through the first year of the pandemic (hilarious since it has a plague in it…). And I remember flying through Under the Oak Tree after moving to fully remote work.
A Reading Journey is a lifelong pursuit. It’s a journey that is truly more about the path than the destination. There are more books than one can ever hope to read in a lifetime, so read what you want. I spent years not reading anything because I felt like, as a writer and English Degree holder, I needed my reading to say something about me. Nobody is only one thing, and so your reading shouldn’t be that way either.
Follow the curiosity to read new genres even if you think “that’s just not me.” Read the overrated series and have a blast despite the poor quality of the writing. And when you need to, take a break. The books will still be there when you’re ready to come back.
Subtle Stories 