I know I am, haha. It’s not just reading. Losing yourself in the plot, the book universe, the characters can all be the best distraction and escape. The list of books I have read … isn’t actually that large. I mean I couldn’t recite all that I have read in elementary through high school (and really only a few have stayed on the shelf in my head throughout these years), but I was one of those kids in intermediate who read a million words that year (remember that challenge!). My sister is two years older than me and the high school had a better library than the intermediate, so she would borrow all the good YA books for me to read. At the time, my genre interest spanned from realistic fiction/contemporary realism to fantasy and science fiction. I read Pretty Little Liars (I want to say there were only maybe 3 books in the series), Vampire Diaries, Sarah Dessen novels, and the Uglies series among other things.
I dropped off a bit through the years. I was busy in undergrad (even if my BA is in English, we were forced to read and that’s no fun), then I started working, and then I went to grad school. Even if I am working now, I am trying to prioritize time to read stuff that makes me happy. Also, the book lovers community on social media is wild. As a result of me not having a TikTok account, I am not always privy to the new series, the new acronyms being used. An example of this is just finding out what a TBR is. It’s a list to-be-read. I made my list on google sheets and I called it my reading list, and I have since changed its title, haha. This year was my comeback into this world of reading … and I am more than excited. Guess which series brought me back to life? ACOTAR. (A Court of Thorns and Roses).
To be honest, I had the first book for a bit. It was gifted to me by a dear friend, Misty a while ago and it sat on my shelf until I decided it was time to read something fun the last semester of grad school. OH BOY. ACOTAR will always hold a special place in my heart because of this. Since then I have finished the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi (which by the way I actually started in high school) and am currently reading the Hades and Persephone retelling (A Touch of Darkness). The author, Scarlett St. Clair started writing a tandem Hades POV saga as well, and I have been able to read it directly following Persephone’s versions. And it is so lovely.
So, with that being said I hope one day you find a book that hooks you in (whatever genre it is). I hope you find one where you sit down to read and suddenly the day has passed and your heart and mind is full.
Thanks for hanging out with me while I blurb a little about my reading background, lol.
Happy curl, Happy girl
Signing off,
Curly Island Girl
Tales of A Curly Island Girl 