I started reading early and I started reading a lot. At first, it was to hide away from bullying. We had a "reading nook" (if you could call it that) in kindergarten which is where I hid away to avoid social interaction and bullying, when the legos were being used by someone else.
After that I read for a sense of accomplishment. In primary school we would get little star stickers for every book in yet another "reading nook" in our classroom we read. After a certain number of stars, the achievement was unlocked and we would get some kind of sweets or something. Honestly, I didn't even care about the sweets, I just wanted all the stars and also to be the first one to get em. (I did).
During my tween-years I think I finally started to read for fun. It was mostly fanfiction and vampire romance, but at least I was enjoying it!
During my teens I then got into "better" fanfiction and more "intelligent" YA. Think Hunger Games vs. House of Night previously. You know, just different levels of literary quality, despite both being YA.
After that, I kind of burned out and didn't read for a long time, at least nothing substantial, because I studied languages and reading became a chore. I always hated having to read the books in school, which ruined reading for me throughout it as well as far into college.
I then realized that the issue wasn't the reading nor the books themselves, but the the force behind it. So, I challenged myself. I told myself I'd read a bunch of the books I ignored or hated during school and actually give them a fair shot now that my brain was a bit more developed and I didn't HAVE to read them (or write a paper on them), if I didn't want to.
That lead to one of my best reading years of all time: 52 classic novels in 52 weeks. Were there some stinkers I absolutely hated (Moby Dick, I'm looking at you)? Yes, but it also broadened my horizons immensely. I read authors/literature I usually never would have touched – The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov, The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, Catch 22 by Heller, anything by Dumas & Steinbeck really being some of the highlights – and enjoyed them immensely. Hell, my two cats are now called Dante and Dostoevsky.
The year afterwards I continued the challenge, this time with self-help/non-fiction books. Another great reading year. Not just from the amount I read, but also the knowledge and perspective I gained from it. It also showed me, that books don't have to be long, to be good. Shout out to "Thursdays with Morrie", what a read!
After that life got stressfull again and it knocked me out of orbit. Of anything, really. I stopped working out and I stopped reading as well. Every time I tried to get back into it, I failed. Either, because I didn't know wtf to even read anymore, or because the recommendations from one booktuber I actually watched disappointed me immensely (Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and Circe by Madeline Miller, I'm looking at you).
So, now I'm here. I picked the non-fiction flair, because I HAD to pick one, but honestly I'm open to just about anything. I also hope I gave enough specific examples to kind of get a feeling for my taste?
If not, I'm looking for something somewhat intelligent, but not completely depressing to read. Things like A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, No Longer Human by Osamu Dasai or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (some of my most recent reads) were either too much of a bummer to read or too abstract for me to be genuinely interested in them (mainly Murakami…) but works like I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison or anything by Kafka (some other recent reads of mine) I did enjoy. Maybe because the absurdity wasn't drawn out.
I'm also interested in reading House of Leaves eventually, but other than that, I'm kind of stuck on what to read next.
As I said, I'm fine with any and all suggestions, although I'd prefer non-fiction, psychology, self-help or romance, if I had to pin it down. Honestly, the only issue with fiction and sci-fi I have are mostly the cheesiness (for lack of better word) of modern fantasy. Things like ACOTAR or Dune just aren't my cup of tea, but at the same time I was a huge Potterhead so God only knows what I really like to read haha
Maybe anyone can help? Super grateful for any suggestions!
by xLadyLaurax
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