Hello. This is the start of my blog for my senior seminar class. It will be used to document and research various projects throughout the semester.
My Obsession with books
Recently my obsession with books has been rekindled. As a child, I was an avid reader and grew up surrounded by more books than people. During summer break, I would occupy myself reading a book a day or sometimes more.
I have this vivid memory of coming back to school–maybe 4th grade–from summer break and the teacher asking everyone what they did, where they traveled, and how many books they had read. I remember being shocked how many kids said 3 or 4 books, or ‘does a magazine count?’ When my turn arrived I remember shaking my head that I had no idea how many books I read, and the teacher said ‘give us an estimate.’ I replied maybe a hundred? And I remember feeling both pride at being so ahead of the rest of class, yet horror of standing out so much.
When I got to high school, I had almost entirely stopped reading. All my free time had become filled with screen time–tv shows, social media, etc. But I didn’t really start to miss the experience of reading until I got to college. I often find tv shows and movies unfulfilling, yet the experience of reading a book leaves me optimistic.
Reading books has also become an aesthetic in popular media, which is somewhat exciting to me. It’s often depicted as soft and warm, even peaceful. Over break I read one and a half books, which is not very many, yet I feel proud considering it’s something I have not picked up in a while.
Image Sources:
- https://www.treehugger.com/cleaning-organizing/tsundoku-practice-buying-more-books-you-can-read.html
- https://www.ravenoak.net/writing-resources/online-writing-resources/great-books-on-craft-by-genre