Focus on enjoying books, not on the numbers
The Reading Nook #7
Hi, fellow book lover or whatever you identify as. On the agenda today:
Focusing on enjoying books I read rather than reading more books
March Reading Journey
Book quotes
Focusing on enjoying books I read rather than reading more books
I started tracking books I read in 2020. I like tracking because I get to see the types of books I read, the ones I enjoyed or didn’t, how much I read, etc. But along with tracking came this desire, almost an obsession, to increase the volume of books I read. At the start of the year, I said my 2024 reading goal would be 30 books because I believed I could easily achieve that. Then I changed my mind and said I didn’t want a reading goal anymore.
The reason I decided against a reading goal was because I noticed how I tend to rush through books just so I can finish them and add them to my list. To draw nearer to that goal. I’m not a fast reader but I’m not a slow one either. I’m somewhere in the middle but I lean more towards the fast side, depending on how much I’m enjoying a book. But sometimes I find myself reading faster than I normally would and not necessarily because I’m enjoying the book but because I want to get through it as fast as I can. This takes away from the experience and the joy of reading.
Books are meant to be savoured. The only time you should rush through a book is because you’re enjoying it so much, you can’t help yourself. When it has its fingers around your neck and you’re at the edge of your seat, breathing erratically because you just have to find out what is going to happen next. Not because you want to add it to your numbers.
A part of me has made the connection that reading a large number of books equals being a superior reader; a cooler reader that all other readers should aspire to. And I want to combat that notion. I want to focus on enjoying the books I read and not on the numbers.
One way I plan to do this is by picking a book to read because I genuinely want to. Because I’m excited to pick it up and not because I feel I should. If I don’t feel like reading at a particular point or on a certain day, I won’t force myself to.
Also, I want to stop comparing the pace I read books with other readers. Sometimes I’d feel bad that someone read a book in a day while it took me four days to read it. But it’s not a competition.
Like most things in life, if not all things, the process matters more than the results. It’s in the process you find joy, you learn, you grow, and you enjoy yourself, not in the result.
It’s in the actual act of reading you get the benefits. Not from forcing yourself to finish a book so you can say you read 8 books in one month (I’ve been there, haha.)
March Reading Journey
The House of Shells by Efua Traoré ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Efua Traoré has officially made it to my list of favourite Nigerian authors.
This is a children’s book that explores the myth of Abiku (or Ogbanje, whatever you know them as). It’s set in Lagos and follows our protagonist, Kuki, who has moved to a new house with her pregnant mother and new stepfather. Kuki and her mother don’t believe in the story of abiku and claim it’s merely a superstition. However, the name Kuki’s father gave her before he abandoned them, Kokumo, which means this one will not die, haunts Kuki. It doesn’t help that her mother gets alarmed at any sign of Kuki feeling unwell because of that one time she fainted as a child. Or that her new aunty suspects Kuki is possessed by an abiku.
One day Kuki stumbles upon a creepy, dilapidated but beautiful beach house with sea shells everywhere and a creepy tree. Behind this tree, she finds a girl with a tattered dress and bare feet. She and this girl, Enilo, become friends which is amazing since Kuki is struggling with making friends in her new school.
Enilo and Kuki click and have a lot of fun together, but Enilo doesn’t want Kuki to tell anyone about her. She seems to live in the creepy beach house, and Kuki barely knows anything about her.
Things get stranger and Kuki has to deal with the possibility that the story of abiku isn’t merely a myth.
This was a really fun read. We get to witness a female friendship, character growth, and a blended family, and it’s set in Nigeria which is a plus. I can imagine 10-year-old me reading this, having the time of my life and gisting my friends about it.
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In a bid to read more horror, I chose this book. I barely read books written by men and I was sceptical that I wanted to read a book centred around white, middle-class, suburban moms. But I was pleasantly surprised.
As the name indicates it’s about a book club and vampires and if that isn’t amazing I don’t know what is. It’s about five women who start a book club where they read true crime novels. A stranger comes into their peaceful town but there’s something up with him. Strange things start happening in the Black part of town and little kids start killing themselves but that doesn’t raise a buzz, you know why.
The protagonist, Patricia, knows there’s something up with this man but everyone loves him, even her kids. And who’s going to believe her and her friends, a ‘bunch of housewives who have nothing better to do with their time but make up stories inspired by the true crime novels they read?’
The book explores subjects of class, race, and good ‘ol misogyny amongst other things. It was really fun to read. It was captivating, funny, and annoying, I couldn’t drop it. It’s important to note that there are a few gory and disgusting scenes. I’d definitely recommend it.
The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book was everywhere and I thought the cover was cute, so I read it. It’s about two women with different lives. There’s Jasmine, an illegal immigrant from China who is trying to pay off the debt she’s accrued from illegally crossing borders. She escaped her abusive and controlling husband—whom she was married off to when she was young—when she found out he lied about her daughter dying at birth when she was actually alive and in the US.
Then there’s Rebecca, a white, rich and privileged editor who has a lovely family: the perfect husband and an adopted Chinese daughter.
We see their lives intersect and also get to see how one’s background and beliefs can have a huge effect on the way they view others and life in general.
There’s some romance, but it doesn’t take centre stage. There’s also a cool plot twist but I definitely wouldn’t tag it a ‘thriller’ which people keep calling it. However, it was a fast and interesting read.
Drinking from Graveyard Wells: Stories by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I absolutely loved the cover of this and knew I had to read it when I saw it. It’s written by a Zimbabwean author and is a bunch of stories that explore sexism, the entitlement to and control of women’s bodies, misogynistic traditions, immigration, poverty, corrupt government, among other things. The stories make use of folklore, fantasy, and supernatural elements to communicate their point.
The author writes beautifully and I related to so much especially the ambivalent feelings of hatred and love for your country, hope and what it means to be a woman in this world. I think a word to describe the stories is “powerful”.
It was an absolutely beautiful collection I’d love to read again. Some of my favourite stories were: Home Became a Thing with Thorns, Plumtree: True Stories, Water Bites Back, and Ugly Hamsters: A Triptych.
Going Dark by Melissa de la Cruz ⭐️⭐️
I thought this book was going to be about social media and influencer culture but it was completely different from what I expected, and not in a good way. It was kind of like Gone Girl, but YA,
It’s about a travel influencer, Amelia, who goes missing when she takes a trip to Rome with her boyfriend. Her story trends online and her boyfriend claims to know nothing about it even though her blood is found in his suitcase. It’s told from her boyfriend’s point of view, Amelia’s and another uni student who is a hacker and wants to get to the bottom of the matter.
Some parts of the story felt long and unnecessary, especially from the hacker’s point of view. Honestly, I didn’t love it.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author and it was an interesting but heartbreaking read. I’d recommend it if you’re interested in the life of child actors and all they go through.
Girls with Bad Reputations by Xio Axelrod ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is about an all-female rock band which already sounds so badass. The book is centred on the drummer, Kayla, and Ty, a Black man whose tragic life circumstances caused his path to cross with Kayla.
Kayla lost her brother, who was also a drummer when she was fifteen. Her mum is very strict and wanted perfect kids who did everything she wanted them to and never slacked because Black people don’t have the space to slack. Kayla keeps her rockstar life a secret from her parents.
When they’re on tour, she meets Ty. He was falsely accused of plagiarism and assault by a ‘friend’, spent a few weeks in jail, went through a legal battle and had to drop out of college even though he was innocent. All he has is his grandpop since his parents both passed away when he was younger. Now Ty is a driver trying to earn some money and he’s driving the tour bus for Kayla’s band so they meet.
I love how much of a bookworm Ty is and that he always has a book in his hand or an audiobook playing. I like how aside from the attraction they felt for each other, the book built their romance based on their common interest in books and the conversations they had.
I didn’t like how their romance escalated quickly and I also felt the focus was so much on Kayla and Ty that they neglected the other bandmates who were always around and their characters fell flat. It was an okay book.
Book Quotes
You know when sentences from a book just resonate with you? Or you like how they sound? Here are two I came across this month and decided to make designs out of:
That’s it! Let me know if you agree with anything, found something cool, or absolutely hated something in the comments or by replying to this email. Bye!