8 Comments

During my busy times of the year, I read for pure enjoyment and escape. In a much smaller slice of the year, I want to read books that have some meaning to me where I learn something I didn't already know.

In my day job, this last couple of years since COVID has been so stressful that I read very few meaningful books. I don't remember much about what I read shortly after I close the cover on the last page, but it does seem like the few that I do remember are the ones that make me think more about my own little place in this vast world of chaos.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks Gayla. Have you read Homegoing? Your point about our little places in a vast world of chaos seems like a theme of the book. Each of our parts may be tiny and insignificant but they all add up to something grand.

Expand full comment

No, I haven't read it yet. It's been on my TBR forever. I'll eventually get to it, but "shiny new book" syndrome gets me every time. Thanks for the recommendation and high praise about Homegoing. Maybe it's time it moves on up.

Expand full comment

And also I LOVE Homegoing. Her second novel was really beautiful as well, especially for anyone coming from a religious background or struggling with it.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks Shelby! I'll have to dive in to that one this year. Seems like an appropriate theme after watching UTBOH.

Expand full comment

I read to escape this flaming hellscape that is life in 2022. It helps to know there will be closure within a few hundred pages, happy or not. So I go through phases of what I want to read (be it genre, YA, literary, NF), but reading allows me to feel and connect and relate to stories/history/experiences simultaneously educating and distracting me. In that sense, it feels productive even if it isn't high-brow, life-altering works.

Expand full comment

I read for so many reasons.. entertainment, comfort, learning, growth. Different books serve different purposes, and some great books serve all of those purposes.

Expand full comment
author

Amen brother.

Expand full comment