pH Balance

The year is 2000. A small child looks at her grandfather, eager to recite the lines from the picture book she memorized. It’s not something he asks her to do. But she does it anyways, with shining eyes and perfect recall.

Then, she grabs her book and her grandfather’s hand, and says “Hurry up! We’re late for school!” She’s never set foot in a school before. She’s not even three years old.

The year is 2023. The child is grown up. She still reads, but sometimes the prose evades her. Sometimes, she’ll be distracted by intrusive thoughts—or sights, or smells. Sometimes, she closes the book and watches TV. She hasn’t set foot in a school in years. Sometimes, she can’t stand to hear about who she used to be: it feels like proof of a failure. Her grandfather can’t help but remind her of these moments: to him, they are omens of success.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

This year: a great year for reading

There are lots of reasons to read. Entertainment. Knowledge. Language acquisition. Broadening your horizons. And believe it or not, improving your social life.

For me, 2023 was a great year for reading. I averaged a book a week, which brought me up to my middle school rates. I read for two reasons: entertainment and, more importantly, re-introducing the habit of reading into my life. I read a lot during COVID (and when I had COVID), but the re-opening of the world meant reading was pushed to the sidelines. But not for long.

This year, I determined to read more. I made a habit out of reading before bed, which did wonders for my sleep. I mostly read fantasy and thriller novels (I was still able to get a good night’s rest after some of the nightmarish books I finished).

next year: a better year for reading

Though I am happy with the progress I made this year, this is only Step 1 of my Reading Renaissance. As I stated before, one of the functions of reading is to broaden your horizons. So next year, I’m going to read more widely in two different ways:

1. BookRiot’s “Read Harder” Challenge
2. Read 10 AP-Lit level novels
   • no re-reads allowed, with the understanding that this curriculum is centered around the Western canon and books of equivalent significance from non-Western sources will also be accepted

The mind is a muscle (the brain, however, is not). Reading is its exercise. The more you do it, the better you’ll get at it, and the more fun it will become.

Join me in my quest for literary self-actualization

This Week’s Top 3

• Crime and Punishment ⚖️ – translators Volokhonsky and Pevear are a multilingual academic power couple
• Anatomie d’une chute ⛷ – I thought FOR SURE I was going to have to suffer through some slow, indie bull***, but this was a great example of how slow doesn’t have to mean boring. I was on the edge of my airplane seat the whole time.
• Sandhya Prabhat’s work for The Gopi Diaries 🐶 – you don’t have to look too hard to see why these illustrations really hit home for me 🥲

PS- if you’re wondering about Bex and Duckie, don’t worry. I am back from vacation and am working on getting them out of that supply closet, posthaste.