i have been trying to get back into reading for a while, i used to do it nonstop in middle/high school but fell off after i graduated. i picked up Thursday Murder Club randomly at a bookstore a few weeks ago and finally sat to read it this week and it’s really doing it for me right now. i don’t have much time to read anymore with college and work but i think this will be the first book i have finished since i graduated high school 😅 so, i’m curious. what books randomly re-sparked your love for reading?
When I was really depressed/busy and couldn’t even get the motivation up to read, I finally got back into it by rereading some of the books I loved as a teenager. YA or fantasy is easy and fun, and rereading a book at a different time in your life is a really special experience you rarely get to do with so many great books out there and so little time. It was like listening to a song that takes you back to a great time but way more extended and layered. It really relit a fire.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towes was one that just brought back that love of reading. In the same line, A Man Called Uve by Fredrik Bachman filled my heart.
About a year ago, I developed an obsession for Folk Horror. It’s hasn’t stopped, and I’ve now gotten into Medieval Horror, poetry, and tons of Cosmic Horror. My library doubled in size within a year. I used to read specifically non-fiction pretty religiously. I’m glad I broke out that and can now enjoy so much more.
The Book Thief.
Until this year I had yet to read anything by Steven King. Started with the Stand which was great to pick up and read over the course of a few weeks. Since then I’ve read Salems Lot and currently reading Fairytale. It’s for sure got me reading a lot more regularly than I was a couple months ago.
The Hunger Games
R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton, surprisingly. Now I’m reading the rest of the books in the series.
Stephanie Plum books. Coworker recommended it. There is now 30 but when I started reading them there were 27. Got me hooked on reading again.
The Twilight series. This was 15 years ago and I have been a voracious reader ever since. I actually always associate it with this time of year because I read the first book in November right before Thanksgiving and one of my fondest memories is how my mom sneaked out to B&N to buy the next two books for me as a surprise, so I spent Thanksgiving break devouring them (along with turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie!).
These books will always hold a special place in my heart because they gave me that spark to read for pleasure even though I have read hundreds of better books since then.
The Outlander series
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.
I wasn’t a reader through high school, started reading occasionally after. I picked up The Gunslinger in my mid 20’s and then devoured the entire series one book after the other and have been a daily reader since.
For me it was shogun which showed me I could get through a big read, and then the stormlight archive.
I’d read a bit when I was little but outside of books I needed to read for school I rarely ready until I hit 25 and somebody got me to try shogun. It was honestly one of the best stories I’d ever experienced and I was blown away to be as invested as I was.
Then once I was done I was lent the way of kings and my wallets never gonna forgive that friend for lending me that damn book.
I’m near caught up with stormlight, onto all of Brandon Sanderson’s other series, plowing through kingkiller, lonesome dove and looking to pick up some others all in a year.
Sometimes you just need to happen across the right book haha.
Idk if this is a copout, but I had spent years trying to get back into reading and then last year picked up A Song of Ice and Fire and loved it. I hated the show as well. Idk why I wanted to try them, but I did and loved it. I’ve been reading a lot more ever since
The Cat Who Saved Books by Sousuke Natsukawa. It reminded me a lot of my childhood and how voracious of a reader I used to be. The line “you truly love books” spoke to me and it felt like something unlocked in a memory long ago. When I finished that book I started on a reading spree and haven’t really stopped.
Jurassic park