Last year, I read 46 books in total, which was a new record for me. Though, I have to confess that I cheated in December when I read a total of nine books. I know, it sounds impressive, but not really. As you can see in the header image, my December selections are cute, but not exactly impressive. My usual TBR (To-Be-Read) is nothing like that. It's less colorful and more dull. This is why I said I cheated. For December, I avoided my TBR, and deliberately chose quick, easy reads just to reach my reading goals. I unashamedly judged the books by their covers, picking up those with animal characters in it, hoping they would give me more incentive to read since I love animals (more than humans).
These books were free or extremely cheap digital versions that I got from the Kindle store. Most of them had fewer than 250 pages. I'm a slow reader in English, but I could read these books fairly quickly without even trying. However, these books were the ones I usually avoid like a plague because they use first-person narratives, which I strongly dislike in general (only in English, and there are always exceptions). I was truly surprised and horrified to see the sheer amount of first-person narratives among free/almost-free books, or maybe I'm just biased. However, they didn't require me to use my wallet nor my brain, and for that I have to admit I'm grateful. December can be hard on both my finances and on my psyche, you see🥴?
To be honest, I usually don't (can't) read much in December. This time, however, instead of giving up reading altogether, I experimented with these easy-reads. Nothing complicated and just for fun. Should the book turn out intolerable, I can easily stop reading without remorse, since the price and the incentive to complete it are infinitesimal or non-existent. Though, I feel guilty for not finishing books in general. I usually try to finish them even if they are not to my liking, or in my case, too difficult for me to understand language-wise. It doesn't matter if it takes me months, I'll try to finish them, and it's rare for me to completely abandon one. As long as I want to finish it, that is.
However, this time, I didn't hesitate to stop reading them because I never intended to read them in the first place. Not to mention that bad writing combined with first-person narrative can leave me with permanent brain damage🤯. Sorry if I'm sounding crude, but, this is me trying to keep my bitchiness under control, so bear with me. Anyway, there's nothing wrong with not finishing a book. In the end, I abandoned five books, however, I managed to read nine books that are outside my usual wheelhouse. Moreover, there were some books that I actually enjoyed reading.
Reading these unusual selections made me think of my reading preferences. Actually, I've been thinking about them for quite some time. Ever since I realized that I'd limited myself a great deal in choosing books, I've been trying to explore different types of books. I could say that's why I dived into this rabbit hole to begin with🐇. For example, I've been trying to read more books written by female authors, as well as books by authors with different nationalities, races, cultures, etc. All said books I got for December were written by female authors except one and there was an Australian and two New Zealanders. I don't think I've ever read works written by people from these countries.
Also, I realized these books came with a substantial amount of very casual day-to-day expressions and dialogue, which was pretty refreshing to me because I tend to read books that lack such modern dialogues. Reading books filled with natural, easygoing conversations between close friends and family members in modern-day was pretty nice. I should really read more contemporary fiction... It was even better that they were women's conversations, since all these books heavily consist of female characters (not without the presence of handsome dudes with stunning blue/green eyes, ugh🥴). Considering the gender of the authors, I can't say I'm surprised.
However painful it was🤪 at times to read these books that are outside of my usual preference, I believe this endeavor was beneficial for me overall. It definitely helped me be more willing to try different books. Even if the book doesn't look like my usual pick, I don't want to discard it easily anymore (except contemporary romance, sorry🥴). Maybe I'd enjoy it. It might surprise me. It might have nice phrases I can use. I'm willing to broaden my horizons further this year. I will occasionally indulge myself with these kinds of quick reads, maybe when I fall into a reading slump or after reading a difficult book. By the way, I think these books are excellent for lower intermediate English learners who haven't read many books in English but want to try reading more. I'm currently looking for similar type of books in Portuguese.
Happy Reading!😝
✔Corrected
I really liked reading this! It was fun to hear what sorts of books you experimented with reading, as I am also trying to read a lot in Japanese at the moment. I also happen to have a weakness for handsome dudes with stunning eyes...! 😎 Good luck with your future reading goals! 😊
You are a model language learner! I wish I could read as much as you. I could tell by your writing alone that you were very well-read.
Thank you for your lovely comment @ruby , and I appreciate your corrections, too🙏🏻I'm in a phase where I read less Japanese books. I don't know why, but I'm reading some popular Japanese books in Spanish, and it's a pretty interesting experience. Good luck on your Japanese reading, too!
Thank you so much for commenting and all the corrections. I appreciate your help a lot @amop567 🙏🏻Actually, I'm in a slump of language learning🥴, I'm really not feeling like studying like I used to do. Fortunately, reading in my target languages doesn't feel like 'studying' right now, so, there's that.