I’ve always found it astounding that college students had time to casually read. That amongst classes, schoolwork, socializing, extracurriculars, eating, and exercising, there was still time to escape reality for a brief moment. I understand it’s all about time-management but I struggled with prioritizing reading a book that wasn’t assigned by one of my classes.

It’s not that I only have motivation to read when it’s assigned to me, but I have mostly science courses with heavy daily reading. So “taking a break” to read even more, on top of working 3 days a week, made my brain hurt. Also, whenever I tried to read for pleasure at school, I had a “guilty” feeling that bled into the story and didn’t allow for the novel’s fully intended emotional experience. It was a “guilty” feeling that I could be doing something more productive. It’s like when you KNOW you should be studying for an exam but you decide to get ice cream with your friends instead (and of course it takes 3 hours instead of 30 minutes). The entire time, you’re thinking “I know I should be studying right now” and you don’t enjoy the moment as much as you could have… you feel?

I really missed casual reading at school. During the summers, I read like crazy! Honestly, it’s something about constantly having some kind of school work to do that inhibits my brain from accepting time for a casual read. This current situation, however, is unique. With classes being online, extracurriculars cancelled, and no direct socializing… there’s so much free time! I’ve been trying to focus on filling that free time with things that make me happy like music, cooking, nature walks, lavender tea time, facetiming friends, and reading. So, this week I’ll be focusing on the reintroduction of casual reading into a (unique) school work environment.

This journey had its’ beginning on the long bus ride to and from Tennessee. I don’t really know why but, for me, reading a book while traveling to a new place totally enhances the experience all around. It’s like I get into this beautiful and vulnerable mode that allows for more intense emotions throughout my day. It doesn’t matter the genre either! I’ve read novels that made me ball my eyes out in front of strangers and novels that made me jump at the smallest bump in an airplane. For this trip, I was reading a novel suggested by my high school best friend: The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill.

I get absolutely absorbed into a good story… to the point where I dream and think about the plot and characters for days. I LOVE IT. I’d been planning a book club with my roommates for a long time last semester but we never had time to meet and chat about the books. Although I lost a lot of personal time with them due to current circumstances, we finally agreed to start the club!

We zoom chatted yesterday and decided the first book we’re reading is the novel suggested at The Parnassus Bookstore: Fishbowl. We’re reading the first 5 chapters by Thursday and have a planned zoom meeting to check in on things. I know a few others purchased this novel at the bookstore and I would love to hear your thoughts on the book as well! Let me know if you’re interested in joining our discussions.

It’s something small to hold onto in this limbo state.

Feel free to leave your favorite books in the comments! I’ve been looking for a not-too-cheesy romance novel.