Chapter 7: Loving to read again

Hello, and welcome back to my final passion blog post (ever?). Throughout this semester I’ve been talking about books that have influenced me throughout my life and that I’ve really enjoyed. Last semester, I talked about an entire book series, which I loved, and conveniently, haven’t mentioned yet. Well, today’s the day I combine my two passion blog topics: I’m going to talk about A Song of Ice and Fire. 

While I’m not going to talk too much about what the books are about, I’ll recommend you check out my blog posts from the first semester pertaining to these books, as they’ll give a good overview of various themes in the books (without any spoilers). Today, however, I want to talk about the effect these books had on me.

By the fall of 2020, I kind of hit a point where I was more reading to read instead of reading for enjoyment. Don’t get me wrong, I still liked to read. I’m just not sure I loved to read. At this point, I was still in the wake of the biography phase, and I had mostly committed myself to reading non-fiction books. Most of the books interested me, which is why I read them, but it took a lot for me to invest a considerable amount of time in reading them.

The day after Thanksgiving 2020, I decided to pick up a book that I had been waiting to read for a while: A Game of Thrones. I was waiting for a good time to restart reading fiction, and this point was as good as ever. While it took me around 100 pages to get into it, once I was hooked, I was hooked. It seemed to appeal to everything that I found entertaining – political intrigue, military campaigns, complex and nuanced characters, and more. I couldn’t put the book down, as each page provided some new revelation or development.

Lucky for me, this was only the first book in a series, so I picked up the next book, A Clash of Kings. Similarly, that book captured my attention. Hundreds of pages flew by just like that. By April, I had finished all five books in the series (which left me deeply unsatisfied, because the series has yet to be finished, and there seems to be no end in sight). Nonetheless, these books reminded me of a feeling that I had almost forgotten – what it feels like to read for complete and utter enjoyment.

I loved this book series. Genuinely, the only thing I wanted to do was to read these books. I couldn’t recommend them enough.

I began this passion blog in the first week by discussing how I fell in love with reading. It seemed fitting to end by discussing how I re-fell in love with reading. It’s a great feeling, rediscovery, that I’ll always remember these books. Of course, I also consider this book series to be my favorite of all time, so I certainly would remember them for that reason as well. Thanks for sticking around, and as one final parting note, I’d say that all the books I discussed over the weeks have all been good books. If you’re looking for something to read, consider a book from these posts!