The new year always brings a wave of new goals, especially the annual reading list that end up creating a mountainous to-be-read pile (oof, self call out).

I used to get lost in a good book. Actually, it didn’t matter if the book was good; I could power through a bad book. I remember being an avid reader very early on. I started reading the Harry Potter series when I was 8, screamed into the ether when I realized the fate of the Pevensie children, and went to Barnes & Noble at midnight to pick up my long-awaited pre-ordered treasures.

A growing to-be read (TBR) pile

My love for reading started fading in high school and completely eroded in college. It felt impossible to make time for leisure reading when I had almost a hundred pages of documents and theories that bored me every other week. I may or may not have been a terrible student.

Shortly after graduating college, I went to a non-university library for the first time in four years, bought my first Kindle, and joined Goodreads. I was delighted to be able to borrow e-books from the library with a touch of a button. I slowly started reading in my leisure time again, but not only did my passion for reading erode but so did my attention span. I took forever to finish a book, which made it difficult to remember the plot in its entirety.

Watching my TBR pile quadruple made me sad. Although reading was something I was fiercely passionate about, It became feeling like a chore. I had become weirdly competitive with myself about reading goals and scrolling through Goodreads and Bookstagram.

However, I soon discovered a love for podcasts. Podcasts hosts offer incredible storytelling and I loved listening to an episode while cooking or cleaning. I soon got into audiobooks and I feel as if I am falling in love with reading again. (Yes, audiobooks count as reading. I can go on about this another day.)

A reconnection

What once felt like a love lost is feeling like a reconnection. Not only have I found new methods for reading but I’ve also come to accept that sometimes a book doesn’t need to be finished. I want to enjoy a story for its rich plot and not for the sake of hitting a certain number of reads.

I’m happy to announce, I finished listening to an audiobook on New Year’s Day! 🤪

Did you ever fall out of love with reading? How did you get back into it?