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"Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.".


The books I've read so far this year.
In the past years I've been a lazy reader. The decline of my reading habit coincided when I bought my first iPhone and iPad. The books I used to read before bedtime were swapped to mindless surfing around the internet and Pinterest. I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, but this year I made a conscious decision that the iPad is not allowed to our bedroom in the evenings. I also made a pact with myself to turn off all the electrical devices (tv, Playstation, computer...) at least half an hour before I went to sleep and rather read a book instead.

My dad has always read a lot and ever since I was young he has been encouraging me to read as well. I read many of the classics in my teens (the works of Isaac Asimov,  The three musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, George Orwell's 1984, to name a few) and my father still has the habit of recommending books for me to read. We often share what we have been reading and discuss it in lengths. When he buys me presents, they are (with few exceptions) books. I have felt somewhat ashamed lately when he asks me if I've read anything good or do I have any suggestions what he should read next, as I myself have not read anything much. I have just said vaguely that I'm still reading the Game of Thrones books, but carefully not mentioning that I've been reading the same first volume for the past year and half.

After the "no-iPad-in-bed"-rule my reading hobby has again stared to thrive. I finished the first Game of Thrones (finally!), but decided to read something else before taking on the next volume, even though I have it already waiting for me in my book case.

I read the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, which I thought was OK but not worth all the hype around it. (It was good but I didn't think it was "50 books to read before you die"-good.) After that I read the Book Thief by Markus Zusak and after a bit childish start, it was actually a really good book, something I definitely can recommend to my father.

I was really tired on Friday when I went to work because I just had to finish reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I had to know what happened to Augustus and Hazel. So I read until the book was over and it was way past my usual bed-time, I just had to know how the book ended. It was a really well written and touching story even though I first wondered if I was the right target group for this book as the narrator of the story was a 16 year old girl, and I'm already 30, but I still found the book very current.

Now I'm reading the Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. I've only read the first two chapters so I don't have much to say about it yet...


P.S. The quote above is written by Henry David Thoreau.

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