I got a library card when I was three, the summer of 2010 when my family moved to the states. Really it was my mom's, but it was my sister and I who used it to no end- the Troy PL became a true second home to us.
Of course, things now aren't quite as they were over a decade ago. I don't jump onto the concrete ledge of the plants box at the main entrance each time I enter or exit, balancing (and flailing) as if I'm on a beam. I walk the normal route with my too heavy backpack and books overflowing out of my arms. My sister isn't here to play Fire Boy and Water Girl with me on the library-owned DELL computers in the kids' section anymore. I have my own laptop, and most of the time I go study in the adults' booths alone.
But at the same time, life isn't completely unrecognizable. I still use their bits of papers and nub pencils to to write down the exact aisle location and call number of the book I'm looking for. I still know that ever so comforting yet uncomfortable feeling of a heavy tote bag full of new pages resting, weighing down on my shoulder.
I'd consider myself a consistent reader. Through ebbs and flows, it's always remained my favorite pastime- I have my mom to thank for that. Growing up, she really instilled in me the gravity of words.
In high school I've grown to gravitate toward nonfiction, so this list to read in the next decade is largely that. Beyond this required syllabus of ten, however, I'm making a larger goal to be more varied in my information and content consumption to be more world-conscious. I'm signed up to a couple email subscriptions now (NYT's The Morning and The Atlantic's The Wonder Reader, as well as a few Substacks). I'm also considering creating a Substack (basically a blog style newsletter) myself after the end of this Lit blog, so I can continue to personally write in some way or another. Let me know if you'd care for it at all, or if I should just channel my inner Sylvia Plath and resort to diving headfirst into my journal instead of publicly oversharing.
- Getting the really boring out of the way first, this will be the reality of my 20s! The defining decade!! Growing up makes me feel sick!!!
- I'm actually taking Personal Money Management right now which theoretically should be teaching me what this book will, but ironically I actually feel like my brain is in retrograde in that nap hour class
- philosophical book so I can be more pretentious
- all jokes aside, I'm really interested in ethics and general principles
- Baldwin's writing in Giovanni's Room made for a thrilling reading experience and I don't believe this one could possibly disappoint
- This is an essay collection; Baldwin has such a singular mind that I'm curious to see if it'll be more centered on his personal life. I hope that it will
- We get it, I play cello
- Music is a lot like literature, in more ways that one. Steven Isserlis is a pretty iconic cellist, so by transitive theory I assume he's a comparable writer, too
- How nice it'd be to be biking in early August-ish as the sun sets. I'll stop at a bench, and I won't feel like stopping for long, so I'll bring a light book. And I'll keep my earbuds in so that I can read Isserlis's perfect descriptions and detailed analysis of each movement of each suite that I'm listening to at that moment. Perfect summer
- I actually read this freshman year during covid time, but I think I need to reread it because I doubt I retained much of the content at all
- The prison industrial complex is a subject I want to be more educated on; not much else to say here
- I'm making conscious effort to intake more scholarly content outside of required readings
- I've yet to read anything by Davis, but I've heard so much (good) commotion around/about her, that her writing compares to the likes of Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde
- Another reread? This one from elementary school, I think maybe just before college it'd be nice to reread the series to simulate being a kid again
- I want to feel that stinging (but sweet and sentimental) realization while powering through the series that it's almost like Anne and I are growing up together
- This is a definite must read before getting to college in the fall. I'm excited to go out-of-state (Providence, RI) for college, but I'm acutely terrified to turn into some haughty and out-of-touch elitist... What does it mean to climb the ivory tower? (How) can I do it ethically?
- Reading this one's blurb VERY loosely reminded me of Min Jin Lee's Free Food for Millionaires that I read last year and felt seriously targeted by
9. the Bible
- The Bible is actually so long though that I'm making it a goal to finish it by the end of undergrad; I don't want to skim past anything but instead really try to understand it - and through it, myself
- One of my favorite authors that I mentioned above, Min Jin Lee, actually said in an interview once that she likes to read and annotate the Bible every morning because it provides her with literary inspiration. I guess it goes to show that you don't necessarily have to be super nonsecular to derive meaning
- This is partly a joke, sorry Adam. I'm not much of a believer in the effectiveness of self-help books (they seem a bit forced), but maybe this will change my views
- I know, we haven't even made it on college campus yet - but I worry for what making/maintaining friendships as a post-grad adult will look like, because the geographically convenient system that more or less forces you into socializing won't be there. also I read
this article about the loneliness crisis
