Page Turner

I know reading has recently become somewhat of a trend, but I have never been a reader. I specifically remember my mom telling me when I was younger that my sister was already reading chapter books while I was still stuck on picture books. Especially my favorite book: Hey, Pancakes!. That is the book I learned to read with and I would just reread it over and over again to the point where I could recite it from memory. I do that with everything though. Once I find something I like I’ll just repeat whatever it is over and over because I don’t like change or trying new things. I guess you could say that’s another reason I needed this blog.

The most ironic part about me not being a reader is that I have a radio talk show called Books for Breakfast. The show takes place with my two lovely co-hosts, Jess and Jude, every Tuesday morning from 9-10 am on WMCX, 88.9 FM. The show started from our talk radio class we all took last spring. Jess and Jude are both big readers so they came up with the idea of the show to pretty much talk about books (and a little bit of breakfast). I was brought into the group because everyone else had already established groups outside of class and I wasn’t part of any of them. The first thing they asked me was “do you read?” and I just hesitantly said no.

We ended up working perfectly together and the show is now my favorite project I’ve ever been a part of. So if you wanna check it out, follow us on Instagram @booksforbreakfast22. We honestly don’t even talk about books that much anymore because we just have fun talking to each other on the air and go off topic ALL the time. However, we still do try to make the topics book related and have examples of books to relate it to, so in those moments all I can really talk about is movies or tv shows.

Because of my hatred for reading and need for content for Books for Breakfast, I thought this would be the perfect time to pick up a book for the first time in I don’t know how many years and attempt to read (I mean I know how to read obviously, but really attempt to be interested while reading).

While I was shopping at Target one day I found this book called The Comfort Book by Matt Haig. Not going to lie, the first thing that drew me to it was the name and the cover. I know the big saying is “don’t judge a book by its cover” but that’s exactly what I did. I mean come on, it’s called The Comfort Book it’s perfect for Comfortless! It’s also the same color scheme so I had to get it. This book is a self-help, and kinda poem-ish book. It would probably make more sense to read a book with an actual story and plot, but this is a good start for me. The pages are short and easy to follow.

The book started by explaining the structure of the book. Basically, there is none. He says the book could have pages with barely any words, some filled up. Other pages could have lists or even recipes. It was perfect because it made it much easier for me to jump into. Knowing that I could finish a page quickly was much more appealing to me. I’m a really slow reader, so one reason I have a hard time getting motivated to read is because it takes me way too long. I have fallen victim to the world of TikTok and short videos because I have such a short attention span. Even reading this book that had empty pages and quick stories, I still kept getting distracted. I would see a notification on my phone and respond to it instantly, think about something else while staring at the page, or start talking to my parents. That is probably why I need to read in silence. I can’t focus on what I’m reading at all if people are talking or music is playing.

One of my favorite pages was when the author listed songs that comfort him. Music is a big part of my personality so I wanted to do the same, just a shorter list because I don’t want to go on forever.

“Way Less Sad” — AJR

“Runaway Kids” — HARBOUR

“all I ask” — Palmertrees

“Promise Me” — Badflower

“Missing Piece” — Vance Joy

“Feels So Nice” — The Wrecks

“All My Love” — Noah Kahan

These songs to me have good vibes or good memories attached to them so they make me feel comforted. I don’t know if it would do the same thing for anyone else but it does for me. I was reading this after a long day at school so I started getting tired and almost falling asleep while reading, so I decided to put it down and come back later.

I started reading again the next morning. Usually the first thing I do in the morning is scroll on my phone, so this seemed a little more productive. Even if reading is recreational to some people, it still feels like a productive and educational activity when I do it. Another page I came across that I really liked was this page that was just titled “Pasta”. He makes a very good point here.

By the time I got to Part 2 in the book, I was bored of the self-help style. I eased myself into reading and wanted to try a book with a plot. The best way to do this was to venture into my sister, Ashley’s room. She found an interest in recreational reading a year or two ago and now has a big shelf overflowing with books in her room. I know she hasn’t read all of them (I mean just looking at the amount there are on the shelf I think it would be impossible) so she wouldn’t miss one for a little bit. She seems to read a lot of fantasy and action. While looking through the shelf, none of the covers were really interesting to me, so I couldn’t just decide based on looks this time. I would pick up a book, ask her what the plot was, and look for a new one. Another thing I noticed about books is that it’s so hard to find the description. It seems like the back of the book is only covered with reviews and ratings now. Maybe it’s just the few I saw or I just wasn’t looking hard enough.

After scattering books all over the floor, I eventually landed on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. Not surprisingly, I’ve never read any of the Harry Potter books. What might be a little more surprising is that I’ve never seen any of the movies either so I don’t know anything about Harry Potter. This was the only book I recognized and was somewhat interested in so I took it with me.

This book was instantly harder to focus on than the other because it actually had full pages of words (like books should). It took me much longer to get through the pages. I would get frustrated with how slow I was reading and skip over certain words and lines. I also stopped a lot because I would get distracted again by TV or my own thoughts. The beginning of anything is always hard to catch my attention just because it’s a slow start when they have to build up the characters and the plots. I also don’t watch a lot of movies or enjoy them that much at first because of this too. I don’t doubt that it would be much more interesting in a few chapters when the plot picks up, but for my own sake, I only read the first chapter.

Reading isn’t terrible, but I still can’t see myself spending my free time with a book. The only way to improve my reading speed is to read more, but I just can’t get myself too. It’s too slow and frustrating for me. As Ashley would say, I just haven’t found the right genre and I have to find one I’m interested in, but I don’t know if I ever will. I feel like my personality is too active and hands on to be able to sit still with a book. I like crafting, listening, and doing things and I think about too much at once so it’s hard to focus on other words at the same time. But who knows maybe one day I will have the urge to read and actually find the genre I like.

In the meantime, be sure to check out Books for Breakfast (@booksforbreakfast22) every Tuesday from 9-10 am on WMCX :)