What do you do when you are in a reading rut? (April 2022 reads)

I was in a reading rut until I came across the Graphic Novel Reading Challenge hosted by the Los Angeles City Public Library. The challenge was to read graphic novels through March and into early April. It was a fun way to get myself out of a reading rut.

I felt like most of the books I’ve read this year were intense and serious. According to my Storygraph, the majority of the books I read are informative, emotional, and reflective. 70% of my reading this year are non-fiction. I thought reading a light-hearted young adult book would lift things up and it did not do the trick. When I participated in the Graphic Novel Reading Challenge, I discovered how enjoyable graphic novels can be (even if the topics were not so fun and light-hearted). What I like about graphic novels is that it presents really hard and complicated topics into something that is easy to understand without infantilizing the message.

Do you collect quotes? (And March 2022 reads)

Does anybody like to collect quotes? I do. I don’t like to collect pretty squares of platitudes and save them to my phone; it becomes jumbled with all the things I keep on my phone and I completely forget about it until I need to declutter my disk space and end up throwing it away. For me, I believe favorite quotes deserve a better place than my phone, they deserve a page on my notebook. I like to keep this notebook in the living room as my “living coffee table book.”

October and November #whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge

Here are some books I’ve read in October and November. I’ve been meaning to share my October reads last month, but at that time I was prepping for Lana’s first birthday party and that same week I had a terrible stomachache. It was best to take it easy that week. Funny thing was that this week I was sick again, but I managed to complete my #whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge post for October and November.

September #whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge

I can’t believe it’s already the middle of September! Here is a recap of the books I’ve read over the past month!

Books finished

A Promised Land  by Barack Obama (in audiobook, from the library) – This book covered his early life into the end of his first term in office. It’s probably the longest audiobook I’ve ever listened to. I found his trajectory into becoming the President very interesting. He did not come from a political dynasty that groomed him for higher office. Just a man with a very optimistic and idealistic vision and it got him very far. Each time I listened to his audiobook, I felt hopeful after each session.

July and August 2021 #whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge (plus why I read for fun)

I’m participating in the #whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge, hosted by Sue, Donna, Jo and Debbie.

Up until this year I have not read much but I think that’s because I tried to treat it like the way I would watch Netflix — binging it. As of this year, I started doing Gretchen Rubin’s read 21 minute in 2021 to help me read more. I found doing this practice manageable and sustainable because reading 21 minutes a day is achievable. Now I can’t imagine a day where I am not reading 21 minutes.

I’ve been reading more for the mental health benefits and how to process difficult emotions especially as I go through life as being a new mom. Also because of the pandemic as there are significantly fewer events and people are less inclined to go anywhere, reading has provided an escape where I can still have this sense of human connection and empathy. Reading is one of the simple pleasures that has centered me because there have been many moments when I have felt overwhelmed especially on some weeks when my husband is out doing army training.

“Modern Romance” – How Technology has Changed Courtship and Overall, Adulthood

I was not sure what to expect out of comedian Aziz Ansari and sociologist Eric Klinenberg’s Modern Romance. Last year, I read a book called Dataclysm by Christian Rudder (founder of OkCupid) and I mistaken Modern Romance would be the same thing. I was burnt out on reading books revolving around themes of dating, networking, technology, and the modern world.

“We live in a culture that tells us we want and deserve the best, and now we have the technology to get.”

Modern Romance does run through a similar vein of Dataclysm as far the said topics go. I felt Dataclysm was heavy on the data science; after all, OkCupid treated their site like a large, controlled social lab. They did user experiments to test their users such as intentionally pair users with incompatible matches or pixelating profile pictures. I am a data science enthusiast and it was a great read. Modern Romance was heavy on the social science and analyzing dating scenes across different generations and cities around the world.

“That said, can you imagine how insane that must have been—to get the first text of all time? When no one knew what a text was? It would have been like “WHY ARE THERE WORDS ON MY PHONE??? PHONES ARE FOR NUMBERS!!”

Modern Romance is hilarious — there were moments I laughed out loud alone. Books like these show you can be smart and funny.  In this book, Aziz and Eric conducted focus groups through interviews and this subreddit to learn how people across the world deal with courtships and relationships, views on open relationships, playing games, and making decisions from potential picks to potentials places to have dinner. They way people interact with technology plays a big part in the book because it makes one’s world far bigger and it should be easier — right?

“No matter how many options we seem to have on our screens, we should be careful not to lose track of the human beings behind them.”

I met my husband through online dating (before the industry blew up), but the funny thing was we’ve seen each other in passing but we never talked. The first message he wrote to me was “You look familiar, I feel I’ve seen you before.” I’ve received this line from other guys before, but I knew I’ve seen him around. My heart sank because I was new to online dating and there was still that stigma of meeting people online. I felt I was caught red-handed so I finally responded, “Yes, we’ve seen other before. You work with so-and-so.” And the rest is history. Maybe I shouldn’t call it “online dating website”, but rather an  “online introduction website.” I believe without online dating (errm…introducing), we most likely wouldn’t talk to each other at all or it would have taken a lot longer to get around talking to each other.

“Oh, I’m sure he’s much more intelligent and thoughtful in person. This is just his “lazy phone persona.” 

Recommendation: I am married and overall I enjoyed the book. I think other married or committed couples will enjoy it too. Would I recommend it for single people? Sure, but please read it with an open mind rather than deflect on how certain topics do not apply to you. Through this book, I found parts of myself I could relate.

Wild Eclectic Book Club (Name in Progress): I am trying a blog series where every other Wednesday I review a book from my ever-changing Current Reads page. The hard part about writing these reviews is as much as I want to share what’s in the book, I don’t want to give anything away.