Books, books, everywhere
Not enough time to read…
Amelia Jane. It's a children’s classic about a rag doll. It is one of the first books I remember reading on my own. It's definitely not my first book, but it is imprinted in my memory. The cover, the words, the black and white images, the big font and mainly how the descriptions of the characters evoke vivid images. I was probably 6, but I can clearly picture the blonde-haired illustrated version of Amelia that I fell in love with that summer vacation. Soon enough, Enid Blyton became my best friend for six weeks every summer. I travelled through the land of magic on a Wishing Chair with tiny wings, played Lacrosse with Darell in Malory Towers, enjoyed fresh scones and cream with the Famous Five and wished to be included in a secret club like the Secret Seven.
I eagerly awaited Dad’s work travel. His trips meant new books for me and, thus, new friends. I believed he went on adventures, and the books were his finds — for me.
When Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls) said, “I live in two worlds; one is a world of books and…”, I couldn’t agree more. I don’t just enjoy reading; I live through these books. I see the world, experience the passage of time and build my perceptions of cities by reading about them. Even before I arrived in London, I had walked from Picadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square with Saki, explored the clubs of Soho with Wooster and ran through the English Countryside with Elizabeth Bennet. I already knew London, albeit an old London. Yet I’ve walked the same streets as Dickens, Woolf and Evaristo, seeing the passage of time in cities through stories. I have experienced the roaring twenties with the Fitzgeralds, faced the icy chill of the Russian winter with Tolstoy and watched the old Parisian life go by from atop Notre Dame. From Marquez’s Columbian streets to Achebe’s Nigerian history to Atwood’s dystopian world, I have collected small slices of culture and stories from around the globe. Sometimes, I want to be one of the characters; other times, I want them as my friends, but mostly, I want to inhabit the same space as the stories and see the world through the narrative around me.
Books are more than words and stories. They are gateways to worlds I could not have explored otherwise, periods I cannot travel back to (please tell me if there is a time machine out there!), and people I will never meet. More accurately, they are portals to all things that I wish I could experience in one lifetime in person but cannot, and thus, I read. Books make me curious. When I read about a new place, I itch to travel and see it for myself; books based in cafes and restaurants add to my always-growing list of dishes to try; historical narratives make me want to unravel the truth and discover new voices. My favourites are books about books that add to my never-ending list of bookshops, libraries I must visit, and other books I should read.
Most importantly, reading about others' lives has taught me more about myself. So, I pick up a new book again. Excited about uncovering a new world, I plummet down the rabbit hole.
I’ve been reading a lot lately. Some of it is an occupational hazard of being a PhD student. The rest of the time, I’m trying to escape the PhD world and run into a fantasy fictional world created by someone else. From time-travelling plays in Japan to the world of science fiction to re-discovering mythological stories. And this list is only the start. I have a list of books I would like to read, a list of classics I never got around to reading earlier, a list of books to re-read (ones I cannot remember but want to) and another list I keep adding to every time I visit a bookshop. I have a list of easy-to-read ‘light’ books, ‘give-me-break-from-PhD’ books, and a list of life-challenging serious literature ebooks that will need my whole mental space and soul to get through. Some tell the story of the past, some comment on the present, and others imagine a future yet to come.
And this list is just of the books already written, already out there for me to explore. Meanwhile, new ones are getting written every day. Authors you follow who are still writing new novels and new authors waiting to be discovered. My current “Want to Read” list is so long that if I read one book daily, it would probably take me the next 30 years to go through them all (actually more!).
In addition, we are spoilt for choices. With super-fast publishing, social media marketing, and large bookshop chains that make discovering and buying easy, the list of books you want to read and should read is infinite. Our list might begin with what we want to read, but then libraries, book clubs, booktoks and your reading friends add to that list. And, even before we select a book, we read reviews on Good Read, and scroll through social media for validation.
But the list is not limited to “what to read” and the choice is not limited to “which book next”. Exciting editions with beautiful covers, paperback versus hardback, and printed versus e-book formats add to that list.Do we want extra author notes or signed copies? What about the version containing previews or excerpts of a chapter of the new book? And if that wasn’t enough, you find yourself browsing through multiple shops (physical and online) for that specific version that would fit your bookshelf. From being a simple act of reading, you realise you’ve suddenly become a book collector.
The journey doesn’t stop there. When you finish a book, you might record it and rate it on Good Reads, discuss it in book clubs, post a review on a blog, take a photo for Instagram, search for fanfiction and maybe add it to your book journal! I’m guilty of all of them!
Welcome to the age of information overload!
We, indeed, are spoilt for choice.
In deciding what to read, which version to read and how to tell the world we’re reading! And this has made my life both easy and messy. I sometimes cannot decide what to read first and which I should prioritise. Should I read a classic I have never read before or a new book I’ve seen in the bookshop every day I walk past it? Should I buy the book (will it be worth it) or get it from a library? The endless list of choices is complicated further by the realisation that I can never read them all.
You inevitably realise that you cannot read all the books you ever want to read because the list of what you want to read continually grows as you get older. And that is the point I’ve arrived at. I know I should pick and choose the books I really want to read and not just whimsically pick one up in a library because I feel like it. But then, how will I know I like a new author, a different style, if I don’t whimsically pick one up?
So here I am in the library, picking a random book because I like the blurb on the back and another one I’ve seen doing the rounds on BookTok. Then I walk into the bookshop to buy one that is a must-read on my long list. And I've arrived at the point where I have to choose which to read first. The newly bought one has been on my list for a very, very long time, and I’ve been looking forward to it. The library books have a deadline. The dilemma of too many choices strikes again. So, instead of choosing, I start all three. One stays on my bedside table, my night friend, while the other travels on the train with me, and the third is my lunchtime mate. A quarter of the way through all three books, I realised these three were too serious to be read alongside my PhD writing-up phase, so I picked a fourth book, an easy one, one about a bookshop and a simple life. Before I release it, the fourth book takes over. I keep it on my bedside table at night, carry it on trains, and read a chapter or two at lunch. Before I knew it, I'd finished my easy-to-read book and now have to return to my challenging books while I work on my PhD.
Presently, I am writing this article as I’m unable to decide what to read next or what I am in the mood for. Dystopian, utopian, mythical…
As Lemony Snicket once said,
“It is likely I will die next to a pile of things I was meaning to read.”
Follow my art journey on Instagram at blackink_phd
