You know me, I am all about my hobbies and interests. Call it whatever you want – passion to be cultured.. Devotion to a specific art medium… ADHD mixed with vigorously with OCD. Seriously, sometimes my brain is so shaken up it’s as if James Bond ordered a martini with it. Point is, it doesn’t matter how you slice it. When I’m into something, I’m INTO it. Full throttle, pedal to the metal, the only time I pump the brakes is weeks/months down the line. And it’s usually due to either not having anymore money to fund it, or my wife telling me I need to get myself under control because she doesn’t know how much more she could handle. I know I’m in over my head when it’s the latter bringing the former to my attention.
ANYWAY. Books are great, aren’t they?!
Look, it’s weird if you’re not into it, I understand. Yeah, everyone reads. But at the same time, no one reads. I get it. We met up with some friends before the holidays and I was asked what I’ve been into lately. There was a pause. Not dramatic or awkward or anything, but just long enough for me to have a little back and forth with myself. You know that back and forth. I’m sure you’ve been there. Debating that on one hand, knowing the answer would be weird and would require further explanation. But on the other hand, also knowing full well my infatuations with my current hobby of choice is justified and to many is not weird or looked down upon. So it would be totally ok for me to go with it because hell yeah, it’s awesome! I’m not here sneaking pictures of women’s feet for my personal use or anything (if that offends you, I’m sorry. Your business is your business, I’m not judging! Just don’t be a creeper, ok?).
“So what have you been into lately?”
“Books!”
Nope. Felt just as weird as I thought it would’ve came across.
I don’t know, I guess I just feel self-conscious about it. I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m not reading smut or anything. Ok, wait, back that up… I’m not only reading smut (again, if that offends you, I’m sorry. I’m not judging! Also, send me recs for my wife 😉). I’ve read some spicy things here and there, but that’s besides the point. What I’m saying is that as a man, it feels weird to come out saying I’ve been into reading and collecting pretty books. Maybe that’s just a personal hang up? I don’t know. My reasoning behind this is that there aren’t a lot of dudes in this scene. There’s a few! But 98% of my interactions and observations are women. Nothing wrong with it! I’m completely comfortable with that. But at times, I do feel as if everything is marketed and geared towards women, while I’m there feeling ashamed to say how freaking awesome some of these books are.
Ok ok ok, I got a little ahead of myself there. Let me be more clear with what I mean by books. I forget, just because you’re reading this doesn’t mean you follow me in what I’ve been up to.
2023 was a good year in hobbies for me. Well, hobby. It was one of the first few days of the new year when I told myself that I wanted to read more. I was about 2 months deep into discovering monthly book subscription boxes (woooo boy, what a mistake! That’s going to be another post), and remember how much I absolutely loved to buy and collected books, I realized I hadn’t really read anything in a long time. By that point, I had a few books under my belt. Already jumping the gun on wanting to fix my lack of reading. Then I got the Goodreads Yearly summary and that really cemented it for me.
Every. Single. Year. I make myself a goal for reading on Goodreads. And consistently, year after year, I ignored the ever loving hell out of that goal LOL. It was embarrassing! I never even tried to be honest. I just never made time to sit and read anything. I wanted to change that and really push myself to commit to 2023’s goal though. And to help me was a few things.
One, was being tired of gaming. At that point, for years it seems, I was just a collector of games rather than an actual gamer. I never took the time to play anything I bought. I was excited for stuff and always kept up and wanted to play – hence always buying things! But push came to shove, I never sat there to play anything longer than a few matches of Fortnite. I knew I needed something else. I knew I wanted to focus on something else entirely to freshen up my excitement and restart my dopamine drip.
Two, I also wanted to have something my kids can look at one day and be intrigued by. I have always been a gamer all my life. But thanks to the digital age, the only thing I really have to show for it now are my consoles and my weird obsession with buying Limited Edition controllers and accessories. 95% of my gaming collection is digital, aside from the physical Switch games that I try to purchase. But I wanted something else. Something that could inspire them and give them something to be amazed by once they matured enough to appreciate things. Having numerous bookshelves full of all sorts of books felt like a good way to do that. Correct, at the age they’re at now, they could not care less. But when they do care… Oh, the worlds and universes and characters they will have at their fingertips. I always had a book in my bag when I was growing up. I’m hoping the appreciation falls down the line.
The last thing to help propel me into this year of reading was my wife. She and I always agree that we love to read and we prefer the feel of a book in our hands over something on the tablet. She said she wanted to read more as well and I knew this was a hobby we could enjoy together. Knowing she preferred to have a book in her hands, I knew there was a better chance of her actually sitting there and enjoying something if she had more options at her disposal.
So I started a journey! Could I have found a cheaper way to go about it? ABSOLUTELY. Would it have been as eye catching or nearly as addicting? Probably not! But there I was. A whole year that I knew I wanted to dedicate to reading and books, and two awesome special edition book subscriptions to take advantage of. And OMG did I ever.
This has gotten longer than anticipated so I’ll cut it off here. Know, that I’m not done with this subject though! I’m going to come back with my top reads, and my book of the year! Maybe I’ll even dedicate a post to these monthly subscription boxes that I’m talking about and why they’re such a big deal. But..
Until then!
