Books: 10 years of Book-Consumption Challenge

First of all, I don't want to explain my obsession towards written words, second, I want to embrace my nerdiness and accept that I am 'that' kind of book nerd: that talks about books and writers, that watches Booktube and follow booktubers, that buys books on top of more unread books, that always has a plan B secret books on every single device that I own, that loves to walk in bookstores and library, that always, always stop at people's bookshelves and interested in what others are reading.  

Some people are obsessed with money, some people are obsessed with K-drama, or maybe food, or movie, or cars, or any material things on planet Earth (or maybe even outer space if you want) - everyone is some kind of a nerd in their own way. I'm a book nerd, through and through. 

Every year, I challenge myself to read based on my age, I was 26 in 2013, so I challenged myself to read 26 books, and the number grows according to my age. In the first half of the 10 years journey, it was hard to reach the goal because "books are expensive and reading time is limited" (this will always in the present tense). But since 2018, I was introduced to Scribd and audiobooks, my book consumption changed since then. In that year alone I manage to consume more than 100 books, the next year in 2019 I had Sofi so I didn't read that much, but years afterward I kept on going strong lah (at least 50 books per year).

Books are still very expensive, and time is forever limited. 

But I always find time to read or listen to books.

I hardly buy new books since 2016, but I mostly buy preloved books, do book exchange, borrow and rent books, listen to audiobooks, try a trial week on multiple book apps, subscribe to book apps, and so on. So the books in my keeping did not grow that much (but still byk lah, kalau nk pindah, pening). 

Yea, 50 books a year is not that much if compared to other readers, but among non-readers, 50 books is quite a lot. I think if I combine the number of books everyone in my family reads, it won't even reach 10 books (not even in the last 5 years combined). Imagine that..... or maybe my family doesn't read that much. 

 

I consumed 562 books in the past 12 years, and I'm hoping to reach 1000 books (but what if I reread some of the books, is it considered 1 book or multiple experiences - because I love to reread some of the books). But that's just a number, I don't really care actually. Bila kita truly suka sesuatu, kita buat sbb kita nak buat, tak perlu push pun jadi :F tu namanya 'passion'. 

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I also want to break the stereotype of thinking people who read are smart. Nope, we aren't that smart, or at least I don't feel any smarter than everyone else. I feel like I'm just as average as all the average people in the world. Yes, it seems like I'm adding more knowledge points inside my brain by reading, but it depends on the type of reading that I do and the kind of books as well. For example, I don't understand a lot of things when I read philosophical books written by philosophers so I had to read the dumb version to just take the first layer to understand things, or maybe I want to read classics, but classics are sometimes too hard, too flowery, berpeluh ketiak nak paham. It's always a struggle.

I don't know so many things, and I feel dumber just by reading more. Gitu. 

But, but, but, if I have a choice to pick one thing to do all throughout my life, I would choose reading. I would want to read books, good books, great books, I would. It's the window to other people's imagination, the content of their souls, the secrets that are waiting to be discovered, the hidden messages, the obsessive thoughts, the unspoken ideas, that lay inside the writer. I can read them silently, and it's a lovely way to discover humans.