Origin Story: How this Blog Came to Be
Recently my cousin Gabby started a fashion blog because fashion is one of her passions in life. When she told me about it I said, "You know what I would blog about?" and she immediately answered, "Books." Then my sister Chrissy, who has a motivational blog, chimed in saying I should totally write one.
And I thought why not? It is not as though the thought had never crossed my mind. I had contemplated writing a book blog for a long time. So what was holding me back? Fear, a reoccurring theme in my life. When I was growing up my friends never liked books like I liked books. And I had been taught at a very young age the mentality that to be different is to be alone.
I started to love reading when I was eight years old. I was in the second grade. This was when I really started reading on my own and picking out my own books. It all started with Harry Potter. I ripped through the first four books and wanted more. I started to read all the time. I read whatever I could find.
This continued on as I was in elementary school. I was always excited when we had to read books for class and got an insane amount of accelerated reader points. I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was in the fourth grade. I got bored with the books at the elementary school library and started taking them from my sister. I still had not realized that this was not the norm.
Then I entered junior high. I like to refer to this period of my life as The Dark Period. There was a lot of drama, self-hatred, and pretending. It was then that I noticed that not only did people not like books, but they thought people who read books were lame. I did not want to be lame. I wanted to be cool. I know that makes my life sound like a cheesy teen movie, but that's just how it was.
So I stopped reading and traded in my books for liquid eyeliner and skinny jeans (which was NOT a good look on me). I started to think of myself as part of a group rather than an individual. Through events that have nothing to do with this story I started speaking a lot less out of fear that people would make fun of me.
I was your stereotypical, unoriginal sellout for a while. My plan to be cool did not involve a lot of time for reading. I still read to get enough points for school and got away with reading "acceptable" books like Twilight.
When I hit high school I ditched the heavy eyeliner and most of the self-hatred. I still read from time to time, but not as much as I used to. I never really talked about books or reading either.
Then when I was in tenth grade I impulsively downloaded The Hunger Games on my Nook. And I finished it in two days. And I was like:
And I read the next one just as fast. I stayed up until four in the morning to finish the last one (I remember because the science MCAs were the next day and I thought sorry Ms. Brown, but I need to know how Mockingjay ends). And I wanted to keep reading. (Yeah, I read THG before it was super big. I'm such a reading hipster.)
Next it was the Divergent series (which the movie just came out!). Then it was Percy Jackson and the Olympians. And the Delirium series. And I started telling my sister to read these books. And she told her friends to read them. They started giving me recommendations too. I started reading like I was eight years old again and couldn't get enough. I made a Goodreads account and stopped being ashamed of loving books.
Then during my senior year I read City of Bones and I was obsessed. I saw that they were making a movie for it and I was ecstatic. I was looking at movie stuff online when I stumbled upon a trailer talk video. This is when I discovered BookTube. There were thousands of videos of reviews and recommendations. I started watching them for hours and made lists of books to read.
I started to tweet about books and started following book accounts. They started following me back. I no longer tried to hide that fact that I read. I discovered that some of my friends did like to read and I would lend then books and we would discuss.
I realized I was wrong when I thought that people thought reading books was lame. I was just looking at the wrong people. For we all have our passions in life, and just because the people around you don't share them doesn't mean that nobody does.
Now I'm nineteen years old and still read all the time. Books are still number one on my list of favorite things. So I'm excited to write this blog. Things you can expect from me include: reviews, recommendations, book-to-movie adaptation discussions, quotes, and some random book fun! Also some TV, not book movies, music, and real life stuff from time to time. I do other stuff besides read...occasionally.
Love,
Michelle
"One must always be careful of books," said Tessa," and what is inside them, for words have to power to change us." -Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel
