Confessions of an Amateur Reader
I was visiting National Library quite frequently, but not necessarily means every day, only enough to realize if they added some new ‘accessories’ to their lobby (based on what celebrations we have in our country, Indonesia) or noticed something is supposed to change that has not been changed…yet. Like their elevator system for instance. God forbid you probably ended up climbing stairs to the 22nd floor.
Ok, I should remain myself this article is not review-based.
There’s this massive huge screen in the lobby that plays a list of politicians, talked about why you should read. They said it’s good for creating a sense of imagination, a window for the world, and hope for a brighter future. You know, a common sentence when someone told you to read a book…A.S.A.P.
I apologize for my satirical wording but as someone who just happened to read a book in my earliest twenties, your preaching doesn’t motivate people to read.
Because the problem we have is not that we don’t want to read, but how on earth every time we tried to read it always ended up like a napping section?
There was a moment when I got to blame my parents for not reading me a book as a baby or so-called the ‘Golden Age’ era. Gosh, I remember feeling so jealous seeing my friend in Junior High School burst into laughter while reading. She’s literally hooking up with the book. During that time, I tried to read by grabbing the thinnest book on the bookshelf, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events ‘The Bad Begining’. As I wrote this sentence, I was surprised at how the book title represents the whole reading experience.
Yes, I spent a full month between reading or thinking about throwing THE ongoing torture. Anyway, I finished the book with Leach as the main plot I could remember.
Oh, I also tried to read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, since I love the movie. But, they said Twilight is the kind of ‘stupid girl’ reading. Instead, They suggested I read Hunger Games.
Yeah. I don’t read a book after that. I tried and forced. But, how can I don’t get to enjoy reading a book if the general ambiance of reading is to build imagination?
The whole situation changed during college time. Huge appreciation to my lecturer who ‘finally’ give a solution to read. He was well aware of how boring books can be so he gave me the method to read. Nothing fancy, just writing down what every paragraph means. Later on, I found Pomodoro Technique to break the ‘napping section’ my brain has been taught about reading. Basically, Francesco Cirillo said 25 minutes of study (in this case reading) and 5 minutes of break. But, I changed the rule to 10 minutes repeatedly, collectively 1-hour reading plus 5 minutes break, because bloody hell, 25 minutes felt like forever! You know the moment when you yawn every minute and your eyes start to flood with tears?
Well, of course in the process I kept changing the rule, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, until I can read and time feels like immediately stop. From 200 pages fiction novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, and Dune…twice.
It's not just about how many pages of books I read. I used to care only about the plot, what is the book about, and what is the ending like. Soon, I began to enter the world of significance. When reading becomes a sanctuary to reflect on what and who I am. The most sacred thing was that I got to learn more about ‘how to learn’.
I only wish, firstly, they told me How to Read a book rather than keep constantly feeding me the gospel of why I should read and what book I should read before I die. If you never find the beauty of reading before (like me), it’s hard to feel the excitement of reading a book.
Still in the same period of my college time, after I’m able to ‘read’ a book I want my little brother (he was 9 years old) not to carry the same mistake as I did. So, I took him to the nearest public library and was feeding him on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone book. I will watch him while he reads. Literally cannot take a look away from him because I wish I could see him burst into laughter or a bit of excitement. But, later on after so not 2 pages, he started to YAWN and he gave that look that stated ‘shit, this is boring’.
I only gave up after realizing that I am ‘the oppressed who become the oppressor’. You know.
A book is a piece of creative thinking, an art, and it is such a subjective room. Even if there’s a million-rating book on Goodreads, there is always room for other subjective individuals to say the book has made them yawn. That’s the reason that these endless lists of books…just don’t work for some people.
Maybe, a book that encourages you to read is like finding a best friend, a lover, a partner, or a soulmate. I don’t cristal clearly know. But, some of the encounters are in their youth, mid 20’s, 30's…so on. And some of them not starting their reading with The Master and Margarita. Reading is a skill, not inherent sub-natural talent (that I used to think). Frankly, I still even struggling to read more books, especially when the internet with its algorithm tries to convince me of so-called “book recommendations”…I just couldn’t.
I like to read the next book from a book that I had read. It’s like connecting the dots as if one book has its own language to guide me…to find me. For example, I had an amazing month by reading Dune for a second time while I was sick. After I finished the book, I just really want to continue reading Dune Messiah so the intense nuance is still there, you know. But, my ‘ownself’ literally rejected the Idea. So I move on and looking another crunchy paper to get eaten by “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”. There’s something quite witty in HP 6 book, I have no idea why.
So, if someone comes up and asks you I don’t like reading because…, reading just makes me even more sleepy, are you still reading a book? HAH…etc while you reading a book...just say that the story is reminding you about the insufferable suffering of life you had and death.
Hehe joking.
Ask them about their experience of reading, not about the book. And I guess Wattpad, AU, Fan Fiction, count, yeah? And please stop saying Twilight is a stupid girl-reading.
