I have always been an avid reader ever since the age of 12 when I was first introduced to my school library. Before that, I never knew the concept of borrowing books so I tried to finish 2-3 storybooks during my library period in hopes of finishing all the books in the library by the time I graduate (YES I was ambitious)!
I was and still am so fascinated with books; the plethora of knowledge that it has within its pages. My teenage years were surrounded by Marykate and Ashley and Nancy Drew. Soon I dived into non-fiction which completely changed my life. Then I knew that books weren't just for fun and entertainment, you could learn so much more than just solving crimes and flirting with high school boys.
Just as I have been a bookworm, I have and will always encourage people to pick up at least one book a month. So, my friends, if you are willing to begin your journey here are some tools that will help you start:
* Blinkist: This is for my nonfiction readers who would love to dive into finance, mindfulness, philosophy, leadership and much more. They offer 15-minute summaries of nonfiction books in both audio and notes format. Their library has most of the popular nonfiction books out there. If you feel lazy to read the whole book then this will get you in the reading habit. It has a free trial so give that a go before you fully commit to the subscription.
Also, side note: they offer one free book every day which they pick at random which covers multiple different topics, so if you are a freebie like me, that is another option!
* Notion: This is a note-taking app/site that you could use to keep track of the books you read and the takeaways from them. There are heaps of free templates out there for you to choose from, just pick one that suits you. It can be as simple as tracking the date of when you started to finished. Or, you can dive deeper by adding summaries, key takeaways and quotes from the book. Get creative with it!
* Goodnotes: This is an app that allows you to keep track of books you want to read, currently reading and finished. It shows you how many books you completed this year, which was the longest book you read, which book you rated the highest and the overall shebang! You can also add friends and see their reading progress; overall a good community of people with similar interest in reading.
* Wattpad: With millions of fictional stories in a variety of genres, you will definitely get hooked to some of the stories found here. This was another tool that helped me get hooked on reading books. Fanfiction is a dark side to this app even though I was hooked to some FF's when I was young. This is a grey zone as choose your pick carefully; some books with young writers have heaps of grammatical errors and typos which make the reading process frustrating. However, if you can look past that you might find some gems here as well!
🤍 Week's Snapshot 🤍
Book: I would like to recommend The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller. I got into YA fantasy novels and they have been quite hit or miss, but I loved this!
You can read the review I left for it here!
Movie: The Shawshank Redemption
To be honest, no reviews are needed for this one. It is one of the top movies of all time and like just go watch it. This movie centers around a banker, Andy who is sent to the Shawshank prison for the murder of his wife and her lover. There befriends a group of inmates and gets himself into a tight spot with the warden.
I will forever treasure Brooks no matter what, such a wise soul. If you know, you know 💜
Shows: Squid Game (k-drama) released last week, is the thriller you need in your life. The storytelling is amazing, though, the final episode was quite iffy in some parts. Within 9 episodes, it shows you the side of the rich and poor. The rich bet on the life of the poor who literally fight for their lives to get out of their debt and get instantly wealthy by competing with others in a series of children's games.
Quote: "If you are not where you want to be in life, consistent effort compounds over time. So if you take small steps towards your goals every day; eventually, it will take you exactly where you want to be in life."