I have been trapped into a new book series and I have never read so much in years. My favorite genre and some related thoughts
It has been a very long time since I have properly read a book. I have always been an avid fan of reading as a hobby and as a good habit thatās worth practicing, itās even on my about page listened among the hobbies I have.
Nevertheless, it had been a while since Iāve been so invested reading a new story. Donāt get me wrong, I still reread some pages of old favorites. But in all honesty, I just felt like I did not have the time to read something from start to finish.
However, the Easter vacation period started, and we traveled to visit some family. Obviously, due to COVID, we would not be able to go out anywhere, and most of the time was spent watching movies or YouTube videos with my cousin.
š Discovering a new Universe
Because of this new free time, I decided to read something, I am not sure why, but I remembered a series recommended to me by a friend: Bobiverse.
So I decided to give it a try. I had not read anything about it, I did not look for any reviews, all I knew was that my friendās nickname was Bobiverse too, so he had to like it quite a lot (Just like how I love Chrono Trigger, best SNES game indeed, @ me I donāt care).
The series is about a nerdy developer who gets his head frozen and turned into an AI 100+ years into the future. It feels quite grounded in reality and I really recommend it a lot. However, this is not a review, I might do one in the future, once I read the whole thing and let it process and bit more.
According to my Screen Time, during my first week of vacation, I spent 30+ hours reading, completing 3 of the 4 books of the Bobiverse series, totaling around 700 pages. And this week I will keep reading the 4th book, which has around 400 pages.
I am not saying all of this to brag or anything, I know people who read more as well as people who donāt care. The point is, I had never read so much in such a short amount of time.
šļø My favorite genre
I already knew what was my favorite genre, but I really never stopped to contemplate about how the huge ratio between it and the rest of the bunch. Is it Fantasy?, bibliographies?, essays? Self-help?, Wrong!, the answer isā¦
Science Fiction
What a surprise huh? Bobiverse is sci-fi, but I had never realized, that basically everything else Iāve read is, too. I used to think āI like sci-fi, but I have read a lot of other genres and kinds of books!ā. But while trying to remember all those āotherā books, I ended up with The Mangy Parrot, The Pilgrimās Progress and Narnia.
Of course, I have read a few pages of books from school, biographies and such, but I canāt really name any right now. Yet I still remember Star Wars books, Halo books, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Ready Player One, The Time Machineā¦ you know the drill.
There is something about sci-fi, reading and imagining things that could become true, realizing some of them became true. Admiring the descriptions of imaginary concepts and locations, and loosely used scientific terms, from the center of the Earth, to Virtual reality worlds. From submarines and telegraphs to Slip-Space traveling and Von Neumann probes. Infinite places, infinite concepts, infinite possibilities.
Some, if not all of them usually have characters that I really like and that I can relate to, or understand. Be it the nerdy programmer Robert Johansson, the epic engineer Cyrus Smith, or the complex and intriguing Captain Nemo.
The genre also allows the expansion of existing universes of movies and video games. Reading the origins of the first contact between Humanity and The Covenant, or the (sadly non-canon) secret Apprentice of Darth Vader. You learn lore and stories at a level that no other medium is able to convey.
Itās so much fun.
The best thing for me, is that it looks like I havenāt even started. If I look for lists of āThe Best Sci-Fi Booksā, Only some of the ones I have mentioned show up. I guess my taste is more āclassicā, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells are only a small fraction of the genre. I still havenāt touched Dune, or anything done by Asimov or Huxley. So I still have a lot of material to read, I just hope that my previous experiences donāt ruin the new ones to come.
ā Finding time for Reading
Regardless of the genre, I think that reading is something that can be enjoyed by everyone. Some people say that they donāt like it, some say they canāt fit it into their agendas, just excuses.
I have talked about how great audiobooks and especially podcasts can be before, since they allow you to do other things while still enjoying a good talk or story.
Nonetheless, there is something about being able to focus on written, simple text, give your own voices to different characters, building whole worlds (and universes) in your mind and just let the time fly by.
Admit it, if you are reading this blog, you have time. Get an agenda, wake up early, stop being lazy!. I am writing this to myself but you probably relate to this too.
If you donāt know how to start, any of the mentioned books here are good choices, you can always search how many pages or words a book has, but recently Iāve realized that the important thing is not the length, but the enjoyment you get out of it. I havenāt really read anything longer than 500 pages or so. But if I the amount of time I spent reading 3 books in a week tells me something, is that as long and you get invested in the story, the number of pages doesnāt matter.
š Wrapping up
I think this is the first blog I have done where I spent more than a day writing. Expressing my thoughts on this subject was quite challenging but also very fun. I found myself very surprised at the amount of reading I did, and I was so compelled by the accomplishment that I decided to write all of this.
I hope you try and find some time to read something soon too, and if you still think you donāt have it, at least exercise your mind in other ways.
This has been day 29 of #100DaystoOffload. I hope you enjoyed the blog, have a nice day.
Drink a lot of water, stay safe out there, read.
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