Three Book Passages That Stuck With Me From Last Year
"It was a good, warm feeling."
In any relationship, there are ebbs and flows. Be it romantic, platonic, or something as simple as following a soccer club, you know when the good times are rolling. Other times, however, you crave that much-needed spark.
Reading, for me, is one of the most tumultuous relationships I have in my life.
Growing up, it felt like my parents had struck a deal with my fourth-grade teacher. While the other kids in class began their age-appropriate chapter books, I was allowed to thumb through my favorite Calvin & Hobbes books from Bill Watterson. When I graduated from high school, I had completed one single book that was assigned to me: Of Mice and Men, the shortest book I could find.
Outside of school, however, I found myself reading more and more. My favorites in high school ranged from Miles: The Autobiography to Everything Is Illuminated, but I still didn’t consider myself to be much of a reader.
These days, I’ll go three months without reading a book and then finish something cover-to-cover on a flight.
None of it makes sense.
I’ve tried to relinquish my annoyances with my habits.
I’ve simply begun letting books come to me.
Last year, I read more than I had in the previous decade combined. With an aim of spending the dog days of Texas summer paging through books rather than scrolling my phone, I had finally found myself back in the swing of things.
Because I favor a physical book over a Kindle or iPad, the only good way for me to save passages that I enjoy is by taking photos of them. The other night while trying to find an old photo, I stumbled upon a few that gave me the “hit by a ton of bricks” feeling.
“Intermezzo” by Sally Rooney
Chapter 17, the entire beginning of the chapter.
