My Journey as a Reader Continues

I decided to stop saying “hello, everyone,” as I understand absolutely no one reads this blog. Still, the narrator must introduce his voice in a text, so hello, and welcome to my blog.

August was the first month where I did not make any updates to this blog since I created it. September was just about to become the second month, but I decided to step forward.

My mom left Canada to continue her travels in Portugal at the end of September. Work has gone berserk over the past month, but I still was able to read a lot, even more, when I could finally step out for two weeks of vacation after 3+ years of constant work.

Now, with all these readings that I have made, there’s just so much to talk about.

I am at the prime of my experience as a reader so far in this lifetime.

Above all, one thing that has been making a huge difference for me is getting soundtracks to match what I am reading.

Since I started this journey of reading more and more, I have begun selecting ambiance tracks on youtube that will match the mood of my book, so if I am reading a fantasy book, we’ll have a fantasy-based background for a book in the forest, forest sounds, etc.

Or, in general, I just turn on rain sounds, which I am addicted to both for sleeping and reading.

Also, I am happy to tell you that I purchased a Kindle Oasis in mid-August.

I have craved a Kindle for a long time, but I am always the guy who refrains from thinking that I would have to invest money in it, which could be wasted.

It was not.

I have never read as much in my life as I have been reading since I bought this kindle. The easy access to all types of books makes it worth the investment. I have finished reading some books, but my biggest addiction now is reading manga, which I have been doing avidly since the kindle arrived.

I have ended up not only meeting my reading goals on Goodreads but actually going above and beyond. It’s worth mentioning that I set the goal super low. Still, as we have been discussing since the inception of this blog, I was on a reading slump for two years after achieving a degree in Literature, so I was not expecting much when I started the journey and wanted to set a realistically achievable goal.

Next year I may try to go a little higher on the yearly goal.

Goodreads has been my biggest reading ally. I have also reviewed many of the books I read since I started this blog on Goodreads. It has been an incredible way to track my readings and make me feel closer to the content I am reading in a way. I love the combination of all the factors that have greatly enhanced my reading experience.

Let’s talk a bit about the latest readings I made in the past couple of months, focusing more on offering a general idea of my latest readings. However, you will notice that I have focused a lot on a specific manga series, Hunter x Hunter. I will return soon with a more in-depth post about reading Manga and Hunter x Hunter.

Reading updates

 

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890)

This book has been around me for years now. It is the favorite book from one of my favorite writers, Santiago Nazarian.

I decided to read it back in 2009. I bought a physical copy when I lived in Canada for the first time back in 2010. I never read it. 

As you know from the post My Journey as a Reader, I sold all my books before the second time I moved to Canada back in 2019.

This year, 2022, I finally focused on recovering my lost passion for reading, and one of the first books I thought of was The Picture of Dorian Grey.

I purchased a copy of it at Reads Books & Coffee. It is a fantastic second-hand bookstore and technically one of the only bookstores in Moncton since the city has no more than 2 or 3 of those. All the major ones are located in Dieppe, a city besides Moncton. It is all almost the same thing, but it is still shocking.

I finally read it, and to be honest with you, I did not like it.

The story seemed to drag on way too long, with no apparent plot development. I felt like many people promised a huge plot twist in this book, and I did not feel the plot twisted so much.

I was overall disappointed but happy that I finally got to check that classic for myself.

I gave it three stars on Goodreads.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (2016)

I have been looking to get started with Audiobooks for a long time. I never managed to get comfortable around it, and I had tried quite a few books on the format besides this one.

The book was recommended to me by a work colleague who is a great reader, as you can see on her Goodreads. Cheers to you Kelly.

The book focuses on the story of a school for kids who got lost and experienced other worlds. The main character Nancy was my favorite. She has been to the Halls of the Dead and danced with the Lord of the Dead. 

Once Nancy arrives at the school, terrible things happen, and the kids have to get together to solve the mystery.

I actually liked it, and it was short but very creative. I could not keep 100% of focus as listening to it, but I got a lot from the narrator reading and covered any blind spots by studying the book's story on their Famdom Wiki page.

The best part was that I listened to it as I walked through the city during the afternoons on my vacation days, which made me realize that Audiobooks can be quite an amazing experience to combine with outdoor exercise. It made me enjoy the experience and want to repeat it.

I gave the book 4 deserved stars on Goodreads, and I intend to keep reading the books in this series in the future. The author has published 7 books in this series called The Wayward Children, which started with Every Heart a Doorway.

A little bit about reading Manga

As I mentioned, I finally purchased a Kindle, as I had wished for so long. The main thing for me was that it was a way to download Manga and have a comfortable way to read it.

A lot of people read manga on their phones; I was never very comfortable with that. I have never been comfortable reading on notebooks and computers as well.

In the past, I had a tablet that I enjoyed reading, but my boyfriend broke it not long after I had it, and I just never had the opportunity to have another one so far.

The kindle was a total game changer, I am not even that into reading fiction books on it, but Manga is incredible.

And that’s how I got trapped into this Manga void because it has been a lifetime of being an Anime fan but not having a comfortable way to read Manga.

I remember as a kid, some of the best moments I had were watching animes such as Dragonquest and Dragon Ball. 

I will tell more about my story with manga in my next post, but I will just quickly talk about the ones I have started to read so far.

Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi (1998-present)

Yoshihiro Togashi is the author of Yu-Yu Hakusho, which may be my favorite anime of all time. Also, I had watched parts of the Hunter x Hunter anime in the past, and I wanted to start the 2011 anime remake.

So I occasionally read two volumes on my cellphone, despite my discomfort, and got so hooked that it was what made me realize I needed the kindle.

Hunter x Hunter has the main character Gon who wants to become a Hunter. Hunters are an elite of talented people who can use their hunting licenses to pursue their passions, having easier access to a whole amount of information that may not be available to all the others.

Gon is searching for his father, Ging, who he barely remembers.

To be honest, I have already read over 30 volumes of Hunter x Hunter in little more than a month. I am very hooked on this one, so I will talk more about it soon.

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (1997-present)

One Piece is a huge classic when it comes to Manga. It has over 100 volumes out there, it’s been on the market for over twenty years, and fans consider the arc, which is currently being published, to be the best so far.

One Piece may be the holy bible of manga or very close to it.

Many people may say it’s not worth it because of the amount of time dedicated to One Piece. You could finish a whole bunch of manga series. But why read a bunch of Manga instead of savoring this Masterpiece?

The quality on One Piece is screaming. Even though I am absolutely in love with Hunter x Hunter, drawing-wise, Hunter x Hunter looks super lazy compared to One Piece. The art in One Piece is a pleasure to the eye. The story is absolutely creative, and the comic traces make it a way lighter and funnier manga to read.

I have only reached volume 7 so far, however, I love it, and this journey will still go very far. I don’t think I will stop reading One Piece any time soon. Maybe I will get to make a fully dedicated post to it in the future.

Berserk by Kentaro Miura (1989-present)

While One Piece is a Shonen (Manga style intended to have younger boys as their target public), Berserk is a Seinen (Manga style designed to have adult men as their target public). Hunter x Hunter, for example, is a mid-ground between Shonen and Seinen, having aspects of both, but falling more to the Seinen side, in my opinion.

Berserk is a complete Seinen with a dark story and a lot of violence. My long-time friend Mateus Fuhr has extensively recommended this manga, and I have had it on my TBR list for years.

I was only able to read one volume so far. I did not like it that much. It has a horrible introduction to the story, however, I know from trusted sources that the Manga starts badly and develops significantly. I will return to this volume soon and proceed to the next ones.

This one also may get its dedicated post in the future.

To finish, let's talk about not finishing books (DNFs - Did Not Finish)

Since I had started my journey as a Reader, I was going through all the books I could find and forcing myself to finish them even when I did not enjoy them as much.

Even though It did bring a great sense of accomplishment, I got to a point where I wanted to have fun. 

 

Especially after achieving a degree in literature, where so much of the reading I had to do was mandatory, I did not want to feel any obligation toward what I was reading. 

That’s how I just gave up any books that were not resonating with my moment and feeling like a drag to get through.

Immortality by Milan Kundera (1990)

Milan Kundera is one of my favorite authors. I had repeated that sentence constantly since I read some of his great books at the university. 

 

To be honest, reading it now was not as good. I don’t know if the book I got did not please me as much, but Immortality was a drag for me.

Overly European, overly philosophical, excessively academic. 

Maybe Milan Kundera is no longer my favorite author. Times have changed.

I hope that in the future, I get to read some of his other books or even re-read this one in a new light. But for now, it was a pass.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk (2014)

I started to read this book because I saw booktuber Emma reading it and talking good things about it. I was interested in starting a non-fiction book and all.

However, I ended up not enjoying the tone or the topics. I am interested in trauma, but not that much in war veterans and such. (sorry, war veterans).

Also, reading a non-fiction book ended up feeling like a task and not something I was managing to find the time to sit and do.

It is a DNF. Not sure I will ever return to it.

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King (1975)

Let’s call this one the death of the reading all the books by Stephen King project. I read Carrie and liked it. I started this one as the second one in release order; however, it felt like a drag. 

Not because of anything Stephen King did. His writing style is terrific. It sounded like someone telling a story, but it just felt a bit outdated, and this book from the 70s was not matching up to my interests at the moment.

I may pick this up in the future or not. 

Looking at it now, I feel way more interested in fantasy books at the moment so that I may step into other books of his that are more focused on that, but I am exploring other stuff for now, and I am not sure if this project will ever be back. It was fun while it lasted. We took one out of a billion steps and then got bored. Cheers.

Wrap-Up

That is actually all. Like, I literally managed to talk about everything I did relate to reading since I last posted here.

Even though not with a lot of detail, this is definitely a precise outline.

I hope to return soon with a post dedicated to Hunter x Hunter.

I read over 30 volumes, as I mentioned. A manga volume is about 200 pages, so that means I do have over 6000 pages of manga read in the past month to process and comment on a bit.

I will see you, imaginary folks, soon.

Goodbye, and let’s read.