As a young kid, I picked up a natural love of reading, as I let my imagination run wild with each page turn. I loved to spend extra time in the library picking up new books, and that love stayed with me through middle and high school. By then, I found myself spending less and less time reading and more time taking notes for various classes.
I was unhappy that I couldn’t get away from homework, but I wanted to find a way to squeeze in some time to read. Thankfully in my senior year, one of my close friends proposed that we should create a book review account. I had read some classics for my AP Literature class, so I accepted her proposal, and we created our account.
Reviewing books helped me meet other bookworms who did reviews and we would chat about books we’ve read. In one case, I read a book because I knew the author, and I got to talk to her while I was reading her book, which was a new and exciting experience. One of my favorite books series I’ve reviewed was the Legend Series by Marie Lu, and I remember binge reading the last two books in two days. In my review for the last book, I remember referring to it as ‘cinematic’, and my love for reading has really picked up during quarantine.
In doing book reviews, I also picked up a few skills on photography for my posts and seeing my progress has been really cool. This year, I even did my own “Book Oscars” post, and although it took a while to set up, I was super proud of how it turned out. I designed it so I had presenter cards with categories that mimic the real Oscars, such as “Best Read,” “Slowest Read,” and even “Comedic Relief,” and I set up my own stage to take pictures of each category. The whole process took almost 2 hours, but I loved the outcome, and I can’t wait to do it again next year.
It’s been a little over two years since my friend and I started our book review account, and it has been such a blast keeping a digital record of my reading journey. I would say that starting a book review account helped me get more involved in the bookworm community, but there are other ways you too could start a reading hobby, such as joining a book club in your community.