My scrolling addiction has made reading for pleasure like getting a puppy to sit still for a photo. I’ve been calling it a scrolling addiction now, because even if I have tools to lock myself out of Instagram or YouTube now I still mesmerize myself doing the mindless scroll in discussion boards (no, not Reddit) and search results (desperate times). But I can’t buy a new fiction book if I don’t finish at least five of what I have on my TBR. (Act like a child, be treated like one.)

I have this accent chair that I’ve secretly assigned as my reading chair, but I somehow never use it because the vibe never seems quite right. This week, I took two days off just to read and write and I fixed my reading nook to be exactly what I need it to be. I don’t even know why it works, but writing it now I realize it could be because this was exactly how I read books when I was very young.

Our rattan shelf that had all the books handed down to us was in the hallway of our house, where the phone was, so there was also a lamp in the area for when the big light was too much. So I was used to a reading space that was cramped, had a singular source of light that I had to struggle to chase, and had all my other reading options on display.

That’s how I my reading nook is set up currently. The accent chair is facing the library (so now when I’m on the couch it feels like somebody doesn’t want to talk to me), and my gooseneck lamp is positioned just so it’s on my shoulder. The light is bright and the focus is perfect, and when night time comes it becomes even more conducive to reading when it’s the sole source of light.

Sometimes you just have to give up fighting what feels right to you. I thought being in a floating space was all I needed to get into reading. Turns out I need to be in a box/cocoon-type situation, well-lighted, and minimally (not not) distracted.

Proof of it working is that last week I finished Psalm for the Wild-built, which was pretty short, granted, but this week, I blazed through the last two-thirds of The Three-Body Problem (started early this year) and finished it today!

It wasn’t even a great day physically speaking. We were supposed to go on a hike to Ticknock but since Friday it’s been raining here and there and I’ve been feeling endometriosis pain and cramping and today I woke up with a migraine with some vomiting sensation mixed in. We could have gone to the city but my body wasn’t having it. I had plans to write but I just couldn’t, so I ordered in, boiled hot water for my heating pad, did the minimal amount of laundry, and READ ALL DAY.

I could not tell you how joyful it was for me to get so wrapped up in a book for an entire day. I even took a nap in the same chair and went right back to reading. [SPOILERS] I was right there with the characters while they were discovering the horror of having gotten a reply from outer space, right there when the ship got sliced, right there when the fucking protons got folded into the fourth fucking dimension (or whatever the hell was happening over at Trisolaris). [SPOILER END]

It was definitely not an easy book to read! It was dry and academic-sounding but the way the concepts were laid out was as much of a thriller for me as…well, actual thriller.

Da Shi is the man, and I’m going to miss Wang Miao in the next book. Also I learned the Chinese version was worth a watch (I’ve already tried reading the Three-Body Problem in Kindle around the time it was first published in English but don’t remember much), and that the Netflix version converted Wang Miao into five different people haha.

I’m no longer kidding that much when I say this is all I want to be doing for the rest of my life. If I’m not writing, I better be reading my books. Or helping people, sure. But mostly reading my books.