Blind Date with a Book: what did I do to get my reading habit back?
It was an Amsterdam summer where the weather was warm enough to spend the weekends in the parks. One day, while I was sitting on a blanket in the Vondelpark, I realized that I was feeling a bit jealous of people around with their eyes glued to their books. I was hopeless about gaining my reading habit back.
The next day, I decided to search for the right book, find it, buy it, and start reading. I went to Kalverstraat where I could visit many bookstores and find an intriguing book that would keep me reading until the end. All day I looked around, all day! Somehow I couldn’t find a book that would fit, and decided to check the blind date section of the New English Bookstore.
There it was! It captured my attention with the bullet points on its package that doesn’t reveal the cover of the book:
- feminist horror
- nuclear family
- suburban living
- sterility
I didn’t even hesitate!
I left the bookstore with this mysterious book in my hand and bought a bouquet of daisies on my way to the metro. At home, I put my daisies in a vase, had my coffee, and opened the package with curiosity. The book was The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin!
I have never heard of this book, to be honest. I took a sip from my coffee and started to read. I could tell this was an intriguing satirical feminist horror dating back to 1972. I engaged with the book: I felt as surprised as Joanna, the main character, when she realized that the women in her new neighborhood, Stepford, are domestic in similar ways. They were perfect Hausfrauen! I felt as angry as her when she reacted to the beauty standards in this suburb: Women were to be fit and beautiful, prepare hot breakfasts, do housework, and stay at home. I was also as curious as Joanna as she was wondering whether the Men Association in the suburb was behind all these behaviors.
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I recommend this book to all who would enjoy reading a good feminist horror. You can also watch its movie after reading the book. I am also planning to watch it but hey, no promises here!
If you’d ask me about my reading habit — yes, I think I have it now, and this book helped with its topic! However, as you know, the perfect book is never enough; it is more about discipline! So, what I did was to set a reading goal of at least 10 minutes each day. I usually read longer than that but this goal is perfect for days with long working hours. Reading everyday, I didn’t lose track of what was happening in the book. In busy periods, you can easily skip reading for a week, and boom, you forget about the characters, the events, and the details. You can easily be confused, for example if it is a Marquez book. Think about 100 Years of Solitude! 🙂
Overall, choosing a book with an intriguing topic and tracking my reading every day worked for me to gain my habit back. If you do not have a book on your list that excites you, you can try blind dating. If you do not want to risk it, you can get recommendations from your friends with a similar taste of yours. To track your 10-minute reading habit, you can use mobile applications focusing on habit building (they send you notifications!), or you can set an alarm that reminds you of reading. Also you can just put it in your to-do list everyday and do it!
I hope it works for you, too!
