Read

This is a tribute post to my hobby, reading.

How much do I love reading?

Very.

Nothing brings me as much happiness as reading.

I don't really look at reading as an escapism. Based on the books that I've read, the worlds inside the books are terrible places one could escape to. But I love the language. And the way my favourite authors would put the words together into one beautiful page of a story. Like how Murakami would interestingly describe how his main guy cooked an omelet with onions and cheese whilst waiting for his wife to come home.

Now that my final year in law school is taking pretty much 25 hours out of my 24 hour day, I no longer possess the luxury to reach out for a novel and sit down and just read. I have to plan my reading time, carefully slipping it into my hectic schedule. Usually, I'd spend 4 hours during weekend at the coffeehouse, alone by myself without company, to read as I listen to the music of The Lumineers or Dido. I'd sit by myself, like a pure loner, with two or three novels stacked on my table, next to my fugly Starbucks tumbler. I would posit myself very comfortably and amidst the strong smell of coffee, I would venture into the beautiful and addictive world of my author's storytelling for the next four hours.

If I talk literature, I could talk about it for hours and hours. Not that I'm good in it, no. I'm pretty much a beginner who never had a basic in it. My only backup strength in terms of my literary intellect is wholly based on the books that I've read. Thus, I envy the language students, whom based on what I've read on Twitter and Facebook, have to do a lot of work regarding literature. The other day, my friend was busy doing her assignments, writing an essay on post-colonial literature. I gawked, telling her how I'd kill to have someone teach me literature. Nevertheless, I am aware that the more I try to reach for my desire, the further away it would distance itself from me.

I would finish my (hopefully) final semester in about three weeks. After that, exams. Then, I'll have a one month break during Ramadhan. What would I do with it? I would read. And read. And more reading.