hello.
i really should read more.
and i want to ask why. is it because you actually miss it, or because you’ve convinced yourself you’re falling short of some literary quota?
this is the problem with how most of us were taught to read. reading was rarely about pleasure or curiosity, it was a skill to prove, a performance to be graded. you read to pass a test to extract the main points and highlight the sentences the teacher might put on the exam. we learned to finish books, not to live inside them.
and once you’ve learned to read like that, it’s hard to unlearn and it’s hard to give yourself permission to linger in the middle of a book without hurrying toward the end or reread a paragraph because it made you feel something rather than because you didn’t get it. it’s hard to remember that a book can be a place you live, not just an item you complete.
the truth is, no one really teaches you how to read in the way that matters. not in school, not in most homes, not in the whirlwind of productivity culture where even our leisure becomes something to optimize. reading in the way that matters isn’t about speed or volume. it’s about intimacy with the author, the page, and the person you are when you’re inside that world.
the rest of this piece is for paid subscribers. inside, i’m sharing a complete reading map: the specific philosophy, classics, and poetry books that will meet you where you are, pull you in, and carry you further. a guided path for building a deeper, more sustaining reading life, one that you can return to whenever you feel stuck or disconnected from books.
if you’ve been wanting to read more, or read better, this is for you. it’s a way to slow down, choose intentionally, and fall in love with reading again.
thank you for being here, for supporting my work, and for believing in the value of slow, thoughtful thinking in a world that demands urgency.
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