From Books Stealing to a Lifelong Passion for Books

I think I am the one who throws minimalism out the window when it comes to books. Books are the torches to my path. I have read books since I was very little. It started as a bet and threat. No, I don't mean harmful threats. They were positive ones.

It happened that I usually come home with 24 pages of short stories and I read them while eating. I never take up to 5 minutes to finish them. So I usually wish I could get my hands on more. My afternoon was mostly interesting if I had one of those storybooks in my bag.

One day, we were discussing with my aunt, and I bragged about being able to finish 24 pages of books within 3-5 minutes. As a child, I thought that would impress her so I wasn't ready for her next answer. It hit me like a blow and did a lot to the confidence I brought to the table of discussion......lol

She smirked and then chuckled before dropping the bomb. My aunt outrightly mocked my ability to finish 24 pages of books within the time frame that I mentioned compared to her ability to complete 300 pages of books within two(2) to four(4) days. Hah! I did not expect that. I was embarrassed. And I did not take it well because she dealt with my confidence that afternoon.

I kept quiet while we progressed to another conversation. But I had made up my mind that I would finish bigger volumes of books within the time frame that she mentioned or less. It was silly because I started stealing the books on their bookshelves and hiding away to devour them.

In a bit to finish them quickly, I skipped most boring paragraphs but tried to get the message. I skipped words that I am pretty sure I still don't know how to pronounce today... hahaha. It wasn't long before I could do the reading duration she boasted of. And I passed her. I began to finish large volumes of novels in a day. It was mostly possible during the holidays when I had no school and nothing more to do with my time. But when school is in session, I squeeze in time and read them.

I did not know the path to my big reading appetite was going to take a positive threat from an older individual. But it's become a part of me. Now that I am older and I have a few drops of cents I don't steal my aunt's books anymore, I buy them.

However, buying them throws minimalism out of the window because I do not spare a dollar when it comes to buying books. The fact that I am not a fan of soft copies makes it even more difficult to stop myself from overspending on books. The few books you see in the shots shared are just a few-thirds of the books that I have in this life.

My family would attest to how many books that I have. The ones I snapped are the ones I have been buying since I relocated to this place in December 2021. I did not really buy books because of the distance to get them. Once I found someone to place the orders for me and I buy from him, my joy knew no bounds.

These days, I keep looking at my books and I tell myself, "I need more books. New books", the reasons being that I am done with all of these books and I repeated some of them more times than necessary. The repetition has made it even possible for me to talk about the books word for word.

My aunt might have set the pace for my reading appetite but mom made it possible for me to never stop reading. When she told me readers are leaders and are bound to rule the world, I took her too seriously that my reading appetite increased.

I could never pass up a book for anything in the world. It was so hard to say no to books that my friends made fun of the fact that I might start reading stray papers on the floor or on the road to satisfy my hunger for knowledge.

It was funny but the creepiest comment they made had been outrightly telling me that someone can get to me through books. One of them said if someone wanted to have me killed, they just need to write a book and have me read it.

My reading appetite is something I am proud of no matter how much I have evolved, I take my books with me.

I love hard copies because I feel connected to the authors more. And it's an amazing feeling to always turn the pages, especially the brown ones, and breath in the scents of the pages as you turn them. It's a different feeling compared to soft copies. I am trying to learn to read e-books to save cost but it's not so easy because once I read an e-book that I can't let go of, I'll place an order for the hard copy.

Most importantly I love the physical books because if I wanted a message, I can remember exactly where I saw it and rush to that particular page without stress. But e-books do not do that for me. I have to stay focused and search frantically to have a glimpse of something that would have taken less time on a hard copy.

Sometimes I look at my books and realized how much net income is sitting there but I also realized how much reading has helped me to be able to earn enough to afford my own books instead of stealing them as I did as a child.

PS: all images are mine