A new year is here and I am absolutely glad that I am entering this year loaded with books to read. I have on my list four Man Booker awardees, namely, The Underground Railroad , Lincoln in the Bardo, A Horse Walks Into A Bar and The Sellout. These books will take about two months to finish. So yeah, I’m sorted for the beginning of the year.
What I am sad about and want to change in the year 2018, is that my shelves are loaded with fictions. If you go through my Goodreads, you’d see a variety of fiction novels. But alas, I have not read one non-fiction. It is so very difficult for me to read a non-fiction. Why, you ask?
Consider this. I really wanted to know about the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. And I have an absolutely amazing book, The Siege: The Attack on Taj by Adrian Levy, sitting on my bookshelf (my husband’s actually). I picked that book up. The author starts with the names of all the real people in the attack. After the list, he starts telling us about a father-daughter duo who worked at the Taj. A real father-daughter duo. And that was it. I couldn’t read further. I knew that either one of them was going to die, or rather all the people on the list. Yes, characters die in fiction, but fictional characters. Not real people!! Do you understand? I cannot live with the idea that all the people who suffered in the book suffered for real. Their pain was real, their losses were real.
GIF source- giphy
My eyes welled up when I realised that the father-daughter duo would either die or get separated for life. And I couldn’t take it anymore. This is the reason I cannot read non-fiction. I get too attached to the people. So I need your help here.
I really want to read all the lovely books out there, but what is it that I am doing wrong? Am I picking the wrong books for the start? Am I reading it wrong? Or what is it?
Do you have some tricks or tips under your sleeve that can help me read better without crying a river?
Help!
Just a journal 
In the past couple years my nonfiction reading has gone up quite a bit. I find that sometimes it’s easier to read nonfiction via audiobook, so I’ll listen while I’m driving. I do read physical copies but I have to remember that I’m not reading it the same way I’d read a fiction book, I’m reading to learn, grow and challenge myself and my thoughts, so normally I give myself a set amount of time that way I can still read my fiction books and get my normal relaxation in.
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That’s such a great way to go about it! Thanks so much, Kayla. Probably I can try to read non fiction to learn and grow. That may make me feel less attached. I don’t know for sure, but I can surely try! Thanks again.
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