New Year, Re-Discovered You?

I learned to read in kindergarten. As soon as I could see how letters formed words and words formed sentences, I was off.

I was that child who had her nose stuck in a book at recess rather than play.

My parents were concerned that I would get lost because I always read in the car and, no, I couldn’t have described the journey we took to get from A to B.

I even got yelled at a few times by teachers for reading during class (full disclosure: I had already done my work and it was correct, but I think they thought I set a bad example for the other students?).

But I grew up loving to read for all of the usual clichés. It allowed me to explore new worlds and experience new things. It put me in the shoes of other people and enabled me to encounter different opinions and perspectives. It was a form of escapism that cost far less than a plane ticket and didn’t require any luggage.

As I grew older, I began to dabble in non-fiction, which opened even more doors. I loved that I could continue to learn even after graduation. I’ve always had wide-ranging interests, and I could now read my way through books on psychology and mindset, tips for starting and running a business, and even health and nutrition.

I felt like the very hungry caterpillar, if the very hungry caterpillar chomped its way through books instead of fruits and sweets.

At some point over the last decade, however, I started to read less and less. Fiction completely dropped off my plate because I found it too addicting. Staying up to 2:00 am to finish a book was not compatible with a 5:30 am alarm. The last year or two saw my non-fiction reading become sporadic. I would read a few books, then nothing for months.

I decided to change this in 2025 by attempting to read the average of a book a week. My experience thus far has been a revelation.

  • If I make time to read—and stop doomscrolling before bed—I can get through a surprising number of books.
  • Reading nourishes me. Nourish is my word of the year for 2025, and while it doesn’t necessarily nourish the body, it certainly ticks the boxes for mind and soul.
  • And, perhaps most surprisingly, cosy Japanese fiction is a genre. It’s also one that I’ve really enjoyed.

As we near the end of January, I just want to say that 2025 doesn’t have to be “new year, new you”. Sometimes it can be about re-discovering the old you and continuing to find joy in familiar activities.

In case you’re curious, the covers above are four Japanese novels I’ve liked:

🐈 What You are Looking for is in the Library (Michiko Aoyama)

🐈 We’ll Prescribe You a Cat (Syou Ishida)

🐈The Full Moon Coffee Shop (Mai Mochizuki)

🐈 The Lantern of Lost Memories (Sanaka Hiiragi)(trigger warning: child abuse)

Despite what you see on the cover, not all of them involve cats.

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