Any other bookworms out there?
I used to read a lot as a kid, and I start off by saying “a lot” as in I would read practically anything. Mostly books for sure, I was blessed by my older brother’s occupational therapist and mother’s strict rules of PBS educational shows ONLY, to be reading and understanding at a 5th grade level by the age of 4. Books, the ingredients in the shampoo bottle, instruction manuals, billboard signs, random comics, magazine articles, recipes to my favorite Christmas desserts, and the occasional news paper article or two. I would fly through book series, I think even at one point I read the entire Harry Potter series in less than a week. What I mean to say by this; reading is, was, and will forever be an integral part of my life.
Yet, as we all know, getting older sometimes makes us bookworms disconnect from reading for pleasure to reading as a balancing act in our lives. By high-school I was training 40+ hours a week at a professional ballet school, hopes and dreams of becoming a ballerina and leaving Arizona for bigger, grander stages. Those 40+ hours of dancing on my toes, only to increase when getting into the Joffrey Ballet School at age 16, quickly replaced any time that I had for leisurely reading. Reading books became a task to be checked off, a line on what appeared to be a never ending “to-do” list of homework from the college prep high school I went to. My reading slowly dwindled, what once was my only escape from reality as a child turned into yet another chore to move forward in society. The truth in that statement hurts my heart as I type it out now. I feel as though there are a lot of formally “gifted” kids out there that understand what I mean though.
Fast forward from 16 to now 23, I have found myself in the unique position where I can actually sit down and pick up a book again. Now, this circumstance was never part of my plan or idea of what I would be doing at age 23 by any means. Ask me at 16, would say by 23 I would be in a ballet company dancing all day every day. Ask me at age 18, I would probably start sobbing, as this was a very, for lack of a more appropriate term, crappy and shitty year for me. I had to give up dancing ballet professionally and was headed off to college. To study what? I had no idea. Former gifted child with an aptitude for just about anything I could read and learn, I started college as an English and Chemistry double major. I loved to read, and had recently lost my normal escape from reality dancing so I figured being an English major would give me a sense of comfort and normalcy as I transitioned from the ballet world back to the real world so to speak. I quickly learned that though I LOVED to read and write and consume book knowledge, readings for my English major specific classes felt a lot like the chore reading I had to do in high school just to graduate early. There was little sense of love and comfort in the selected readings of my two English classes that semester. I was utterly bored and sometimes vaguely disappointed in the selection of readings and the assignments that accompanied them.
So yet again I implore us to fast forward to now, June 2021. I have begun chemotherapy for my systemic mast cell disease, and during the treatment and all its cycles for the first time in a VERY long time, I have the mental capacity and space to read a book. Multiple books if I so pleased, as my only “job” right now during treatment is healing. Henceforth I have put together the idea of a “chemo TBR list” (TBR- to be read), documenting and reviewing all the books I have collected as my comforts over the years, and actually putting a dent into the massive list and pile that I have wanted to read for so long. As rough as chemo is, this has become something I can do in the “spare time” (more like feeling sick unable to move screens give me headaches and I otherwise would be sleeping) this form of treatment comes with.
So if anyone is interested, you can join me on the books I will be reading during my chemo season, reviewing, and potentially giving away as I de-clutter my shelves in my room. There will be a list posted here on the blog and plan on doing a mini video series on my tiktok @cortisol.queen and Instagram stories @cortisol.queen as well for the handle. Let me know if you all have any suggestions! I am also totally open for writing some reviews on this blog and making one book a month a book club read, where we can all read together.
So stay tuned! I plan on posting about the books I have read over the past two weeks here very soon, along with a list of titles I intend upon reading!
with love and grace
Lauren Michelle
The Sleepy Chemist 