After not updating my goodreads for years, finally last year in November 2022 I decided to check a little progress of books I have read during the year. I think I will just do the same thing for this year, it saves my time more rather than keeping track on books everytime I finish one. I honestly never set any goals on reading for I read not only for fun, but also for learning. That is so slow reading is what I am up to for the last few years.
I always read very intentionally so I have already been very picky whenever it comes about books I read. I start to add only books I have finished, not to mention tons which I decided to stop in the middle. It was in the end, quite shocking that I could pass reading for more than 50 books in a year, the highest as far as I remember to be honest LOL. I just stop the number on fifty for it looks better in numbers instead of stating that precise fifty-something.
To be honest, my reading choices were also affected by the fact that I was writing my first book last year. That made me really need to read certain books in order to support my writing experience. Besides, I also read more research and journals so I couldn’t be able to catch up with the newest both non-fiction and fiction shelves. These past weeks I am wondering to have a little break by reading some fantasy or another travel notes, but not really sure. Beside reading and writing, I still need to take care of other things such as job and house-hold chores. They are surely not easy.
Usually, it takes months to write books’ reviews for I need certain times to deepen my understanding of the books I have just finished. I also need a space in order to let my objective sights to take control before starting the review process. So whenever you read reviews of books in this blog, trust me it is not because I am a fast-paced reader, I am a pure slow reader myself. I don’t like the feeling of being rushed so I really do what I do, whether it’s a matter of work, hobbies, and personal matters, as if I still live for 100 years from now. On the contrary, I do whatever pertains to my spiritual state as if I have no more time LOL But seriously, this is just the way I am.
Anyway about books I am gonna read this year, again, I have no particular targets. I stop buying books for I have no other space at home for my books so I prefer reading e-books of anything else. Unless they are authors I adore, or the topics were quite heavy for my low and dumb mind, I will keep reading e-books. Currently I read a book written by an egyptian woman scholar titled The Wives of The Prophet. I was triggered by some facts about how gender roles held certain believe and now even shifted in a somewhat worrying direction. As a Muslim myself, the perfect roles should be seen from how the Prophet Muhammad (pubh) manage his roles in his own family. Honestly before. I seriously define myself as a more secular person. Even though I look like religious superficially, I have never considered Islamic thoughts as my main source of understanding on how the world works. Everything changes for I now tend to balance between what I understood from what I define as to be more secular thoughts and Islamic scholar thoughts. With the circular of information due to the technology disruption, I am seriously considering only reading Islamic scholar books in order to have basic understanding of religion in a far more objective way.
Bint al-Shati is maybe also a Muslim feminist, even though she had never stated herself that she is a feminist. There are too many misconceptions about feminism, and I do not want to talk about this idea in this post. However of all the things, I got this book recommendation by one of Indonesian Islamic scholar, Buya Arrazy Hasyim, saying that this book is mostly sourced from Sirah Nabawiahs along with the Quran and Haddith. Her imagination of how the Prophet run his family along with his struggle for syiar was said precisely written. As I am a woman myself, I think this could help me to grasp the idea how it is to be the wives of the noblest man that has ever been existed. As I am waiting for my books to be delivered from Amazon, I am currently reading for free from archive.org, a digital library provided books for free. Some uniques books I have never seen luckily are available on this digital library. Although to me the UI design is not really helpful, I can still read legally free high-quality books from this library. The borrowing system is you just need to log in and borrow the book for an hour. You must actively extend your borrowed period every hour.
I know life is getting busier day by day, and with the Ramadhan, I also need to shift and re-shift my schedule carefully in order to stay productive and sane!!. When you are also struggling with this matter, I hope you still make a mental note that everything just need to be done slowly with no rush.
Characters through what they read
I now let you to guess what kind of person I am based on books I read. This is funny however sometimes I am dealing with more to myself. They say that in order to be beyond the average, we need to read books not all people read. As I have stated before, I read not only for fun, but also for learning. Thus I genuinely always take time to review books I will eventually need to read. For learning, I always have this feeling that I need to make sure the time I have spent to be meaningful which is through the act of gaining more wisdom. I do not say books are the only way, however through books we could think or rethink of our past movements, and even help planning our next steps for living the life we want. Whenever I start reading, I will make sure to align the type of me I want in the future, then I will act accordingly. The same with every mundane deed I consider choosing time after time.
Aforme 
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