A cursory search of reading resolutions often results in “to read more books” at the top. The others consist of participating in reading challenges, clearing out their TBR list, putting a pause on buying books for the sake of buying them (without actually reading them), trying new genres they haven’t read before, and rekindling their relationship with reading.
But if you have taken reading down a notch last year due to reasons you would rather not divulge, it’s alright—totally harmless. It takes some time to get out of a reading slump, but the chances for a full recovery are never zero. But fret not, because you can let these five books jumpstart your reading resolutions this 2024.
“This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor” by Adam Kay
Photo courtesy of Goodreads
Kay’s memoir tells his story as a former obstetrician-gynecologist at the National Health Service’s (NHS) frontline with the overarching theme of zeroing in on overworked and underpaid healthcare workers that pushed him to the brink of leaving the career he grew up passionate about.
“This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor” offers Kay’s stories and diary-like entries he jotted down as standard procedure for every patient. His words ebb and flow with dark humor and such cadence that prompt readers to move further into his narratives almost without a halt except in certain moments when you’re unwittingly dabbing tissue on the tears-soaked pages.
This book is a short read with curt entries filled to the brim—either with emotions that would spur another crying session or newfound knowledge of the medical field, thanks to Kay’s footnotes.
“When Sadness is at Your Door” by Eva Eland
Photo courtesy of Goodreads
Despite the target audience being children, it’s safe to say that handling the feeling of sadness doesn’t sit well with most adults especially because of the conflicting feeling settling in the gut when waves of sadness hit.
“In When Sadness Is at Your Door, Eva Eland brilliantly approaches this feeling as if it is a visitor. She gives it a shape and a face, and encourages the reader to give it a name, all of which helps to demystify it and distinguish it from ourselves,” its blurb reads—a stark reminder for readers to sit with the feeling instead of running away as a knee-jerk reaction.
Another short read packed with an intensity that hits you at your core, “When Sadness is at Your Door” is a picture book that can spearhead your reading resolutions and rekindle your relationship not only with reading but also within yourself.
“The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo
Photo courtesy of Goodreads
Xiomara Batista loves poetry and she pens her feelings into a leather notebook that knows every nook and cranny of her mind because no one else does. Her mother certainly doesn’t.
“With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can’t stop thinking about performing her poems,” its synopsis reads.
“The Poet X” is a novel written through free verse poems, a hybrid genre of literature that tingles the brain, especially since Acevedo’s crisp writing doesn’t fail to catch the nuances of complex mother-daughter relationships in a devout household.
"Walang Iisang Salita" by Paul Castillo
Photo courtesy of UST Publishing House
"Walang Iisang Salita" is a poetry collection that sings. Every poem captures the mundane often overlooked and gathers these experiences in tufts of verses.
Award-winning author Joselito D. Delos Reyes said the power of this collection lies in Castillo’s visage.
“Ang kapangyarihan ng koleksyong ito ay ang pagpapamumukha ni Castillo na narito, kaulayaw lamang natin ang mga tula, nasa mga pangyayaring malabong matawag na matulain ng mga gurong ulyani’t mas hukluban pa sa mga humukay ng prehistorikong ilog,” Delos Reyes wrote in its blurb.
“Ang kabuuan ay magpapaalala sa ating maghinay-hinay, magnilay, magsinsay sa kawalan-ng-iisang-salitang para sa kakayahan nating magsuri’t suriin, lumuhang naninikluhod, tumindig, makipagkapwa, maglingkod, mabuhay, magmahal, magtira ng hininga’t pag-ibig para sa sarili,” he added.
Up the ante of your reading resolutions with this collection of poetry that opens your eyes to new perspectives of life and living.
“Love on the Brain” by Ali Hazelwood
Photo courtesy of Goodreads
There are sparks of joy in romance novels that scratch the itch of lackluster reality, and Ali Hazelwood’s “Love on the Brain” hits the right spots, especially if you are a champion of friends to lovers trope or women in STEM stories.
“Love on the Brain” follows neuroscientist, Dr. Bee Königswasser who has to work on a NASA project with her old grad school archenemy, Levi Ward.
What better way to jumpstart your reading resolutions than by getting your neurons firing with stories teeming with desire and affection while getting a chemical high from sheer emotional bliss?
