Every Day I Read

I just finished Every Day I Read by Hwang Bo-reum. I don’t always write about every book I read, but the way she spent 200 pages pouring out her interior reading life is making me want to.

I cannot tell if it is the translation (it was originally written in Korean in 2017) or her own voice, but Every Day I Read has this combination of earnestness, melancholy, and naivete. Some of her quirks I find charming and relatable, like her self-professed shyness. There are other times where I think she is simply seeking attention: the references to Facebook, and how the quantity of what she reads matters to her. With whom is she competing? Her book did inspire me to start a list of books I have read, but I am not sure that is the healthiest impulse.

So why write a book with flaws? Three reasons: all writing has flaws (mine especially), writing about one’s interior life is a good thing, and how social she makes her reading life.

Setting aside the flaws, I respect her willingness to share what is one of the most private thing people do. Most people read silently, and it is very easy to just stay within one’s own mental cloister in regard to one’s reading. Hwang doesn’t do that–she shares the highs and lows of her emotional life as it connects to what she reads. I may not chase monthly book counts, but I do always pursue emotional resonance.

Beyond just seeking feeling through reading, the act of writing is an important way of processing our own inward humanity. I try to keep a notebook, but this summer it has been highly imperfect. I have been caught up with a lot of things that were not worth my attention, and I feel like (with the benefit of hindsight) I see that my interior life was shallower than I wish. I’m okay with that, but there is a higher path than the one I chose to pursue this summer while I ignored my writing.

Finally, as an English teacher, I love the way Hwang writes about how social her reading is. Given her shyness, I get the feeling that it may not always be natural for her, but she continues to work on building connections about books. On of my favorite paragraphs comes on pages 208-209:

The question “What have you been reading” seems to have the power to open a latch in our hearts. The moment we welcome books into ourselves, we’re bravely opening the door to our hearts. We confess our loneliness, our weaknesses, uncertainties and worries as we open up about the values and worldviews that each of us holds close to our hearts. The doorway to self-reflection that’s hidden inside us opens, and we grow to become a person who understands introspection. When everyone else is asking “What movie did you watch recently?” and “What drama are you watching now?”, I want to ask, “What book have you been reading?” I hope to make a space, however small, for books in our conversations. I want to open the latch in my heart when I am with you.

I honestly grabbed the book because of the homey, inviting cover: a warmly-lit office, bathed in fall light with a few of changing leaves. There are books everywhere, along with cats, coffee cups, and writing pads. It was what I hope for my office someday (minus the cats). I kept reading, even when I felt a little disconnected from Hwang, because it was an incredibly quick read. While I cannot follow all of her paths, she present a case to keep walking as a thoughtful, social, engaged reader.