The Power of Reading: A Personal Journey

I still remember my first five books like they were yesterday. I read them four times in a row, and each time I was hooked. I would order all of the books from the library and spend hours reading them, rereading them over and over again until I had memorized every word. My love for these books was so strong that I even ordered them again and again, just to read them again. It wasn't uncommon for me to spend a whole week reading only these five books, and then I would order more and repeat the process.

As I looked back on those early days of reading, I realized that my love for reading had started with The Mortal Instruments series. These books had a way of drawing me in, making me feel like I was part of a whole new world. I devoured every word, every sentence, every page, and before I knew it, I had read all five books multiple times. But as much as I loved re-reading these familiar stories, I knew that I needed to challenge myself and try new things.

So, when my friends asked me what books I wanted to read next, I realized that I had a few options. There was The Mortal Instruments box set, which I had already fallen in love with, or there were other series that I had been meaning to check out. One of those series was The Infernal Devices trilogy, which I knew I would love. I started reading it and was immediately swept away by the world of Shadowhunter Academy. I spent hours each day devouring the pages, and before long, I had read the entire trilogy.

But just as I was getting into The Infernal Devices, another series caught my attention - The Hunger Games. For years, I had been hesitant to try this series, mostly because it was a part of a different fandom that I didn't feel comfortable with. But something about Katniss Everdeen and her story resonated with me, and I finally decided to give it a try. I started reading The Hunger Games trilogy, and as I did, I realized that I had been missing out on so much.

From December 1st to December 24th, I set out on a mission to read as many books as possible. I wanted to push myself outside of my comfort zone and see what new stories and characters were waiting for me. And so, in just 24 days, I managed to read 11 books - including The Hunger Games trilogy, The Mortal Instruments series again, and the entire Infernal Devices trilogy. It was an incredible experience, one that taught me the value of taking risks and trying new things.

But what really stuck with me about that Christmas season was the sense of accomplishment I felt as I finished each book. There was a sense of pride and satisfaction that came from pushing myself to read so much in such a short amount of time. And when January 27th rolled around, I decided to start my own YouTube channel dedicated to books and reading. It was a natural next step for me, one that allowed me to share my love of reading with others and connect with like-minded people.

Looking back on that Christmas season, I realize just how much it changed my life. It was the moment when I realized that reading wasn't just something I enjoyed, but also a passion that could drive me to try new things and push myself outside of my comfort zone. And as I sit here writing this article, surrounded by stacks of books and memories of late-night reading sessions, I am filled with gratitude for all the experiences that have led me to where I am today.

In many ways, that Christmas season was a turning point in my life. It marked the moment when I decided to take control of my love of reading and share it with others. And as I look back on those 11 books, I am reminded of just how much reading has meant to me over the years. Whether it's re-reading old favorites or trying new series, I know that I will always find joy in the world of books.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey what's hello my name is Emma and today I'm going to be telling you the story of how I got into reading this video has been pretty popular on book I feel like always I've just always seen so many of these videos and I've just never had the motivation to do so but I decided to do it today for you guys so from what I can remember as a kid I was just always a reader I was always in the library with my family we took classes my mom brought us there to get books I just I have such fond memories of my public library as a kid I feel like the best clear-cut starting point of like my real reading life started in second grade when I picked up the bay school kids series this was a fantastic like 10 and something book series it's about these four kids who keep coming in contact with all of like these mythical creatures and like fantasy figures that are just like the nurses and doctors and teachers of their community and it was such a great series if you have a little kid who you're trying to get into reading I highly recommend those books be yeah all through our childhood I was just always reading new books I can't even remember the amount of books I read as a kid I just remember that I was all always reading and then I found Harry Potter I remember in like third grade one of my friends was reading it at lunch and I was like Hey that book looks familiar cuz my sister has it at home my sister started reading Harry Potter but she never finished first of all how do you stop Harry Potter in the middle I think that's the most important question but secondly how do you live with me and not read Harry Potter that's another really really good question I have for my sister but I figured to give him a shot and oh my God I had no idea how much my life would change in that moment unfortunately I really can't remember reading the majority of the Harry Potter books for the first time I don't know why but all first memories of books one through five of Harry Potter are completely blocked from my mind I remember reading half flet prins because I had just gotten it like as soon as it got released and I read it in 2 days while I was camping and it was so fantastic to read that book for the first time I significantly remember that book let me tell you and then the year after or two years after however long it was we got Deathly Hollows and I was lucky enough to go to a midnight release party for it and my local bookstore why don't bookstores do that anymore like has anyone gone to a midnight release party for a book in the past like 3 years I know they had one for City Family fire in New York and my mom would have let me go and I was super pissed about that but I honestly cannot remember the last time I heard of anyone doing a midnight release whether the author was there or not but I do remember I was the 21st person in my town to get a copy of Deathly Hallows I was supposed to be first but they moved where the line was supposed to start and I was at the front of the line but it was 20 first so that's an accomplishment that I'll never forget I remember reading like every detail of deathly halls for the first time I'm so happy that I remember at least reading that book and so I don't remember exactly when I finished Harry Potter or what year I was in the last book came out but I remember very soon after that I had discovered Twilight I remember reading Twilight before I had realized that it was like this big massive thing I feel like as soon as I picked up the book it was everywhere but up until that point I had really never heard of it but I was a TW try hard from the start I wasn't one of those crazy people that had like Edward and Bella bed sheets and posters all over their room but I just really really loved those books I went to premieres of those movies like I did with Harry Potter it was just such a great experience to move straight from one fandom into the next and so then I kind of hit a snag with my reading I feel like when I got into high school for the most part I was really involved with just so many other things like friends and music I had started going to a youth group and there were so many other things in my life that I wasn't really looking for new books to read so I didn't read a lot of new books I still read Harry Potter every single year I cannot remember a single year of my life where I wasn't reading Harry Potter this is exactly why I can't remember the amount of times I've read Harry Potter it's somewhere in between 12 and 17 I really don't know where I'm at but so I had my yearly rars of Harry Potter I normally did them in the summer but in between I wasn't really picking up a lot of books maybe like a random one here or there like my boyfriend recommended it or my mom recommended it but reading just was not a core part of my life for a couple of years years and then we get into my senior year of high school now in I think it was September or October of 2014 or 2013 it was 2013 my boyfriend and I decided to go to the movies and I don't know why but I was so adamant about seeing We're the Millers like nothing in the world was going to stop me from seeing that movie that day and funnily enough I still haven't seen where The Millers 2 years later my boyfriend had suggested we go see this movie called The Mortal Instruments now we had bonded over our love for Fantasy before we read the same book series at one point so me being the good girlfriend and the slight pushover that I am I was like you know what we won't go see where the Miller fine we'll try this new movie whatever I've never heard of it didn't even watch a trailer but we went and oh my god did my life change I walked out of the theater in tears I was like how does this movie end like this my boyfriend's like you know they're books right and I just remember this like intense hair flip and I was like what did you just say I was so obsessed immediately like think of how obsessed I am now like I'm I was that obsessed after seeing the movie and so I went home was also reading me wikip Pages for the books and I was like you know what I'm going to go to the library tomorrow and I'm going to get the books and that's exactly what I did and so my thing with reading the moral instruments I'm going to try and keep this really short because I could honestly talk about this experience forever but so I started reading them from the library and at this time it only had the first five books so I read the first five books and I can't even tell you how much I loved these books at the start honestly I reread them four times in a row I would order all of the books from the library and I would just sit there and I would just read them for like a week and then I would order them again and then I'd read them for a week and then I'd order them again literally all of my free time in my first semester of my senior year was reading those books and then we get to like the November December is kind of point and I'm like you know what I should probably read something else at this point right I can't just reread these books for the rest of my life so I was thinking I was like what books do I want to read what books do I know that I can 10 read so I was getting the Mortal Instruments box set for Christmas with the first five books so I was like you know what I'm going to read The Mortal Instruments to make it an even five before I have my own set so I had five books that I wanted to read before Christmas then I was like oh you know there's a prequel to the immortal instruments well I got to read that that's going to be good right so make that eight books and then I was thinking to myself you know I also haven't read The Hunger Games yet for so long for some reason I thought I was like betraying the Harry Potter fandom by reading The Hunger Games even though they're completely different series I was so adamant about not joining this fandom that for years I didn't read The Hunger Games I'm like you know what it's a really big series everyone loves it I might as well try it so I set up this mission to read 11 books by Christmas so from December 1st to December 24th I was going to try and read 11 books and I did it I started with The Hunger Games I read the entire Hunger Games trilogy in like 3 or 4 days after the Hunger Games I read The Mortal Instruments again and that was like my middle break and then finally I read The Infernal Devices Trilogy and I used to post pictures of it every day when I was like reading or like I would finish a book or start a new book you can go all the way back to my Instagram and you'll find pictures of like my holding these books and they're all the library books so I think that really there was like the start in my reading career cuz it's one thing to just reread all the books you love over and over and over again but that was really my first significant moment where I set out and said I want to try and read new books and it was honestly some of the most fun I've ever had like I will never forget that exper experience of reading those 11 books in 24 days cuz Not only was it such an accomplishment but I had so much fun doing it and that is where my love for reading really started and so I can't remember exactly what month it was but around that time when I was rereading The Mortal Instruments over and over and over again or that December when I decided to read some other books I discovered book and so I was either reading or I was watching book and so already I had a ton of these amazing books that I wanted to try out and so in January I decided that I was going to start going to the library more I was going to start picking out more books to read and that were new books and not just rereads and so then on January 27th of 2014 I started my own book Channel and the rest is history so basically reading has been a big part of my life from the beginning there were definitely points in my life where it wasn't as prominent but you know soon as I read the moral instruments it just happened reading is just such an important part of my life at the moment and I'm so thankful for all of the events whether it be reading the baile school kids in second grade or you know reading 11 books in 24 dayss so many things have happened that have made me into the reader I am today and I'm so thankful for each and every one of those events and I'm so happy I could share them with you guys I'd really love to know how you guys got into reading if you want to leave me like a full novel I say go for it cuz I'm going to read it anyways but just leave me a comment letting me know if there were any similarities or differences to our stories and what has made you into the reader you are today that is it for this video thank you guys so much for watching I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you soon for a new video bye you now that needhey what's hello my name is Emma and today I'm going to be telling you the story of how I got into reading this video has been pretty popular on book I feel like always I've just always seen so many of these videos and I've just never had the motivation to do so but I decided to do it today for you guys so from what I can remember as a kid I was just always a reader I was always in the library with my family we took classes my mom brought us there to get books I just I have such fond memories of my public library as a kid I feel like the best clear-cut starting point of like my real reading life started in second grade when I picked up the bay school kids series this was a fantastic like 10 and something book series it's about these four kids who keep coming in contact with all of like these mythical creatures and like fantasy figures that are just like the nurses and doctors and teachers of their community and it was such a great series if you have a little kid who you're trying to get into reading I highly recommend those books be yeah all through our childhood I was just always reading new books I can't even remember the amount of books I read as a kid I just remember that I was all always reading and then I found Harry Potter I remember in like third grade one of my friends was reading it at lunch and I was like Hey that book looks familiar cuz my sister has it at home my sister started reading Harry Potter but she never finished first of all how do you stop Harry Potter in the middle I think that's the most important question but secondly how do you live with me and not read Harry Potter that's another really really good question I have for my sister but I figured to give him a shot and oh my God I had no idea how much my life would change in that moment unfortunately I really can't remember reading the majority of the Harry Potter books for the first time I don't know why but all first memories of books one through five of Harry Potter are completely blocked from my mind I remember reading half flet prins because I had just gotten it like as soon as it got released and I read it in 2 days while I was camping and it was so fantastic to read that book for the first time I significantly remember that book let me tell you and then the year after or two years after however long it was we got Deathly Hollows and I was lucky enough to go to a midnight release party for it and my local bookstore why don't bookstores do that anymore like has anyone gone to a midnight release party for a book in the past like 3 years I know they had one for City Family fire in New York and my mom would have let me go and I was super pissed about that but I honestly cannot remember the last time I heard of anyone doing a midnight release whether the author was there or not but I do remember I was the 21st person in my town to get a copy of Deathly Hallows I was supposed to be first but they moved where the line was supposed to start and I was at the front of the line but it was 20 first so that's an accomplishment that I'll never forget I remember reading like every detail of deathly halls for the first time I'm so happy that I remember at least reading that book and so I don't remember exactly when I finished Harry Potter or what year I was in the last book came out but I remember very soon after that I had discovered Twilight I remember reading Twilight before I had realized that it was like this big massive thing I feel like as soon as I picked up the book it was everywhere but up until that point I had really never heard of it but I was a TW try hard from the start I wasn't one of those crazy people that had like Edward and Bella bed sheets and posters all over their room but I just really really loved those books I went to premieres of those movies like I did with Harry Potter it was just such a great experience to move straight from one fandom into the next and so then I kind of hit a snag with my reading I feel like when I got into high school for the most part I was really involved with just so many other things like friends and music I had started going to a youth group and there were so many other things in my life that I wasn't really looking for new books to read so I didn't read a lot of new books I still read Harry Potter every single year I cannot remember a single year of my life where I wasn't reading Harry Potter this is exactly why I can't remember the amount of times I've read Harry Potter it's somewhere in between 12 and 17 I really don't know where I'm at but so I had my yearly rars of Harry Potter I normally did them in the summer but in between I wasn't really picking up a lot of books maybe like a random one here or there like my boyfriend recommended it or my mom recommended it but reading just was not a core part of my life for a couple of years years and then we get into my senior year of high school now in I think it was September or October of 2014 or 2013 it was 2013 my boyfriend and I decided to go to the movies and I don't know why but I was so adamant about seeing We're the Millers like nothing in the world was going to stop me from seeing that movie that day and funnily enough I still haven't seen where The Millers 2 years later my boyfriend had suggested we go see this movie called The Mortal Instruments now we had bonded over our love for Fantasy before we read the same book series at one point so me being the good girlfriend and the slight pushover that I am I was like you know what we won't go see where the Miller fine we'll try this new movie whatever I've never heard of it didn't even watch a trailer but we went and oh my god did my life change I walked out of the theater in tears I was like how does this movie end like this my boyfriend's like you know they're books right and I just remember this like intense hair flip and I was like what did you just say I was so obsessed immediately like think of how obsessed I am now like I'm I was that obsessed after seeing the movie and so I went home was also reading me wikip Pages for the books and I was like you know what I'm going to go to the library tomorrow and I'm going to get the books and that's exactly what I did and so my thing with reading the moral instruments I'm going to try and keep this really short because I could honestly talk about this experience forever but so I started reading them from the library and at this time it only had the first five books so I read the first five books and I can't even tell you how much I loved these books at the start honestly I reread them four times in a row I would order all of the books from the library and I would just sit there and I would just read them for like a week and then I would order them again and then I'd read them for a week and then I'd order them again literally all of my free time in my first semester of my senior year was reading those books and then we get to like the November December is kind of point and I'm like you know what I should probably read something else at this point right I can't just reread these books for the rest of my life so I was thinking I was like what books do I want to read what books do I know that I can 10 read so I was getting the Mortal Instruments box set for Christmas with the first five books so I was like you know what I'm going to read The Mortal Instruments to make it an even five before I have my own set so I had five books that I wanted to read before Christmas then I was like oh you know there's a prequel to the immortal instruments well I got to read that that's going to be good right so make that eight books and then I was thinking to myself you know I also haven't read The Hunger Games yet for so long for some reason I thought I was like betraying the Harry Potter fandom by reading The Hunger Games even though they're completely different series I was so adamant about not joining this fandom that for years I didn't read The Hunger Games I'm like you know what it's a really big series everyone loves it I might as well try it so I set up this mission to read 11 books by Christmas so from December 1st to December 24th I was going to try and read 11 books and I did it I started with The Hunger Games I read the entire Hunger Games trilogy in like 3 or 4 days after the Hunger Games I read The Mortal Instruments again and that was like my middle break and then finally I read The Infernal Devices Trilogy and I used to post pictures of it every day when I was like reading or like I would finish a book or start a new book you can go all the way back to my Instagram and you'll find pictures of like my holding these books and they're all the library books so I think that really there was like the start in my reading career cuz it's one thing to just reread all the books you love over and over and over again but that was really my first significant moment where I set out and said I want to try and read new books and it was honestly some of the most fun I've ever had like I will never forget that exper experience of reading those 11 books in 24 days cuz Not only was it such an accomplishment but I had so much fun doing it and that is where my love for reading really started and so I can't remember exactly what month it was but around that time when I was rereading The Mortal Instruments over and over and over again or that December when I decided to read some other books I discovered book and so I was either reading or I was watching book and so already I had a ton of these amazing books that I wanted to try out and so in January I decided that I was going to start going to the library more I was going to start picking out more books to read and that were new books and not just rereads and so then on January 27th of 2014 I started my own book Channel and the rest is history so basically reading has been a big part of my life from the beginning there were definitely points in my life where it wasn't as prominent but you know soon as I read the moral instruments it just happened reading is just such an important part of my life at the moment and I'm so thankful for all of the events whether it be reading the baile school kids in second grade or you know reading 11 books in 24 dayss so many things have happened that have made me into the reader I am today and I'm so thankful for each and every one of those events and I'm so happy I could share them with you guys I'd really love to know how you guys got into reading if you want to leave me like a full novel I say go for it cuz I'm going to read it anyways but just leave me a comment letting me know if there were any similarities or differences to our stories and what has made you into the reader you are today that is it for this video thank you guys so much for watching I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you soon for a new video bye you now that need\n"