CC Book Nook

I had hoped that my first real post on here would be a book review or writing about something less horribly sad, but life had other plans. (This post probably won’t have a definitive arc to it, but I wanted to write a bit about him.) Learning that my dad passed away was one of the worst days that I’ve experienced – we lived on different continents but he had been fine, we had just been talking that same week about travel plans for early 2026 and even beyond. It was news I hadn’t expected to get, and it has truly rocked my entire world.

My dad was someone I turned to for so many things in life, both with the fun things in life and even the harder times. He was there to help me navigate through work situations and to celebrate my successes. He and my mother both are a big reason that I love to read – it was an activity that was highly encouraged from when I was young.

Books basically had no budget, he always encouraged getting a new book and reading something new. Bookshelves in the house were always full of well loved books that crossed so many different genres. Though, my dad did enjoy a lot more non-fiction than I do… But, he was constantly learning and wanting to better understand the world around him, this was the reason he went and got a PhD after his retirement – he wanted to explore and learn more about alternative energies (and being able to be “Dr.” was an added bonus). I hope that I can continue on with this legacy and expanding my worldview through books.

I will say that reading has been hard, it took a week before I could even look at a page or open my kindle. My brain just wouldn’t work in this way, my usual coping mechanism just wasn’t something I could turn to. I could barely process anything happening and opening a book and trying to read felt like an insurmountable hurdle. I have started to read a little more, but it comes in waves day by day, usually easier at night when the rest of the world is quiet. I also can’t really take in anything non-fiction right now, I think delving into other worlds is just easier when the world you live in feels so heavy, being able to forget what is happening around you and falling into a different political system, a new societal structure, etc. feels easier right now.

The last series my dad and I had talked about was the Three Body Problem, so I am planning on adding this to a higher spot in my TBR. He had really enjoyed it and even bought copies for my husband – which I guess I’ll also be using. I think there’s this desire behind it as well to have this extra connection to him, to again read a book that he read, even if I won’t be able to talk about it with him in that same way.