I've gotten back into reading over the last month or so, and I've been making way through Modern Love which is a collection of essays from the New York Times. It’s essentially a lot of short stories from people's lives about love and loss in all its forms. To say it simply, it's lovely.
I think I've always enjoyed hearing other people's stories, and reading this book is another way of doing that. With the uncertainty of the world's state right now, and the distance that has been placed between the individual and the rest of humanity, it's comforting to read a book that continues to bridge me with others. To have a sense of community in what is a rather isolating time, is one of the most important things I think someone can feel at this moment. We all experience love and loss, and the essays in Modern Love remind me that I am not alone in my experience. That the feelings I'm having about my family, friends, or myself are universal. It's hard not to feel lonely or pessimistic when the world seems to be falling farther each day, but Modern Love reminds me of what makes people unique and that we're able to recover from life's harder moments, regardless of how impossible that may seem in the moment.
Reading was something I relished in a lot when I was younger. The ability to get lost in a book was something I prided myself in, and I would spend hours a day sitting in bed and building the words on the pages into worlds in my mind. Eventually, that love wore off, and things like school stripped away the enjoyment I felt when I would crack open a book to read it. Occasionally I'd find myself picking up one and devouring every word when I had a free moment, but that situation became fewer and farther between. I've wanted to get back into reading now that I find myself with the privilege or more free time, but sometimes I don't know where to start. Modern Love was a book I'd heard about from a lot of other people, and I'd even read some of the essays in the NYT without even knowing they would be compiled and bound together into one piece. But picking it up has inspired me to keep searching for more and hopefully rediscover that love of getting lost in the pages of others.
mxmtoon’s EP dawn is out today.
(Photo Credit: left, April Blum)
