it doesn’t have to be your favorite book or anything. It can be any book that you find yourself thinking of with a sense of pride for having read it.
Personally, I am really proud of myself for not DNFing A Little Life and pushing forward. I read a very good chunk of that book with tears running down my face–mind you, I was reading it on my phone during lectures for the entirety of my first semester last year–and I was always on the verge of putting it down just because of the horrible content. Also, it was pretty long; too long, actually. So when I was done, I was simultaneously Heartbroken, broken (just like in general), and relieved. It was truly a feat.
An honorable mention is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, because I swear to God I did not understand a single thing about it even 10 chapters in. Charles Dickens is too much.
I’m proud of the fact that after being an avid reader growing up and then falling off in my twenties for about a decade, I started reading again this year and finished over a dozen books I’d been meaning to get to for years. Good to be back in the game :)
Congrats Bloom! I fell off the avid reader list after being Mom!! Of course, 3 of mine are over 18 so now they call me Mother, stop talking to people!