I forgot about this little ole blog, this small corner of the internet that I once staked a small claim to. Now I did not forget I had ever had a blog, but I had forgotten this particular one, the one I wanted to dedicate to reading and writing and I have rediscovered it after eight long years because the urge to share my thoughts on reading and writing (even if there is no one to read my thoughts) was so strong I returned to this blogosphere and here I found I had once possessed that same urge years ago. At least that much has not changed, but almost everything else in life is almost unrecognisable (but in a good way, I assure you).
In 2018 I was only 18 years old, I had just started working at a restaurant where I would be employed for nearly half a decade, I had not yet had my first kiss, I hadn't visited Germany where I had emigrated from at the age of 7 over a decade earlier, I hadn't started university yet, in fact I had barely started applying for programs. This still a teenager's world, a pre-covid world, a world I felt I had barely travelled, and all that changed not long after I simply phased the blogging out of my life. Perhaps I simply outgrew it for a time.
Now it is the summer of 2026, I am a whole 26 years old, I write this from my reading chair in our designated "craft room" as my husband paints his minatures at a table (18 year old me definitely didn't dare to hope she'd find a husband!) and a good one too I'll have you know, so good and supportive in fact that he will be the first and perhaps only soul to read this, a captive audience out of equal parts duty and devotion. I went to university, twice in fact, because I did not know where life should go after my Bachelor's and like many academics, the allure of putting off real life with grad school was simply too much to resist. I did my BA in History and Medieval & Medievalism Studies (a double major) with a minor in English. My MA was in History with my focus on the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. I've travelled more too, including to various sites of the Holocaust, both concentration and death camps, but more fun sites as well. To Berlin and London and Edinburgh and Krakow and Venice and Florence and more. I revisited the sites of my childhood in Germany, a month ago my husband got to see them too and practice the language he has worked so hard to learn for my sake.
Throughout all this time and all these changes I still read and I still wrote. Innumerable volumes of diaries take up a box in our spare closet (okay maybe not truly innumerable but I surpassed twenty some years ago and haven't counted again since then); I've kept them since I was 12 and haven't missed a day since I was 18 at some point they no longer felt like a "silly" past time of teenage girls, at some point I got old enough that it was respectable to keep one again. Not that I ever stopped regardless of perception. Of course I wrote many essays in schools too and a Master's Research Paper, perhaps some will be posted here too. I'm not sure yet what I want this blog to be. I had thought briefly that perhaps I should have a bookstagram revived (I refuse to download tiktok and have another endless scrolling app in my life). But I don't think I'm suited to the world of social media, the world is too petty, too cruel even. I'd rather write my thoughts for the abyss of the blogosphere than deal with the influencer world of opinions without nuance. Besides, I am no natural in front of the camera, my place has always been in a reading chair in a corner, typing out my thoughts. After so many years of writing I almost think in the written word.
Primarily, I think, this blog will be dedicated to my love of books. I've officially surpassed 1,000 books in my private collection and I'll be reading them still in my grave if I want to get them done before judgement day. For so many years my degrees and the books required for my studies took up most of my reading time, and if you will recall the focus of my studies, it was often a rather depressing lot. I still read books about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, there are books of interest I have not gotten to yet. Non-fiction history remains one of my main genres but since finishing up my MA almost a year ago it has felt good to return to the world of fiction and to reread some of my beloved series. Today I finished my 49th book of the year, my Goodreads reading goal is 50 so it looks like I will surpass it. (Don't be jealous, I was unemployed for much of this year, I am no better reader than anyone else).
Speaking of work, I am currently employed in what I fondly like to refer to as a "nerd store." The kind that sells lots of board games and puzzles and collectibles and Warhammer and Magic the Gathering and yes, even books. It is right up my alley, perhaps those things too will feature on here occasionally--after all, who is gonna stop me? If I want to post a puzzle on my reading and writing blog you'll just to deal with it. History will probably come up as well, I'm technically an amateur historian now after all. So this blog is mainly about books, mainly about reading and writing but maybe it will also have a little bit of other things because it must have a little bit of me and a little bit of me delights in far too many hobbies. But reading is my one true love, always has been, always will be, I'll always come back for it.
Hi, I'm Alicia, and this is my blog and I think this is all I have to say for the moment.
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