I love to read. I love to talk about books. I love talking to my friends about reading.

And yet, for a long time, I felt like an outlier in those conversations.

When someone asked what I was reading, my answer was usually a light romance or the latest women’s thriller. My friends’ answers, on the other hand, were often biographies of political masterminds or memoirs about surviving war. Somewhere along the way, I started to feel like my books were… less than. Like they didn’t count because they weren’t making me cry or deeply contemplate the meaning of existence.

But here’s the thing: I love to read.

Yes, sometimes I want to learn or grow from the books I pick up. But sometimes I just want to enjoy myself. There is real joy in getting pulled into a twisty murder mystery that keeps surprising you. I love the “what would I do in this situation?” feeling of a great fantasy novel or a good dystopian scare. I enjoy reading for what it is — and I still get something out of it — without constantly forcing myself to choose “serious” books.

That’s what The Unfussed Reader is all about.

This is where I’ll talk about the books I actually read. Don’t expect to see War and Peace here anytime soon… not because it isn’t worthy, but because it isn’t what I’m reaching for right now. I believe reading should be fun. I’ll talk about books I loved, books I finished, and books I didn’t finish because they simply weren’t fun. I’ll talk about the books I read with my kid, because that takes up a lot of my reading life and deserves to count too. And yes, audiobooks absolutely count as real books here.

Reading does not have to be a chore. You don’t need to impress anyone. You don’t need to prove anything. Read what is good for your soul.

– Read what you love, The Unfussed Reader