At the beginning of 2026, I set my reading challenge target to sixty books.
A month or two later, I reduced it to thirty.
I thought it was better to achieve the target than to lose track of it.
This wasn’t cheating, was it?
But at least, I’ve been honest with myself.
So over the last two, no three, days, I finished a wonderful book, and it happened to be the thirtieth one.
This means my 2026 reading challenge is officially fulfilled.
Now I can read more, without any pressure.
My best reading challenge score was seventy-eight books in 2023,
and I was so happy with that big harvest.
But honestly, I’m not sure if I had followed the same strategy back then.
I mean if I had started with a target of thirty and ended up finishing seventy-eight books.
Things didn’t work with the same enthusiasm over the last few years, though.
Why? I wonder sometimes.
But, I do know why.
Mainly because of my stubbornness.
Once I set my mind to read a book, I want to finish it; even if I don’t like it, even if it gives me a headache, and even if it bores me to tears.
And I discovered another reason; the high target I set for myself.
Whenever I planned to read more books, I ended up reading far less than expected.
But we do learn from our mistakes.
So, I will stick to my old strategy; start with less and end up reading more.
And perhaps, for stubbornness, I’ll pretend to forget about the books I don’t like until the end of the year. Then I can say, “sorry but your time is out.”
So… well done, me, for achieving my reading target in August.
And I will let you know how many more books I finish by the end of this year.
I was scrolling through Insta for a while, then stopped when the notification for the limited time I had set popped onto the screen.
After that, I opened to my reading book; the story is actually interesting, and I am planning to finish it today.
So, just after highlighting a quote, another notification appeared, but, this time, it was WordPress daily prompts.
I paused…
The quote I highlighted is one of my favourites, and the daily prompt asks about my favourite quote.
Can it be a coincidence?
Really.
I didn’t just highlight the quote, I lingered around certain memories. And that was exactly when the prompt appeared, as if nudging me not to lose the moment, to write about it now.
And here’s the quote:
“Forgiveness given is forgiveness gained.”
And here I am, writing about forgiveness.
But first, how do you see forgiveness?
Is it a merit or a fault?
Is it a strength or a weakness?
Is it possible or impossible?
You think… and decide.
As for me, I see Forgiveness exactly as that quote above.
It’s a win, a fair, clean win after an atrocious fight against painful memories, unforgettable hurts, professional lies.
Forgiveness doesn’t come with a silver spoon.
Since there’s a fight, things take time, a really long time, unless you’re an angel, a one-hundred precent angel, who can grant forgiveness straightaway.
Forgiveness shows up in its perfect timing.
This is when you appreciate how blessed, how saved, how strong you are,
when you close your eyes and recollect your bad moments,
and when you whisper to the Creator, asking for His forgiveness.
Then you remember you too need to forgive others.
Once the action is done with pure intention, your life feels brighter, wider, and healthier.
But… just a little note to pin;
you don’t have to include forget in the forgiveness deal.
Nor do you have to befriend or keep in touch with those who hurt you.
Which means things don’t have to end like a dead-end road, but rather like two separate roads.
You forgive and start yours.
They feel relieved and take theirs.
Now… was the quote and the daily prompt a coincidence?
Maybe.
But… can it be a heavenly whisper to extend goodness?
I didn’t think I was going to write anything today until I randomly opened one of my old notebooks. Actually.. I was searching for a blank page to write down something before it slipped from my memory.
And then the miracle happened.
My eyes caught a quote from a book, and my brain insisted on giving it some workout.
By the way, do you also have this habit of saving the quote but neither the author’s name nor the book it came from?
Just curious to know whether I’m the only person who does this.
Anyway, this is the quote: “To know a river, you have to know its source.”
So, according to my humble interpretation: to befriend a river, to communicate with it, and certainly to understand it, you have to know its source; how it flows, what kind of life it carries, and when it floods or dries.
Simply put, you have to know where it began, how it lived, and what shaped it.
Don’t you agree that some people are just like rivers.
You can’t truly know them until you know their sources; their history, their nature, their way of life, and certainly the reasons behind their tides.
Phew… it took almost five months to pick a fictional book again.
I really enjoyed reading non- fiction over the last few months.
It wasn’t until yesterday that my brain started begging for a break, a pause from working on those complicated terms and scientific writings.
When I didn’t show any sign of objection, my brain seized the opportunity and explained that he was in dire need of breathing some literary prose, some metaphors, similes and idioms.
I took a few sips of water, and he sighed deeply before continuing his complaint about how bored sick he felt reading those black- and-white paragraphs. He longed for… imagination with its colours, rhythms, and intrigues.
Request approved, I said.
And finally, I whispered to myself, feeling over the moon.
It was last night when I picked up an old fictional book.
Oh, the poor book has been waiting patiently for that exact moment.
Share a story about someone who had a positive impact on your life.
But of course, my small family has the greatest share in any positive impact on my life.
But for this post, I’d like to talk about someone or something else.
These are books.
Yes — books have changed the way I think, the way I talk, and certainly the way I write.
Books have pulled me away from movies and TV programs altogether. I rarely use our TV, and when I do it’s mainly to watch things with my family.
People look surprised when I say, “no, I haven’t watched this or that.” And when their brows rise all the way to their hairlines. I simply ask,“have I missed much?”
Of course I haven’t, I whispered to myself.
But, honestly, to draw a clear picture, social media is part and parcel of my daily routine. But, thank God, I’m active on only two platforms.
So back to books, even the books I didn’t like, or the ones that bored me, they encouraged me to form my own views, to use my brain, and my brain warn me not to swallow everything.
And books are just other people in your life; the ones you come to know through their words, their imagination, and their experiences.
Don’t people say that books are the quietest and most constant of friends?
Indeed, they are.
And that’s why they continue to have a positive impact on my life.
Pure and Simple 