My current favorite thing is...
All the exciting, funny, well-written, page-turning, thought-provoking books I've read so far in my journey to read a book each week for a year!
I'm the first to admit that I'm behind. I will not reach the ultimate goal of 52 books in a year. However. I have read a LOT, found new authors, discovered my favorite genre for escaping and have started using Goodreads more as a fantastic resource to find new books to read (I'll start updating more, too, but a girl can only handle so many social media obligations).
First, my goal. The page where I list all the books I have read, am reading or will read is now updated through the end of my year of doing this, the end of February. I would guess that I'll end up about 8 books shy of my goal. Maybe that will change over the next month, but I'm not that concerned about hitting a specific number. I made a goal to read more. I put in place a plan that was a little ambitious but I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't aimed so high.
What if my goal was a book each month for a year? That would have been an improvement for me over recent years of not reading (having little kids makes you tired--and my DVR is really inviting), but would I have pushed myself to read more or just been happy hitting my goal? I think stretch goals are important because they make you, well, stretch yourself a little. Force you out of your comfort zone. Make you consciously think about your goal and how you can reach it.
So, if not reaching my exact number is a con to this adventure, it's the only one.
I have been reading. The last time I read this much (this is so embarrassing to write considering I'm a former English major/English teacher and self-described bookworm) was probably a decade ago.
Before I got married I read every single day. I grew up without a TV in my bedroom and if I didn't read throughout the day (which was a rarity) I would definitely read at night, every night. After my husband and I moved in together, we had a TV in our room. It was something he was used to and wanted and, although I had a couple hesitations, I was on board. I actually thought it would be nice. Plus, I didn't think it would impact my reading too much.
Wrong. It really did. In hindsight I see that. At the time I just saw the TV and our nightly viewing of "Blind Date" as a fun new part of our life together. (Do you remember that show? Oh my goodness we would laugh.) Sometimes I would read when we would turn it off, but, if I did, it was only for a couple of minutes, whereas before I would read on average for a half hour.
But that wasn't when my reading really started to decline. The real decline was almost 5 years ago when I had my daughter. Prior to her birth my typical reading of fiction had shifted to advice books on childbirth and the first year of a baby's life. I laugh now at the amount of baby books I read and the ideas I had.
Yeah, that whole sign language thing? Didn't happen.
After E was born, she had a rough first four months. During that time the only things I was concerned with was getting her to stop crying and sleeping. I was tired. I was emotional. I was not picking up a book when I went to bed. I was crashing.
When I got pregnant with my son my stamina was completely wrecked. I could barely function past 7. Morning or night.
It's been over the past couple of years, with my children getting older and having a more predictable schedule, that I've really felt like my reading was lacking. I used to be the girl that whenever someone would ask, "I just heard of this book, have you read it?" or "I need a good book recommendation, what have you read recently?" I would have an immediate answer and of course I would have heard of "that" book--I probably had already read it. When my "book" recommendations started becoming Vanity Fair articles from the year before (yes, I'm that far behind on my subscription), I knew I needed to make a change.
It was that motivation and stumbling across this article that started me on this path.
It's been a fantastical journey filled with new friends (Tris) and old (Harry), far off places and some closer to home. Belly laughs that annoy my dog late at night and countless tears for deaths or just endings of books I wasn't ready to end yet. Frustration at both authors and characters and disbelief that some things actually happened in real life.
I've learned so much. But mostly I've had fun. My horizons have broadened a bit and I've also gotten back to my roots.
I'll have a full recap in the beginning of March with some of my favorites, the ones I wasn't as crazy about and some other random thoughts. Because I'm the queen of random thoughts, so why not.
I'll also be unveiling my next year-long (or longer...) adventure in March, so stay tuned for that!
{P.S. Here is an update I did about three months into my journey and here's what I had to say at the halfway point.}
xo Sara