spend more time reading

My goal was to read a book a month this year…and so far so good! I started a book club and we’ve been reading for 4 months now and have met so many cool people. I’m so glad I can share great readings!

I used to watch movies or TV as I fell asleep, but now I read. And then I read when i wake up for a while. I’ve read more in the past few days than I’ve been able to in the past few months.

I keep buying books that interest me, but so many of them are still sitting on the shelf unread.

So my new year’s resolution was to read one book a month…so far I’ve finished the January book, which is Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min. She is a great author and reallu digs deep into emotions and truth. Have yet to pick a book for February…any suggestions? I was thinking perhaps In Cold Blood by Capote. We’ll see!

I have “read all the books I own” on my list, and since doing that would require spending more time reading, Im moving this goal off the list to save space.

I didn’t spend a ton of time reading, but at my day job, I have to sit outside the boy’s bathroom and let them in one at a time (because apparently they can’t be trusted going in groups). So that gives me a 10 minute break and a 30 minute lunch where I’m just sitting on a chair, hoping I don’t smell anything funny when the door opens.

Granted, now that some of the kids know me, they often come over (mainly a couple of 7th and 8th grade girls) during their break times to talk to me and ask me advice (which I LOVE), most of the time, I just read. So that means at least 5 days a week I spend some time reading, which hasn’t been the case for a couple of years now (even though my book buying hasn’t slowed down any).

I work at a school on weekday mornings and two days a week I stay the full day. It’s a really small school, so during breaks and lunch I monitor bathrooms, letting boys in one at a time – exciting I know. So, I use the time I’m just sitting there telling the boys “nope, someone’s in there,” and “excuse me, there’s a line,” to read. Their break is 10 minutes and their lunch is about half an hour. So I dont have a ton of time, but at least I’m trying to maximize that time.

I’m doing this a little bit more nowadays. I am trying to go through various books about organizing. This helps me learn more about what I do from people who have more experience. Also, sometimes I get a client who wants to know which books are good, or wants to know if I know the system used by a certain author.

So far, I’ve found that a lot of thes people are just saying the same thing. But some books are very unique and really good. I’ve been checking books out from local libraries to save money, but some of them I wish I owned so I could jot notes in them as I’m writing.

C’est la vie. The goal is “spend more time reading” not “buy more books.” god knows I have too many to house as it is.

So I saw the movie “Capote” and then bought “In Cold Blood.” We’ll see how the book goes, but so far so good. He IS an amazing writer.

so I finished the really huge book I had been reading for the past several weeks and then I just blew through a Vonnegut book that was quite entertaining. And I started another! So, I feel good about this goal, but I think I might hang on to it a bit longer to make sure it sticks.