Ah, dear book, how I have missed you. Trying to write you just isn’t the same as being able to pick up the words of someone else and losing myself in them.
Yep, so it’s probably been six months or so since I read a book. No, wait! I recently read two – maybe three months ago. This is seriously sad news for the girl who used to read books during class in high school instead of listening to the teachers. I think it was a problem for some teachers – do we tell her to stop, or encourage the reading?
I don’t remember which they chose.
I do remember guzzling books like I’ve always consumed caffeine – in large quantities, whenever possible. I read an awful lot of romance novels, sprinkled with a liberal amount of science fiction, and quite a bit of erotic romance. I read some Robert Jordan, and made it almost to the originally projected ending, book eight. I enjoyed a ton of Stephen King, until I slogged through The Dark Tower books I and II. Those were not my favorites, I don’t mind telling you.
I don’t receive books by the half dozen for Christmas anymore. I don’t keep my Barnes & Noble membership up to date because it’s not a savings for me. The last time I seriously visited a library and came away with more than one book for my kids was early 2004, before which I routinely came back from the library with ten or more books. I had to bring a bag with me to carry them to my car or dorm room, depending on my living situation.
I would bet five dollars that I didn’t read 10 whole books in 2009.
I can’t entirely blame my lack of reading on my kids. Sure, children are a time suck (albeit very cute, adorable, loving time sucks that I wouldn’t trade for anything). But other people with kids read. It can be done.
I can’t even blame the Internet for my reading deficit. I read a lot online, actually. It’s easy to do, and it’s better than the newspaper 75% of the time. But I can’t even clam having read more than one good eBook online this year, and on top of that, it doesn’t completely replace a good, heavy in your hand book.
Part of my 2010 plan is to read more. A lot more. I know I can’t go back to my 10 books in two weeks days, but I certainly could process at least one or two books a month without completely losing my mind. And if it turns out I can’t, I’m going to try really hard not to hate myself.
I would really love my kids to love reading as much as I do, but I’m afraid I don’t do as good a job of conveying that passion as I could. I need to start reading to my kids more, and let them see me reading, instead of hiding it away after they’re asleep.
I think I’m on the right path, here, for next year which is creeping closer and closer with each passing day. I’ll find a way to track my progress as I read. Did you know at one point I had a blog simply for the books I’d read? That was fun to keep track of – I would update it about once a day or so, and usually would take the time to write a review about it as well. That particular blog has passed away, but perhaps I’ll rediscover my book lust and get it going again.
Time will tell. :)