when do I read?

I read an average of 8 books per month. I was asked recently when I find time to read. The answer is that I find minutes to read all the time and everywhere! My secret is that I am usually in the middle of at least 4 or 5 books at a time. I keep a book everywhere. There is a book in my Suburban (actually, at the moment there is 2 there but that's the exception, not the rule). There is a book in my car. There is a book by my bed. There is a book upstairs in the living room.

If I have a spare moment, I pick up a book and read a page or two. Most of my reading takes place during two distinct times:

1) when I'm in the car waiting - my children have a LOT of practices. Often, I am running between one and another and there's not enough time to go home but there is 10-20 minutes that I can read while I wait. Also, McKayla and Chandler are required to be at their soccer games 45 and 30 minutes early, respectively. That's a great time to get some reading done (if I'm not running someone to something else in the meantime).

2) when I should be sleeping. I have sleep issues and frequently awake at 3 am. My mind immediately starts going on my to-do list and don't forget list and so on. I usually read. Sometimes it works and I get back to sleep. Other times I get 1 1/2 - 2 hours of reading in before I have to get up and start my day.


When/how do you squeeze reading in to your busy life?

books

It's time for my monthly update on reading. The books I've read in the past month are:

My Abandonment by Peter Rock

Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs Novels) by Jacqueline Winspear

**Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average by Joseph T. Hallinan

The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton

Digging Deeper: Understanding and Applying Life-Changing Doctrines from the Book of Mormon by Robert I Eaton

**5000 Year Leap: A Miracle that Changed the World by W. Cleon Skousen

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Pretties (Uglies, Book 2) by Scott Westerfield

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

**A Hundred Years of Happiness by Nicole A. Seitz

The ones with stars ** are the ones I highly recommend.

books and reading

Last night after book club several of us had a discussion about genres and good writing vs. bad writing. My friend, Tami, confessed to being a "book snob". I had to really think about it but what I've decided is that, for me, it mostly comes down to the story. If I really get engaged in the story, I can overlook poor writing. The writing might bother me at first, but if I enjoy the story I quit noticing the poor writing. The opposite is also true. I have read books where I've loved the writing but if I don't like the story, I quit being enthralled by the writing.

For example, I recently read "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath. I loved the writing style and the imagery at first but I never got engaged in the story. Therefore, about halfway through the book, I was ready to quit. I ended up disliking the book. Good writing is not enough to carry me through a book.

I think I can read and enjoy almost anything as long as it has an interesting plot or great characters or something to engage my mind. The writing is secondary to me.

reading

Have I mentioned how much I love to read? lol

I attribute my good grades to reading. I attribute my awesome spelling skills (I was once a champion speller) to reading. I attribute my job as a writing lab tutor at Ricks College to (you guessed it) reading! There are so many benefits to reading besides the things you learn and the pure enjoyment.

However, as much as I enjoy reading, I am afraid I have probably still taken it for granted. John Adams (2nd U.S. President) spent considerable time in France and speculated that of the 24 million residents of France at the time, probably only 500,000 could read. I also love math so I computed the percentage - 2%. Only 2% of the population was able to read!

That was probably the norm for the time. However, America's founding fathers thought it important that all people be educated. Universal education was considered an indispensable ingredient to a free society. May I never take reading for granted again!