Reading

I read a lot.

I'm a non-fiction junkie, but am being drawn back into reading classic fiction now that Elizabeth is in school and we're reading chapter books together.  (Think: Chronicles of Narnia, Winnie-the-Pooh, Secret Garden, etc.)

With the new year approaching you may be thinking about resolutions for 2011.  In my family growing up ,we had a wonderful tradition of all making some goals for the new year.  My dad has a folder of all of the resolutions we made throughout the years, chronicling our development moving from things like "not wetting the bed" to "reading a specific number of books."  I need to go back and see how many times I said I'd stop biting my nails.

I still do.  Though certainly less.

Sorry, dad.

Anyway, back to the topic of reading.  There's a lot of wonderful literature out there, folks!  A couple of years ago, I wanted to increase the amount of reading I was doing.  Many moms will attest to the fact that it's easy to let these nice past times slip away when you have small children.  My goal was to read a chapter of a book a day.

This was such an achievable goal and so beneficial!

If you've been wanting to read more, perhaps all you need to do is give yourself a challenge for this coming year.  There's no punishment or shame if you don't read each day, but it does make you stop to think before automatically turning on the tv in the evening or just putzing around online in your free time.  I try to stop in the middle of the day, rest at the beginning of the time when the kids are resting, and take 15-30 minutes to read something challenging or soul-nourishing.  We all need a break, folks!

Where to get books:

• your local library
• used book sites - I particularly like AbeBooks
• as gifts from birthday & Christmas wishlists
• your local used book store
• and, of course, regular old bookstores

Where to get good book recommendations or warnings about bad ones:

• people you trust or know have reasonable taste
• books that come up in conversation (this is why I just read Screwtape Letters)
• amazon reviews
• lists of classics like one from the BBC that a friend of mine just posted on facebook
• this book is good for recommendations for the whole family: Read for the Heart

What are you reading these days?  You can see my list to the right.

READ ON, FRIENDS!