Friday, January 10, 2014

What I'm reading

Last week I posted my three words for 2014 and one of them was Read. This word is a holdover from 2013.

When I was a kid my nose was always in a book. I was one of those kids so addicted to reading that at the breakfast table I would read the box of cereal. In fact, my grandmother often tells people about when she would read to me at night and be out of books I would go grab an encyclopaedia and ask her to read that to me.

Somewhere in the last 4 years I've realized that while my rate of reading hasn't gone down (in fact it has probably gone up), the majority of what I was reading was online, whether through friends blog posts, news articles, or social media postings.

While there is lots to read, learn, and communicate through short form reading and writing, there is something very different about devoting hundreds of pages and hours to one piece of work.

Originally when I chose Read as a word for last year it was influenced by a project someone suggested about reading only 3 books in one year and really learning from each book. Acting on every idea, exploring every train of thought the writing brings you in. That did then and continues to feel like something I could never do. I get bored with things regularly. I like a lot of variety. The idea of reading only 3 books in one year sounds like torture to me.

But I was attracted to the idea of more completely comprehending what you are reading. Having joined a book club last year has really reminded me how much more deeply a book can move you when you are able to talk about it with someone who has different thoughts on it. I've also been reminded how much more deeply a book can move you when you take some time to process it.

So, while I have challenged myself to read even more than I read last year, I'd also like to get more out of my reading. I've decided in fact to combine both the word Read with my other word for the year Create. I will make an effort to write a few words about each book I am reading. No matter if they are fiction or non-fiction.

I usually have one fiction and one non-fiction book going at the same time. Right now I've been working
my way through The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Amazon affiliate link). I've already read A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four and am just beginning The Hound of the Baskervilles.

I often have one, sometimes two non-fiction books on the go. Usually one that I am reading to push my business skills, and the other for my book club. Which means right now I am reading both Do Cool Sh*t: Quit Your Day Job, Start Your Own Business, And Live Happily Ever After  (affiliate link) and Blood: The Stuff of Life (affiliate link)

I've already completed two books I started before the New Year so I'm well on my way to having 30 books read by the end of 2014

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