Saturday, December 30, 2017

Books, Books, and More Books

I love to read. When I was a child and a teenager, I read all the time. I did not read much for pleasure when I was in college, but I began reading again as a newlywed. I continued to frequent the local library where I lived and read lots of books until Olivia was born. Then I read a few parenting and baby care type books, but that was about it for my personal reading. Of course I have always regularly read my Bible.

From the time Olivia was a baby until about 8-10 years later, I did not read much of anything strictly for pleasure. I read about homeschooling when I began to be interested in that, but I rarely read any fiction. In fact, the only fiction I read from 1995 until about 2004 was John Grisham's new book each year. Sometime before Leah was born (or maybe after, I can't remember) I discovered the Mitford books by Jan Karon, and I read all four of her first ones. I have not read any of the series past those first four, but I do own them. (Julie has read the entire series, and is currently reading Karon's latest book.)
About 2004 or 2005 Lynn introduced me to the Karen Kingsbury Baxter Family series, and I was hooked. I voraciously read every novel Kingsbury wrote over the next couple of years. My love for reading fiction was rekindled, and I have not stopped since. I have also added works of non-fiction, biographies, self-help, memoirs, and classics to my reading library.

I still go through spells of reading and not reading so much. When we take a vacation to the beach or the mountains, I will read a lot. During my normal day-to-day life, sometimes I read daily, and sometimes I read weekly.  A couple of months ago I tried a new "reading time" with Leah and Sam. After lunch (if we were not rushing out the door to CrossFit) I set the timer for 20 minutes and all three of us read silently. I love doing that, and I plan to continue that routine when we begin school again on January 8. Since I still read aloud to Leah and Sam each day, three times a day (Bible lesson, school, and bedtime), I read numerous books. But I still would like to carve out more time in 2018 for personal reading.

Here are a couple of book lists. Some of these titles are found in the sidebars of this blog.

What I'm Reading Right Now:

I'm taking notes while reading Empty Nest, so that's usually the book I read during our afternoon silent reading time. 
I'm reading Reading People either at bedtime (sometimes) or when I have some downtime while waiting somewhere. This is the book I keep in my purse.
I listening to Rooster Bar on audible while running on the treadmill. I am only letting myself listen to this book if I am running, so it is serving as a great motivator for me to run in the mornings. (I really, really needed a motivation, so this is working well so far!)
I have Soulful Simplicity on my iPad, so this is what I am reading while sitting with Sam at bedtime. I sometimes continue reading it as my bedtime reading.

What Is On My Bookshelf to Be Read:





2 comments:

  1. Hi Roan! I'm glad you're back! I checked in today just in case, and I was excited to see a new post from you. :) I am reading Bleak House right now--it's very good! My mom, oldest son, and I are in our own tiny bookclub and are reading it together, which makes for good accountability with these long books. I hope you and your family have a very happy new year! :)

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    1. Happy New Year to you too! A family book club sounds fun! Julie (my daughter who lives in Romania) and I are beginning our own book club this week. We are reading More Hours in My Day by Emilie Barnes. We plan to FaceTime weekly to discuss our readings.

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