The Experiment

Three things happened recently (they always come in threes, don't they?) that made me realize how much I miss reading. The first thing was when DH asked me to read a book about leadership. I found it rather frustrating as it was full of cliches and examples that I didn't understand. Perhaps if I were a business professional I wouldn't have minded the cliches, and if I were more familiar with everything and everyone in the world I would have understood the examples (the author used "real-life" people in his examples to make a point. The problem was that I didn't recognize the names and he didn't explain the example), but as someone who enjoys fiction (or historical fiction at best), I got very little enjoyment out of the book.

The second thing that happened was when a friend asked if I wanted to borrow a book she had recently finished. I declined, saying that I don't make time to read anymore. I didn't want the book to sit on my shelf, unread, when I knew another friend wanted to read it. It made me sad to turn down a book.

The third thing was a blog post by a friend who recently got a job working at Borders. She says, " I was having a hard enough time keeping up with the books I knew about; now I discover there is a whole world of books I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW EXISTED that I also want to read!" And I realized how much I miss reading.

I used to read all the time, and haven't been reading much since I quit working and starting staying home full time. While I was working, I would read during my lunch break. I took a 30 minute lunch break so as to be able to get off sooner, and I only read during that break. Thirty glorious minutes to lose myself completely in a different world. Once I started staying home full time, I found that without the 30 minute constraint, I would neglect everything else (okay, except for the baby) to read until I'd finish the book. Or if I tried to limit myself to just reading in the evening before bed, I couldn't sleep because my mind was racing. It just didn't work. And so I stopped reading.

But, like that fateful cup of coffee the other morning, I've succumbed to temptation. DH worked at home today, so while Z was napping, I snuck off to the library (I didn't really sneak out, DH knew I was leaving). I picked up two books: Pemberley by Emma Tennant (a sequel to Pride and Prejudice!!!) and Welcome to the World, Baby Girl by Fannie Flagg (author of Fried Green Tomatoes..., the movie version of which we recently watched). I'm really looking forward to both of them, but I have to learn to read in moderation so I can still keep bellies full and the house in a reasonable state of cleanliness. So it's an experiment. If I do well, I get to check out more books, or maybe even spend some Borders gift cards I've got in my wallet. The books are due Sept. 9 (Z's 2nd birthday!), so hopefully I'll be giving you an update around that time. If I'm not ignoring this blog and everything else while voraciously devouring books.