My Reading Life
as at February 16, 2025
Each year for the past 3 years I have drawn myself a Bookshelf for my year of reading. I draw little rectangles on "rulered" lines where I can write the book titles in as I finish a book. I color code it by Audio, Owned, Borrowed, or Kindle. I have a separate shelf to highlight my Book Club Books, and a Challenge Shelf in the middle to challenge myself. One year I picked 12 books from my TBR shelf (the real life one with real life Hardbacks), and last year I upped it to 18 because that shelf is overflowing, y'all! I didn't get to all of them, so this year I assigned each book a month in which I need to read it, taking the decision making, and the stalling, out of the equation. It helps with What Should I Read Next (thank you Modern Mrs Darcy - that is a great podcast if you are looking to add several many books to your list!!).
Over these past three years, and really since Covid, I have not been reading as much. My husband and I opened a restaurant 30 minutes away from our house, and that has taken most of our attention. It has, however, afforded me more time for audio books - I listen in the car to and from the restaurant. Looking at my Bookshelves Lists, I see more and more yellow, the color for audio. And these are not usually books I would normally read. There have been more romantic comedies, a Neil Gaiman, and the current medieval fiction about the plague. Only once have I stopped listening to a book because I just did not like the narrator's voice. And I was one of those who used to think listening didn't count, because by definition reading is using your EYES, not your EARS. But some of these have been so well performed that suddenly I realized it really was like combining two of my favorite things - books and theatre! I am a true convert.
But don't worry, nothing can ever replace the feel of a book in my lap or on my table, with my trusty book weight holding down the sides. Or the way reading an actual book is a true getaway, forcing me to relax and enter a new world. I can get distracted by my thoughts when listening to a book that does not happen when I am reading the page. And I love talking about books with others - I met a new friend at Christmas and we immediately bonded when she saw my bookshelves in my house. Like, "Oh, you are a Reader, I already know I am going to like you." Even my brother and I can talk books now, and my sister in law and I are planning another Book Store Tour like the one we did a few years ago in New York (sorry David, Dot wins). My mother and my grandmother definitely got the ball rolling for me and my daughters - we are a generational family of Readers for sure!
My beloved book club has now been reading together for 20 years as of September. That is almost 180 books. We've had a few author visits (hello, Kimmery! Come back soon!), several Sally visits, 23 members total, and 46 kids, 20 grandchildren, 1 Pandemic and a bajillion bottles of wine (and yes, Luan's 360 bottles of Bud Light). We read mostly fiction (only 17 non fiction books in 20 years!!), and a majority historical fiction. We try to throw a "classic" in each year too. That doesn't always go over well. We are representative of probably 3, maybe 4 generations, and while a few have dropped out or moved, we have added a few new members and been all the better for it. I usually like the books we choose, and while I recommend a lot of them, some of them are definitely ones I would never have picked up without my book club. Which is the point really. Well, except for the friendships and talks and support and laughter. We actually do talk about The Book!!
But Book Club is only one book a month. That cubby in my Bookshelf (the real one) is still staring me down with lots of other books I know the club won't want to read - too many dragons and creatures and heft in most of them! But isn't that the amazing thing about a Reading Life? No two are EVER the same. No two people on the planet have the same list of books read in their lives, waiting to be read, or that they want to read (yes, there's a difference). Amazing, right? How marvelous. I intend to be better about sharing my list, my shelves, with you this year! Hang on tight.......my current read is a first - there is NOTHING on the inside flap. Do what?
