Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Am I Reading Enough? An Update

  1. March, Geraldine Brooks
  2. The Mysterious Journey of Edward Tulane, Kate DiCamillo
  3. God's Echo, Sandra Sasso
  4. The Dwelling of the Light, Rowan Williams
  5. Purple Hibiscus,
  6. Giants in the Earth, Rolvaag
  7. The Double Bind, Chris Bohjalean
  8. Half Magic, Edward Eager
  9. Neither Here Nor There, Bill Bryson
  10. A Three Dog Life
  11. The Competent Pastor, Ronald Sisk
  12. Murder in the Marais, Cara Black
  13. Red Bird, Mary Oliver
  14. Sleeping With Bread, Linn
  15. Praying in Color
  16. If Your Name Was Changed At Ellis Island
  17. Atonement, Ian McEwan
  18. Water for Elephants
  19. Tall Grass, Sandra Dallas
  20. Take this Bread, Sara Miles

These are the books I already read and reported on. And new additions:

  1. The Kommandant's Girl
  2. Here if you Need Me
  3. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
  4. Preaching as Testimony, Anna Carter Florence
  5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie
  6. The Citizen Solution, Harry Boyte
  7. Jesus for President (though I confess to skimming some parts)

There you have it, a record of my failure. I've only finished reading 27 books so far this year. I just don't get enough reading done. I won't get 50 books done this year, that's for sure. But I've realized a few things so far:

a) I can't read in bed for very long unless I get new glasses.

b) I need to be more self-disciplined in how I read; I have too many half-finished books lying around.

c) I have a lot of things to do.

I'm currently working on Tribal Church, and In the Bleak Midwinter.

15 comments:

Lindy said...

You read. It's just that you've liberated yourself from the very boring habit of reading book after book. You go from idea to idea, from fleeting thought to learning more and discarding what doesn't meet your own needs. I say BRAVA!

ROBERTA said...

all i can say is WOW - i'm so impressed with the sheer volume of books you're reading all at once! btw, half magic is one of my favorites :)

Barbara B. said...

Come on out, I'll fix ya up with a new prescription for some new glasses :)

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

You're making me feel guilty. I doubt if I've read a dozen new books this year.

Billie Greenwood said...

Yes, you blew way past me back in January! Good on you!

Scott said...

I'm going to struggle to hit my 50 this year, too, even with iPod books for my running.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who's having a tough reading year!

Anonymous said...

I think you beat me. I realize that I have to actually budget time for reading. I read all day, but its mostly internet blog articles. But I'm always reading a book, it just takes me forever it seems to finish one or two. I need to carve out an hour a day just for books I think. trouble is, where to find the hour!

Hot Cup Lutheran said...

well kudos to you diane for the effort! i used to read and read and read... but lately as in the last year... too unsettled. tonight i painted though... yahoo!

Lindy said...

Oh. When I made my comment you didn't have anything listed. I have to say, that's an impressive list. And, you've got some good ones on there.

Jennifer said...

Quality's important....

Terri said...

I too have a large number of partially read books...after awhile I find that books run out of steam and the author becomes redunant, I read the same idea over and over in multiple ways, so eventually I put it down and move on...

that said, you have read far more books than I this year...but some of the books I am waiting to read are the same on your list...

Crimson Rambler said...

One source of annoyance in reading multiple books at once is -- for me at least -- trying to go back and find "that great phrase" or sentence, or whatever.
I was supposed to be reading "The Mission-Shaped Church" last week and isntead I read "Tin Roof Blowdown" -- most of one night...wow.

Fran said...

Um... You are amazing. Failure? Diane, please! Not at all!!

Sue said...

I'd say that is an impressive list. Forget the number of books - just read what your soul needs and what feeds your spirit. I don't see failure here at all Diane.

Anonymous said...

You're doing great...I'm lucky if I can get one book in a month!