It’s rainy today in New Jersey and great day to curl up with a book (or an E-reader as my lovely friend Michelle Golden, says). I figured today was a good day to talk about reading.
When I was little I loved to read. I would stay up into the middle of the night reading Sweet Valley High books. My father was a member of a book of the month club and when I was twelve I borrowed my first book from him. It was The Firm by John Grisham. I loved the book (and have since read everything that he has written) and I felt very grow-up reading something from the book club. After that, I read most of the books that were delivered to our house.
But, as I got older and life got busier, I stopped reading as much. Then, in February 2010, my friend Tim Arnold posted an article on Facebook about reading more by reading 40-pages a day. I tried that for a few weeks and definitely ended up reading more, but found it to be too much pressure. However, I did make a goal to read more in general, even if it wasn’t 40-pages.
One of the things I realized was that I was focusing so much on trying to read business books that I forgot how great fiction can be. I figured out that if I alternate books for business with books for pleasure, I was able to get through a lot more.
The truth is that the real thing that got me to read more was advice and a little peer pressure from Midori Connolly. She is always talking about reading books and suggesting books for me to read. Most of her suggestions are things I need to read to make me more knowledgeable on the topics that her and I speak about, so naturally I am interested in reading them. However, I explained to her that my challenge was finding time and focus to sit down and read. Her advice was simple and obvious. She said she reads before going to sleep each night and builds it into her day. It also happened that her advice coincided with the purchase on my iPad last June. I took her advice of reading at night, combined it with ease of downloading electronic versions of whatever I want to read and guess what? Over the last nine months, I’ve read more than ever.
This post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning my friend Graham. He loves reading and books so much that he dedicates his free time to helping our local library survive. He uses GoodReads to share his thoughts on what he has read and to encourage others to read as well. He’s recently purchased a Nook and is loving it. I love his passion for books and it has encouraged me in my journey so I wanted to mention him in this post.
So, there it is. Just some thoughts about reading on a gray day. I look forward to your comments.