This week, I started to think about my reading habits...about how I love to read, but I don't always make the time for it. Of course these past few weeks, anything that required peeling my rear off the sofa after school hours...or any sort of thought...was pretty much out of the question. Which is why I took two hour naps most nights of the week last week. Hopefully that exhaustion will clear up quickly. We had early dismissal today for the frightening inch of snow that came down and has already started to melt, so I can get some extra nap-time today :)
But back to my reading habits. I realized that I have been pushing my ninth graders to read one or two books every six weeks, but that I wasn't doing a lot of outside reading myself. I decided it was high time I made myself a reading goal. One of the staff women with Campus Crusade for Christ at Purdue used to have a goal of reading 50 books in a year. I was always so impressed by her, and thought that might be a good goal to adopt. At first, that seemed a little daunting, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it might work for me. As a high school English teacher, I kind of like to know what my kids are reading and enjoying, so if I have a healthy mix of Young Adult lit in with whatever else I'm reading, things will go quicker. I can read a decent YA book in one or two days. Heck, I polished off the Twilight series in under a week. So I was looking at a mix of YA lit, contemporary lit, several classics (I'd like to get through the Bronte and Austen collections), and some non-fiction in the next year. I'll probably start to share my process and opinions right here, because, well, I can. But I don't want to wait until January 1, so I'm going to start now. My first book will be Wuthering Heights, even though I've already started. I also checked out three other books at the library yesterday--I'll tell you about them as I get to them.
A few of the books I am thinking about:
Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in all Fifty States
There are several more....but this is the beginnings of a list.
3 comments:
I just took Wuthering Heights back to the library... it was overdue and I was out of renewals... and have a large fine. :( I still hadn't taken the time to start reading it.
Brian's going to check if out for me again from the college library.
I'm actually on here to look at your potato soup recipe so I can make supper... it won't start raining here-so soup and fresh bread is on the menu.
Sounds like a great plan!! I would love to see your finished list - I need to read more myself. I just don't think People magazine should be my main source of literature. :-)
50 books in a year is a good goal. One I don't think I'd manage. I'll be glad if I read 10. I was actually just working on my own list of books I want to read last night. I have 6 books on it so far. One isn't a specific book so much as I really want to read something by G.K. Chesterton. If you'd like recommendations, I have some, although they're mainly in the Christian non-fiction and sci-fi genres.
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