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9.12.09

Books...

After I graduated college, I started reading books again...


What? You think I didn't read in college? Well, I did read in college; however I was unable to read as many books as I wanted for "pleasure". Sure, I read hundreds of pages about micro-economics, macro-economics, muscles, anatomy & physiology, accounting, capitalism, international econ, business law, exercise science, history, German, English literature, but most of the books I read were to ensure I passed my classes, not for fun.


During my junior year of college, I spent a semester in Sweden. One of the classes I took was an English Lit class. It was one of my favorite classes I took in college... sometimes I wonder if I should have majored in English because of my love for reading... Anyway, we read many classics, most I hadn't read before. It was such a treat to read books for fun, and it was also homework.


After college, I created a list of books I had read each year and a list of books I wanted to read. Not long after I started dating Caleb, spending time with him became a priority and reading was again put on the "back burner".


It was actually Caleb who inspired me to pick up my habit again. At the beginning of the year (January 2009), he set a goal to read a book every two weeks; twenty-six books in year. I was proud of him and at the same time jealous of him. I thought it was great that he wanted to read and set a reading goal. Many of the books he chose were thought-provoking interesting reads which prompted interesting conversation in the car and at the dinner table. In July, he was counting the books he read this year, it was almost triple the number of books I had read. He inspired me, now I was determined to get back to reading.


My first book was The Shack. I started it in January and finished it in July. You may think, 'Six months to read a book?' Well, I read most of it, wanted to know the ending, read the ending, and then didn't want to read the middle... In July I forced myself to finish reading the book and it was quite satisfying to finish and start the next book.


The next book I picked up was one I got for Christmas 2008, Infidel. After that, I was hooked. I joined a book club and was even more inspired. So far I have read more books in the second half of 2009 than in the first half!


Here's a list of books I've read so far...


The Shack

Infidel

Three Cups of Tea

Love the One You’re With

Something Borrowed

Something Blue

Guernsey Literary Society

Water for Elephants

Babyproof

The Help

The Millionaire Next Door

Raving Fans


...twelve books; which equals one book a month. We all know that it was more like two or three books a month, since I started in July. Hopefully I can read a few more books before the year's over, maybe bump it to fourteen or fifteen.


I am now inspired to read 26-52 books next year and I am working on a "To Read" list. Once it's finished, I'll post it on this blog... I may even write a few books reviews... in the event people want ideas on what books to read and what books may be a waste of time... ;)

3 comments:

Kyle said...

Sara,
That's an awesome goal to set. It's not very often that you hear about people wanting to read books these days, so seeing such an ambitious goal is very inspiring.

--Kyle

Stacy Keeler said...

WOW Sara that is so great. I have to admit that I am trying to read more too. I noticed one of the books you read,"The Millionare Next Door" What did you think of this book? We also have this book?

Lani Giguere said...

Good for you Sara. I didn't realize that you liked to read as much as you do. You and Caleb must have some fascinating discussions.