Comments on: My Reading Life: Aspiration vs. Reality

By: Kitty

Kitty — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 22:31:45 +0000

You will definitely have much more time to read when the girls are a bit older but in the meantime what about setting up a book group? Mine was set up eight years ago by a friend who was leaving our neighbourhood and wanted to keep in touch. We all had very young children then and now we’re all moving into the secondary school (junior high?) stage. In the meantime we have read 49 books! We meet around every six weeks in one of our houses, drink wine, eat cheese, talk about the book for about an hour or so and then move on to life the universe and everything (well ok, usually the children). We each take it turn to choose a book, and the rule is that the choice is final, no discussion. I’ve always been a reader but the book group has meant I’ve read all sorts of books I never would have picked up otherwise. One of the most fun moments is always when whoever’s turn it is reveals their pick at the end of the evening.

I know this doesn’t really solve the problem of not enough time but there’s nothing like a deadline…

By: jenn/hippygoth

jenn/hippygoth — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:55:20 +0000

I still manage to read a lot – but the stuff I do read, well, take a look at my Goodreads “To Read” queue, and it’s full of non fiction books about complex subjects and “literary fiction.” (God, can we have a whole other conversation about the phrases ‘literary fiction’ and ‘genre fiction’?) Then, take a look at the list of books I’ve read this year, and it’s a giant pile of YA fiction, romance novels, and mysteries. Why? Because I can read one of those books in 2 days. I’ve been reading “A Visit From the Goon Squad” for almost 2 years (borrowed a friend’s advance copy, even), but I’ve read virtually everything by Cassandra Clare & Holly Black in that time. I have guilt over what I am reading, not how much. Which is, seriously, ridiculous. Talk about standards that nobody else cares about!

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 11:11:34 +0000

I lived in France 17 years ago, and still sport on my bookshelves French books that I lovingly paid to mail to my parents’ house to “keep up my French” when I returned to the US. Have I touched them in the intervening 17 years? NON! And I only have two cats, not two kids.

I also have been trying to reboot my Portuguese, which I was once fluent when I was about oh, three, but can barely utter a sentence. I still talk like a robot on valium.

By: April

April — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:01:28 +0000

I have a lot of parenting magazines stacked up around here. I do keep a couple in the car for when I get held up and I forgot my book.

I like staying with my mother at her house. The kids are so good there and my mom does all the cooking and cleaning so I can be lazy and I can read a lot. I always take like 3 books with me there. Plus I don’t have a tv in the guest room there so only thing I can do at night is read because my SD sleeps on the couch in the living room at night,

By: Michele

Michele — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:14:00 +0000

Love this post! I can relate to all of this…the lack of reading time, former life that involved traveling, and mostly the delusion that I really will get to read all the things I’ve put aside and try all the recipes I’ve clipped. Glad to know I am not alone. I do consider us lucky that we have loving families, lives and jobs that keep us from reading though…