Sunday, November 4, 2012

November's Lent: Be a Bookworm

When it's time to pick my Lent for the month, I first look to see if there's something obvious I should do:
 
Is there something lacking in my life at the moment? 

Is there something I've been meaning to get done but haven't made time for?

When I asked myself this at the end of October, the answer came pretty quickly: Put frankly, I've been totally sucking at reading lately.

For the last few months, sitting down with a good book has fallen to the bottom of my priority list. And if I'm being honest here…I can't even remember the last book I finished. Not good. Plus, I've developed this terrible habit of starting a book, getting about half way through, putting it down, and then starting a new one before finishing the old one. What this looks like for me is a nightstand piled high with a year's worth of half read books. Again, not good.

So, this month I'm embarking on a reading challenge. My (lofty) goal is to read one book per week. Here's the breakdown:

Week 1: I'm going to finally finish 2 of the books I've been working on for quite some time. Book 1: The Four Desires, by Rod Stryker, and Book 2: Fierce Medicine, by Ana Forest (or, yoga book 1 and yoga book 2).

Week 2: Julie & Julia, by Julie Powell. As someone who clearly loves personal challenges, it's shocking that I haven't read this one yet. Anyone have a copy I could borrow?

Week 3: I'm going to be good little lulu and read one of the suggested books from our lululemon library: The Leadership Pipeline, by Ram Charam.

Week 4: Readers choice! That's right, I'm looking for suggestions from all of you for what to read, so please leave a comment and let me know what your "must reads" are (keep in mind I only have a week too, so no epic 800 page novels with tiny type please).

And I'm off for a little Sunday night reading...

15 comments:

  1. I believe I have my copy of Julie and Julia in my cubicle at work. If it's still there, you're welcome to it!

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  2. I absolutely loved 'Eat, Pray and Love' so I highly reccomend this book.

    Enjoy! :)

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  3. I second Eat, Pray, Love. It got so much hype but it's a great book to get lost in! I read it twice!

    Just a warning that if you tend to be a serial reader of the same author, her(Elizabeth Gilbert)next book, 'Committed' was terrible!

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  4. Eat, Pray, Love is the first book I couldn't stand to finish. I was disgusted with the author/character before she even went on a single trip. My favorite book to recommend is Memoirs of a Geisha.

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  5. If only I hadn't already read both of those (and I loved Eat Pray Love for the record).

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  6. Have you read the Poisonwood Bible? It is one of my favorites! I also love Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

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  7. The Kite Runner? I found your blog a little while ago and love the format.

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  8. Well it looks like I've attracted readers to my blog who have the same choice in books as I do because I've already read all of your suggestions so far haha. Except for the Poisonwood Bible, I'll put that on the list of potentials.

    Thanks for your suggestions everyone, keep 'em coming!

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  9. Oh man, Eat Pray Love is probably my all time favourite book. If you like that type of memoir, you might like Wild by Cheryl Strayed? I LOVED this book recently.

    You might like to join Goodreads if you read a lot and like hearing others' suggestions for books - it's the only way I could possibly keep track of my ever-growing reading list. My profile is http://www.goodreads.com/alittlecoffee if you want to see the books I've read and the ratings I've given them!

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  10. I LOVE memoirs so I'll definitely check out Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Thanks for the suggestion!

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  11. I was totally going to recommend Wild as well! It was awesome and definitely a quick read for me!

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  12. Ohh, a quick read is good, especially since I only have a week to read each book.

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  13. I am a librarian so I could go on and on about this, obviously, but here are a few "quick reads" I really enjoyed from the past year or so..

    Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
    The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
    The Night Circus, Erin Morgernstern
    The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick (REALLY quick because it has lots of pictures)

    Also have you read the Hunger Games series?

    Ok, I'll stop! Feel free to hit me up for more details - I also second the recommendation to join Goodreads.

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  14. Awesome, thanks for the suggestions Hank!

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