Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you get to read as much as you WANT to read?

(I’m guessing #1 is an easy question for everyone?)

2. If you had (magically) more time to read–what would you read? Something educational? Classic? Comfort Reading? Escapism? Magazines?

One impetus that helped me "take the plunge" into blogging was the fact that there are so many of these wonderful daily prompts in which to participate. I was afraid that if I started a blog, I would run out of things to say in a very short period of time, but memes like this one should help keep me going.

In answer to the first part of the question, which will reiterate what most booklovers would say, NO --- I do not have enough time to read! Of course, I might elaborate and say that I do not have enough time period. How I wish we had about 36 hours in a day. But then I read a quote on Rob's blog, Rob Around Books, that caught my attention:

we all have have the same amount of time available to us; Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein and William Shakespeare etc. had the same amount of time available to them as we do, so the key is how you use that time.

So the question is --- how do I currently spend my time vs how do I want to spend my time? And truthfully, the answer is.....I probably spend my time the way I want to. Sure, there is the housework, chores, paperwork, etc. that I HAVE to do, rather than want to do.....but I do those activities because they are a necessary part of who I want to be: wife, mother, teacher, homemaker, etc.

The answer to question two is....I would want to spend time reading more of EVERYTHING! Well, more books, that is. I would probably want to spend more time reading more background information for the novels that I teach: author biographies, timeperiod in history that the novel was written, commentary on the novels, etc. I think this would enrich my appreciation of the works and help me to be a better teacher.

I would also want to spend more time reading the Bible. Not necessarily more of the Bible at one sitting, but rather more thoughtful, meditative reading of the scriptures.

I would also like to read more classics. There are SO many classics that I never read as a young adult and now I want to try to make up for lost time. Not only do I enjoy the timeless themes and rich literary qualitity of the classics, I take comfort in knowing that I can pick up one of the gems and not be bombarded with bad language or explicit sex and violence. It seems that many of the popular favorites today have good storylines and relatable characters, but it is so hard for me to get through the language.

Finally, I would like to find the time to read more books that I would consider pure pleasure - total escapism. I do not have to annotate the passages for diction or syntax; I do not have to analyze the work for rich symbolism or layers of meaning. I can just sit down, relax, and be drawn into the book for my entertainment.

One of my all time favorite ways to relax is to go to the bookstore and just browse. I always start at the sales area, then work my way to the literature area, meander to the mystery/thriller section, and usually end the trip with literary criticism. It is a good thing that I do not have enough money to buy all the books I want (seems to go hand in hand with not having enough time), but I do have a library. After I make my list in the bookstore, I then go to the library and search the stacks for these new finds. I never leave the library empty-handed, and usually come out with far more books than I can possibly read in the 3 week loan period. Which brings me full circle to where I started: is there ever enough time to read as much as I want?