What's On Your Bedside Table?

After a year working at the library, I can say for certain that my childhood habit of reading for pleasure is back, and with something of its old strength. It’s a shame that it ever waned as much as it did. I went from reading avidly for myself, to reading for college, to a period of mostly watching films rather than reading, to reading to children. Then I was too busy to read anything much beyond a hundred work emails every day and the instructions for some packaged meal at night. Sad but true. 

Now, I typically have one eBook, one audiobook, a Book on CD and a good old-fashioned paper and ink book in the works. Up until recently, I envied (and even suspected of fibbing) those poets and famous people – funny that I put them in two different categories – who rattle off impressive titles and summaries when asked what they’re currently reading. But I am reading The Joy Diet by Martha Beck for self-improvement, and just finished a 3-set Pema Chodron Book on CD for the same. I also listened to Emily of New Moon to make up for that hole in my childhood syllabus, and am reading on my little phone screen The Corruptible Crown by Gillian Bradshaw, because she is my guilty pleasure. Her historical novels are as good as Mary Stewart or Rosemary Sutcliff, and her speculative fiction is like that of Connie Willis, although with a bit less wry humor. 

I have a long list of books to read next, but I’m aiming for about one a week on average. I think listening in the car is cheating a bit, and reading on my phone while on the elliptical machine at the gym is a good way to enjoy both activities. Because really, especially when you factor in a full night’s sleep and meditation or other doing-nothing time, which I now consider as important as anything more “productive,” there aren’t enough hours in the day. But I will say that already, three days into it, this renewed focus on writing has had very positive results for me. I’ll see if they continue before I jinx it with more details.