Week by Week: A Year of Reading and Reflecting

I have decided to attempt a reading challenge, much like the one that Sarah Nelson embarks on in her book So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading. I read her book last fall and enjoyed peeking at her bookshelf and learning how she came about reading the books she reads, one a week, for a year. Any seasoned reader would snicker at her "double-booking rule" or her "first 30 pages rule." We all seem to have some sort of outline or self imposed boundaries in our minds of when you call it a loss or you resolve yourself to go back later for a second try.

One of the reasons I would like to record my reading weekly is because, like Sarah, I read a wide variety and there is no rhyme or reason to which genre or author I will pick up next. And sometimes, there is a story just in the telling of the who or how you came upon a book you love. For me, if it is one of those truly delicious books that will forever remain in the recesses of my mind, ones that I recall the memory when I want a sweet treat, to recall a character I loved and feel as if I am reuniting with an old friend-those can become even more precious depending on the when or how I received the book.

Another aspect of reading that Sarah so aptly highlights is matching our reading experience with our personal one, "and trying to see where they match up and they don't". I love this introspective glance at not only what we read, but how what we choose to read, and what books we love in some ways defines who we are. In my book journal I generally give a small review of the book; mini plot summary, themes, my personal reflections, whether I liked it. But I realize in retrospect that I do not always include what was happening during my life that may have an impact on whether a certain book resonates loudly in my heart or makes me furious at a character I relate to oh so well.

Lastly, let us not forget the way one book can mention some minute detail or refer to an obscure figure in history and you filter this detail through your mind as you read; insignificant, details of a story, yet while you are reading your next book, there it is, it pops up surprising you in black and white, right there on the page! of the next book you are reading, and you are thinking "What a coincidence!" yet two books later there it is again. Does this happen to anyone else? My books sometimes just by fate mention something or have a connection to a previous book I read and it seems so insignificant, yet linked some way in my mind.

Okay, enough said, I am eager to begin, and I will do my best to post some of my reviews as I move along.