reading goals – The Book Date

Recently I have noticed I am not reading as much, sometimes it even seems like a chore. I want to see what might be happening…

I spend quite a bit of time quilting – it is my new hobby since I retired a few years ago. I love doing it, making quilts and giving them to people. I also love scrolling through fabric stores online, looking at colours and pretty designs. I ~~sometimes~~ even buy some. It’s a bit like books – there are designers and they have new lines come out every so often. So tempting!
I spend way to much time online – scrolling through places like Facebook and Instagram. Plus watching videos on You Tube. Mostly “how to” videos about quilting! Or sometimes other interests.
I am walking every day which is great – early mornings are so fresh and mostly without any deterring wind. But… I’ve given up listening to audiobooks while I walk, I am preferring to just “be” and enjoy my surroundings and the peace and quiet… or noise of the traffic! So fewer audiobooks, plus listening time goes into podcasts, so many good ones.
At night I find myself more tired thanI used to be,so when I pick up a book I can’t concentrate. Sometimes in the early afternoonI am too heavy headed to read. So a little siesta is needed. I do get up at 6am every morning which works well, but it has some downsides.
And then … too many books which creates unneeded self pressure to read them. I want to read all those books from the library and while I do keep review books to a limited number, I look at all my own books and I feel swamped. Plus I am always picking up recommendations from bloggers and authors.

So it’s only a problem if its a problem to me, and it just natters away a bit at me. I am going to try a few things in the next weeks – August and see if it helps. Some things I don’t want to change but I may find other ways to get my reading mojo back.

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I think now is the time for me to focus on 2021 and what I want in my reading life for the coming year. These may be refined as I go along as I’ll check myself out at the end of each month.

Read 100 books via the Goodreads Challenge. This is doable for me and I prefer quality reading ( as I enjoyed that book) over reading tons of books.
Read what I truly enjoy, sometimes I stray into the “should”. I should read this book or I should like that book because…. I want to truly own my own reading taste. My taste veers towards what some call “fluff”, which to be honest I find somewhat objectionable. I like books that end satisfactorily, I like good writing but not flowery literary writing. I like a good engaging plot and characters who grow and that I can enjoy. Within those parameters I read fairly widely I think. I always welcome a good theme with a something to say about life and I like it when an author has a distinctive voice.
Track where I pick up the recommendation for reading a book. It’s not necessary but I still want to do it. Why because if I like the book then I am more likely to pick up another recommendation from the source.
Read or pass on a good swag of the books sitting on my shelves and Kindle. Some of these are ones possibly that I thought I “should” read and like, so I’ll just pass them on or delete if on my Kindle.
Use the library where I can rather than buy books, although there will always be some authors I choose to auto buy or ones I want for other reasons. But …. softly, softly! I did use the library really well in 2020 and I want to continue that … but I really need to be sure I when buying that its a book I really want to keep.

Tag: reading goals

Reasons I Am Not Reading So Much

My 2021 Reading Intentions