“Exercise more.”
“Eat healthier.”
“Travel.”
Kudos to anyone who makes a New Year’s Resolution and wants to improve themselves. Even more kudos to anyone who keeps it!
I’m glad to share with you that my brilliant fiance, David, has made an awesome New Year’s Resolution to read TWO BOOKS A MONTH.
For any working professional, that’s a significant goal! For some, the time it takes to read seems a luxury, a forbidden delight. For others, reading can be drudgery, because frankly you’d just rather sleep.
Either way, reading two books a month is a terrific goal for broadening your horizons, supporting authors (whoohoo!), improving yourself, entertaining yourself, and more. It’s not too late to give yourself a similar goal for 2014!
There’s just nothing like a man who reads. Others have applauded this special kind of gentleman, too – enjoy this blogger’s take, called “Date a Guy Who Reads.”
January’s Reads
So far, David completed the month of January with flying colors, reading the following:
- “Heaven’s Shadow” by David S. Goyer & Michael Cassutt (and now he’s thoughtfully lent it to me – SCORE!)
- “Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan
- “Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters” by Rick Riordan
As you can see, David went above and beyond in January and started 2014 off right.
He’s already in the throes of reading one of his picks for February, Malcolm Gladwell’s “David and Goliath” – fodder for lots of controversy and conversation there on the real underdogs and power players!
As for Me
I am enjoying David sharing with me about his reading conquests immensely, and it fires up both my writer’s spirit and my soon-to-be wifely spirit, as I explore with him these new worlds and ideas. It’s a lot of fun!
As for me, reading remains a treasured treat. I love it, but a new kind of guilt seeps in that says “you could be writing right now.” I feel the urgency to write, especially as life becomes inevitably busier. However, as Stephen King and so many others say, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
And he’s right. Each time I pick up a book, now I appreciate it as a reader as well as a writer. I look to see how the author gives each character a special voice, moves plot along, leverages dialogue wisely, etc. So I keep reading both for entertainment and for writing research. Plus, I also find that it calms me down a lot as a break when I get nerve-wracked over wedding planning!
Right now I’m enjoying a book I picked up at Edward McKay‘s from the bargain bin – “Dragonfly in Amber” by Diana Gabaldon, which is a description-rich, historical romance that is pure fun! Hope to have a full review for you soon on this blog!
-Susie
{Susie Boles Books} 