My eyes are burning because I'm exhausted. And no, I haven't been writing. I haven't been working. I haven't been awake with sick kids. Hell, I haven't even started another crazy home improvement project.
My truth this week is that I'm reading.
Oh, it's been too long since I've really lost myself in a book. It's so easy to get caught up in reading books that you're supposed to read. I've been having conversations like this with myself for months:
Lisa: You know, you really should pick up [INSERT BOOK TITLE HERE] that everyone's talking about.
Other Lisa: Or I could watch more Canadian house porn?
Lisa: The publisher sent you that book. They're expecting a review! Tick-tock!
Other Lisa: But did you see what the Property Brothers did to that dump? The one is a realtor and the other one works with his hands. He's got these highlights that shimmer in the Canadian sunlight.
Lisa: Everyone will hate you if you don't read THAT BOOK. Get off Pinterest and READ you stupid HGTV whore.
Other Lisa: I'm sorry, I can't hear you. There's a marathon of Love It Or List It starting. That poor British designer always gets screwed by wonky roofs. Can't miss it. *Cranks the Canadian accents up to full volume*
Lisa: *sobs*
But over the past couple of weeks I've turned off the HGTV and I've completely stopped feeling obligated to read anything. If I start a book and I'm not completely hooked by chapter 5, I'm done.
And just like that reading is my new guilty pleasure. I tore through Jonathan Tropper's THE BOOK OF JOE (absolutely freaking genius), I devoured Emma's final adventure (SURRENDER by the amazing Lee Nichols) and now I'm completely and utterly lost in Stephen King's 11/22/63.
I feel like a new person. I feel inspired. I feel like a writer. No, screw that, I feel like a reader. And you know what? It feels good.
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Don't call this a comeback
So it’s been a minute. Or 10. Or truthfully more like 2,102,400. At least we think that’s how many minutes there are in 3 years, but let...
12 comments:
It does feel good to read for fun, what we choose, what we like, instead of trying to read all the books we should read - not that they wouldn't be good - but we all have different tastes.
Sometimes we get so caught up in writing and blogging (not to mention TV) that we forget the simple pleasure of reading. And it's great if you can switch off writer mode and just enjoy the story - that's a hallmark of great writing. I bought my wife 11/22/63 for Xmas and am planning to get it after her, but I already know it will take me a while!
It takes me like 2 weeks to read a book. I'm terrible.
ohh, the sweet sweet siren call of HGTV. No! I shut my ears to it!
I've actualy been doing pretty good for reading. I'm on my seventh one since the new year.
Put The Fault in Our Stars on your list. Reading it now and it makes me so happy to be able to sit down with it...even though the subject matter is kind of a downer.
Shelley
That's one of the reasons why I can't wait for baby #3 to come. I'm not going to write or edit for a month. It's time for some hardcore reading! Although I might have to reread chapters because of the whole sleep deprivation thing...
Ahhh! Jealous that you've read Surrender! I'm waiting for it to come in at the Library....*waits impatiently, with jiggling legs...bites fingernails*
Good for you.
Yeah!! I went on a two month long reading bender. You can probably tell by my Goodreads list. It was AWESOME.
But now I'm back to writing. Except for planning on picking up SK's book. That's like a must.
I really, really need to carve time for reading daily. Okay, weekly. I finally just read Hugo Cabret last week and loved it.
My 9 yr old daughter loves HGTV AND Reading. Two big wins!
I always feel like a reader...but sadly, I don't feel very good at much else (parenting and wife-ing are huge fails for me on most days). I am happy to now get paid to read. It takes the pressure off of having to do other more social things...
Oh dear, this comment makes me sound like a hobbit.
I want to reeeaaaaaad... (rings hands).
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