The Literacy Challenge

I love to read. More specifically, I love to read non-assigned, good books.  I have  friends who pick up books and read them to the end, whether they like them or not.  I have friends that, during the height of finals in senior year which all textbooks try to kill a soul, still managed to read at least one extra-curricular book a month.  I am a little more fickle than that, I am afraid.  I have a tendency to put a book down and leave it unfinished if it dares to bore me. In fact, up until high school, I devoured books like they were my only source of oxygen. That slowed down a bit when in high school, I found myself bogged down by keeping up with school reading assignments. When I got to college, this sad pattern continued. When I graduated and started working in the ambulance, my available time for reading increased, and so for a moment, my demands for books went up again, and then I got switched to the office, where reading books is generally frowned upon during office hours.  All of this to say, I really have missed reading. So I am trying something new this year, and I know I may not succeed every month, but it's a plan that I like.

Read at least one book a month. 

A majority of my friends just started laughing hysterically at me, because they are closer to reading a book/week, but that's okay, I'm okay with being their comic relief, occasionally.  To be more specific with my plan, I want to read at least two books a month, but I will consider a month a success if at least one book is read.  And by "read" I mean an actual paper book. (Some of you may know, that I love a good audiobook...those I usually do two a month only because my finances limit me from doing more).  The requirements for the monthly books are these: Must be a paper book, at least one book/month must be new to me.  Beyond that, it really doesn't matter what the book is, how thick it is, who it was written for, or the topic. The majority of the books will be selected by my meandering through the Goodwill Book store(A wonderful place where a blender mix of books are available for $0.25-$1.50/each...these books will be denoted by GWB in the future), but I'm also open to gifts, loans, and suggestions.  And so my meandering lit adventure has begun!

So far, I must say that I am into the second month of year with a good starting success rate. For January, I finished When She Was Good by Norma Fox Mazer(GWB), Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard (GWB)(Quite a small book, considering it has two authors) suggested to me by my college friend, Peter, and Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry (The author of The Giver.... Thanks, Morgan!).  I'm feeling smarter already.

Now it is February.  I have a bigger task at hand, because I have a variety of books I am reading right now, and I know I need to choose at least one to actually finish this month! I also just received Unshaken: Rising from the Ruins of Haiti's Hotel Montana in the mail.  So many choices!  As my challenge goes forward, I may start giving updates and recommendations on books, but mostly, I'm just using this blog as accountability ;-), thanks for being there for the sake of my intelligence, blogfriends!

So far, this month's range of books are:

• The Adventures and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes(Another hearty thanks to Morgan!)
• A Tale of Two Cities(This is one of my hover books... I've been reading it off and on for years, depending ony my tolerance level for boredom)
• Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (Technically my car book, which is there for reading when stuck at appointments, but I'm thinking it may be time to end this particular road trip)
• My Friend, Flicka (I've read it multiple times, however, I have not read it since I was 11)
• Unshaken

We shall see which books turn up finished this month!