Books can really slow me down. I have been on a tear to read adolescent literature since moving to Language Arts a few years ago. Before then I read books about social studies – books for big people, such as The History of the World in Six Glasses or Salt: A World History and it would take me all summer or a semester to read them. Now, I read, on average, a book every two weeks, not bad. However, I have a more ambitious summer goal – to read twenty books. That is a book every four days, and that means I am going to be reading a lot! I know I am going to make somebody unhappy!
I fell asleep reading my current book, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass last night. I started reading it Friday or maybe Thursday I forget when I began it, but I was having a difficult time getting into it. I would have put it down if I had not promised myself that I needed to read it. It wasn’t until yesterday that it began to get interesting.
The premise is that Jeremy Fink is looking for keys to a box he got in the mail and he can’t find them. His father had put the box together for him before he passed away and asked a family friend to mail it to Jeremy before his thirteenth birthday. The box is to be opened on his birthday and it contains the meaning of life and Jeremy and his friend, Lizzy, are determined to open it.
And, that is where I find myself in the book, I’m in deep and enjoying their adventures trying to find keys for the four locks that unlocks the box and the meaning of life. This morning I set my alarm to wake up and get a jump- start on the day. Because it is summer, I can read anytime and I can read in the morning before everyone wakes up. However, I have other jobs, especially since William and Olivia are not out of school yet, and I have appointments, and other responsibilities, and I am expected to be a part of the family. You get the idea, I just cannot lie around and read all summer, or blog, or any number of activities. So, I started to read and to make sure time wouldn’t get away from me; I set an alarm for my reading. As you can imagine, the alarm sounded and I was in a place where I couldn’t stop, so I continued on, reading past my stopping time. It only took another ten or twelve minutes, but it really slowed me down!
That was two and a half hours ago; and a lot of stuff got in between.
Therefore, I have to be careful with my summer reading, summer blogging, and other summer activities to make sure I can finish them before I have other responsibilities. As of today, I have successfully put off a particular activity I kept saying I would get to when summer began. It is not fun, but it takes time, and I am not looking forward to it. Nevertheless, is next on the agenda.
Yesterday, it was swimming and the day before it was yard work and errands. Today, I do not have an excuse, yet. It’s a busy week with 8th grade graduation, sports, appointments, and a trip to Ohio for Poultry Days, and back by Monday for sports camps – football and softball, and scouts.
And that means I have to be strategic about my reading! Making the Days Count, one summer read at a time, one page, one chapter, and one book!
Do you remember a summer book you read in your youth? Alternatively, what are you reading this summer?
I remember reading War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk after graduating from high school in 1980, I read a lot that summer – East of Eden – what’s on your summer reading list?