I quilt all the time.
When I’m not quilting, I’m knitting, or working around the house, or outside doing chores or some other such thing.
I don’t watch TV, because we don’t have it here on the ranch, but we do have a lot of DVDs, so I listen to a lot of movies while quilting, knitting, cooking, or some other such thing.
My eyes and my hands are always busy with something.
And because of that, I can no longer read.
I want to read.
I love books.
I love stories.
I love learning about new things.
But if my eyes and hands are busy with a book, I can’t quilt . . . or knit . . . or cook . . . or any of those other things I’m always busy with.
And I choose those over reading every time.
I try to force myself to read.
Set aside a time and sit down with a book for that amount of time.
My mind wanders to quilting, and I can’t even tell you what I read, then I have to start over, so I get nowhere.
I got a library card and checked out some books.
With the 2-week deadline, I figured I’d make myself do it so I could turn them back in.
I checked out my first 2 books in October, and have been renewing the first one ever since.
I relented and turned the other one back in — unread.
I’m only halfway through the first one — after three months.
My daughter, the doctor, is a bookworm — always has been.
When she lived at home, she would read to me while I quilted.
It was like automatic “Books on CD”!
Then she went away to college . . .
I think I’ve only read 4 books since she left.
So last time I was at the library, I went straight to their Audio-book collection.
They didn’t have too many that caught my eye.
I checked out some Louis L’Amour short stories.
I have yet to put them in the CD player.
The kind ladies at the library informed me of a place online where I can download free audiobooks using my library card I hold with them.
I lost where I wrote it down for the longest time, and guess where I found it?
On a slip of paper tucked inside the book I had checked out.
You know — the one I’m only halfway through with after 3 months.
So one of these days I’ll be checking out the selections online to see what they have.
But honestly, there’s a certain selection of books I’d really like to read.
I went to a very small high school for the first three years, and the teachers there did not make us read anything we didn’t want to, so I read whatever I wanted.
“Gone With the Wind” three times, Nancy Drew, and a lot of random stuff.
My senior year, they shipped us off to a neighboring school, and I found that I had missed out on reading all the classics that students are normally forced to read during their high school years.
The librarian was appalled, and immediately made me a list, which I began devouring. I loved her suggestions, but naturally, in what little time I had remaining in school, I didn’t get very far down her list.
When my daughter was born, I began reading to her from the very start.
Turns out, she loved it, and could read on her own before she even started kindergarten.
I made her a little notebook, and in it, I kept a list of every book she ever read.
She still has the notebook.
And still adds to it whenever she reads something.
I also ordered, from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a reading list they put out, that listed books everyone should read, separated out by age groups.
She started on this list, and we’ve marked off all the ones she’s read over the years.
So it stands to reason now that she is very well-read.
Some of those, she read to me, which is the only way I would have ever gotten to read them.
(Note: This same plan did not work on my younger daughter; even though she’s turned out OK in her own right — she’s just not a bookworm — she’s a social butterfly!)
And I still keep going back to that certain selection of books I’d really like to read.
They’re classics.
They’re books everyone should read or at least know a little bit about.
They’ve stood the test of time, so I know they’re good.
And I want to find out for myself.
So I went back recently to the National Endowment for the Humanities website.
And I found this:
Summertime Favorites: A List of Recommended Readings
It’s their reading list, separated out by age groups.
I’m going to start with the ones I’ve missed off their
Grades 9 to 12 list.
Thanks to my senior-year librarian, and my daughter, some of them I’ve already read.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to find some of them as audiobooks.
If not, I’m gonna have to give it a better try at sitting down with a book and actually reading!
If you have a young child, you should consider helping them read from that list.
My daughter has thanked me many times over for starting her on it so young, and I only wish I had done the same thing for myself from the beginning.
I never realized at the time what a treasure we were creating, but can you imagine having a list of every book you’ve ever read in your entire life?
My daughter sure treasures hers. She’s 28 years old.
And I’d love to have one of my own.
But since it’s never too late to start, I’m going to keep trying.
My daughter recommends “Wuthering Heights”.
I think that will be my next selection . . .
UPDATED TO ADD: I forgot to say . . .
If you have any suggestions for books I should read, other cool lists, or ways I can actually do better about getting it done, I welcome them all!
