Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The Personal Book Club

For the past couple months I've been engaged in what I've jokingly called my "Personal Book Club." Ever since I began recording a newscast in the evening 4 years ago, the amount of reading I've engaged in dropped to almost zero. This has been rather disconcerting since aside from listening to music, reading as been my preferred method of escape. With everything I have going on at work and home, escape has become a necessity lest I further deteriorate into a sullen, bitter ball of stress. Thus was born the "Personal Book Club."

The premise was that I would go to Labyrinth, drink coffee, and read whatever book I chose from around 7-9pm once a week. I wouldn't fret about reading the book any other night of the week and it the outing would give me a solid 2 hours of no distractions from a staggering to-do list at home, the computer, my dogs, and Matt. I've tried keeping the night I do this to Mondays since it's one night I don't currently have anything else scheduled, but I've gone on Tuesdays when Mondays had other things infringing on my time.

Labyrinth's owner Jeff asked as I worked my way through my first book about whether I would be able to read enough to earn a pizza at the end of the summer ala the "Book-It" program. I told him I was hoping to get not just a pepperoni but a supreme pan pizza this time around.

I started the project almost skeptically, since I have a way of scheduling myself out of stuff like this. But as August approaches, and I realize I've read 3 books since May, I'm starting to think maybe I wasn't so crazy. The latest book, Julie & Julia, has me sneaking in pages outside the coffee shop which is ultimately what I hoped would happen once I knew I could relax with the idea that at least one night a week would be set aside for literary pursuits.

Here are the books I've read so far:
Without Reserverations: The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach
The Ultimate Trophy: How the Impressionist Painting Conquered the World by Philip Hook
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Book In Progress (to be finished before end of day Finished on Lunch Hour)
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell

Here are the books on list for the very near future:
A Room With A View by E.M. Forster
Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger

1 comment:

Luis Baars said...

Nice! I love the idea.

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