i don't read nearly as much as i should. every now and then i'll try to motivate myself to get back on it. sort of like college when i would voluntarily choose an 8am class over a later one thinking, "it'll be good! it'll be different this time! i'll get up and get going, be done with classes by noon and have the whole rest of the day to kick ass!!". makes sense. good theory. except that i'm not a morning person and however good my intentions, i would skip that class more often and put myself in a much worse situation by having to catch back up. the only ass that got kicked was mine.
2 years ago, i decided to ask for books as Christmas presents. i specified Patriots, on the recommendation of a great friend (and patriot) Bob Hutchins, as well as Ben Franklin's Autobiography and yet another book about Benjamin Franklin. that was apparently during my American Revolution kick. that kick has since ended, but not before reading none of the books all the way through.
the friggin' Autobiography of Ben Franklin is tiny, people. it fits in your pocket. literally brochure style. didn't finish it. the other two are mammoth. started Patriots, but it had so many names and dates...the other BF book was very intimidating. huge.
i even got a library card late last year. of the 3 or 4 books i checked out, all were returned late, but none were not returned unread.
i'm back on a reading kick. this time, i'm starting with small and realizable goals. Thurston loaned me "V for Vendetta". it's a comic book. i finished it. a friend from work loaned me "Marley and Me". it's a 'Man and his dog' type book. after a few months, i finally started it and it's pretty good.
why do i want to be "a reader"? it's cool, i guess. people say, "hey have you read such and such? no?" and they turn away to go find somebody who's read it. it's neat to talk about cool books you've read. the coolest i ever felt was when somebody saw a movie and i was able to honestly say, "yeah, the movie was pretty good but i read the book and it was much better". who cares that it was "The Firm" by John Grisham? i was finally able to say those words: The Book Was Better.
in conclusion, i see that i'm not so much "pretentious" as "wanna-be pretentious". that's much worse!
Important lengths of time
Krusty blessed my life for 5,438 days. I cherish every one of them and will miss you for 10,000 more.
I humble myself before the awesomeness of the following websites
- Andrea's Motherhood Blog!!
- Bobby's Bloggy
- Bonchak's Rock Blog
- Chuck Norris Facts
- Dean's quest to run the Boston Marathon
- Do your homework!!
- Geoff Wood Photography
- Inspirational site (for dudes only)
- Photo Bliss
- Seth's musings on life, etc.
- Thurston is digging for fire.
- Witchger Family Projects (a MUST see)
4 comments:
It's hard to be pretentious when my first choice of reading material is sci-fi and fantasy! But, in my defense, I have read and enjoyed many of the classics. One thing I rarely do, though, is non-fiction. Those are the ones that never get finished. Try reading Bill Bryson. His books are humorous true-life accounts of his travels. 'A Walk in the Woods' is the first one I read.
thanks for the tip! i thought i preferred non-fiction, but given my track record, maybe not.
another problem is when i read, i hear the words in my head. so my reading speed is no faster than my speaking speed. many have told me that's not the way to do it, but i don't know how to do it any other way.
Yeah I have the same problem. I read in conversational voice....I'll second "A Walk in the Woods" !!
Oh, yeah, if you liked John Grisham, my favorite was 'The Client' and the book was definately better than the movie!
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