Something you may not know about me

Reading has been an important part of my life since I was a child. I didn’t go any where without a book (or several books). For instance, in the photograph, we are at a hotel in the Lake District to have lunch with my grandparents and I couldn’t put down my book for the duration of the picture (sorry for the poor quality, it is a scan of a poor quality print, but it is the best I can do until I have access to the original picture).

Reading is such an important part of my life that it is the one area that I have a goal. I want to read 75 books in a year. I formed this goal last year after reading 62 books in 2005 and decided to step it up for 2006. I actually made it to 68 books, so the goal is still there for this year. However this has not been progressing as well as I would like recently, because for some unknown reason I stopped reading near the beginning of May.

The graph shows the books I have read each month since 2005 and as you can see, I seem to be back on form as I’ve read 8 books already in July.

I have read several of Corrie’s reading reviews and they started the itch to read to return. However, the real turning point was not feeling well a week and a half ago and consequently having low energy. It was the perfect opportunity to simply rest by sitting and reading.

Obviously as well as enjoying reading, I love books. Over the last few years I have used the internet to expand this pleasure. I have received and passed on many books through websites, such as Bookcrossing, BookMooch and ReaditSwapit. I have also experimented with ebooks on my Palm and have recently completed my first audio book. In fact I am considering subscribing to an audio book website, although I think I will only buy books I’ve already read.

I have previously written several book reviews and I have found it beneficial to ensure I fully consider the book, rather than just race to the end, so I am therefore going to start writing reviews again and will include them on this site (along with my previous reviews which I will move over). However I am not intending for any fiction reviews to be included on the front page or in the rss feed. If you are interested in seeing my reviews you can access them through the books page, through the recent posts list in the sidebar and perhaps if you are interested I could do a summary of the books I’ve read at the end of the month with links to the reviews.

At the start of July I had 110 books on my to be read list, this includes new books as well as books I want to reread.

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@5tephen

17 years ago

Good for you! Reading is almost always a sign of an inquisitive mind, and it’s good for you. Much better than television. I have been thinking about posting a list of the books that I have read on my site, perhaps on a Page for a total list, or in a post at the end of each month. Now you’ve got me thinking…

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kate

Stephen,

I know what you mean about where to keep a list of books you’ve read. I have some on my bookcrossing page, I’ve got some here, I’ve got some in Excel and some on paper. I plan to sort them all out though. I look forward to seeing what you decide.

One of my old managers suggested that I read one non fiction book a month to ensure I had new material to think about. Although I don’t always follow that timescale I do ensure a mix of fiction and non fiction.