At the beginning of this year, I read a blog post at work in which a librarian reflected on reading 365 books in 2017. It was already the sixth or seventh day of the new year, luckily. Otherwise I might have been tempted to make an unreasonable goal for the year. I am a librarian by trade, and I can call it professional development when I obsess about reading. So far this year, I have only read nine books. You may ask, “What are you doing with yourself? How have you only read nine books? It’s the end of January already!” To which I am tempted to respond, “I’ve been training for my 50k.” Only, the cold weather and illness took me out of training this past week. It’s time to up my reading game.
During the last week of 2017, I decided I need to get rid of some books this year. In order to do this, I put together a box of books that I can read and then give away. So far I’m two books in. There’s still hope for me… I hope. A recent calculation of the books on my immediate reading list put it just over 20,300 pages. If my reading list doesn’t change at all, I should be able to get through all that this year! Just to have some fun in the cold, holiday-less months ahead, I have decided to announce: NaNoReMo.
Yes, that is a totally made up month, and yes, it’s just an irreverent nod to NaNoWriMo. National Novel Reading Month. Really, the onus is on you guys to make it a national occasion. How does it work? For the month of February, I will read for three hours a day, along with anyone who wants to do the same. At least for me, this is not a sustainable long-term goal, but anyone can do something for a month. That’s the only rule: read what you want without distractions for three hours a day.
By February, most people who made New Year’s resolutions have abandoned them, so it can be good to reframe these goals. Whether your goal is to watch less television, read more, or get rid of clutter, NaNoReMo can help. Consider this a fun project to reconnect with books and the reading community. What are you waiting for? Go make a pot of tea and get to reading. I’d love to hear how NaNoReMo works for you, and I’ll be posting a follow-up later in the month.
Wow! I probably have read about an hour today–easy because I’m reading “Behind the Scenes at the Museum” by Kate Atkinson. After supper, I was preparing to settle in for an evening of reading by brewing a cup of tea, when I read this blog! Spooky!
Sounds good! It’s definitely that time of year.