Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Summer Reading

What is the best way to approach a summer reading list? Hopefully my experience and advice can be of service to others who have failed to get through the large stack of books they tried to read last winter/summer break.

In my own life, there is always a pile of books that I can't wait to dive into. What tends to happen is that I pick up one and either A) Enjoy it and take my time or B) Dislike it and rarely touch it. This ends up slowing me down and leaving my stack of "want to read" books barely touched.

This summer I put together a plan to help me get through more books and enjoy each one in their own way. I have my DUTY list and my LEISURE list. I used the word "Duty" because it challenges me to take serious my time of reading the books on this list. I also kept the "Duty List" short to insure I get through each book. The "Leisure List" has books that look like easy/fun reads, and is a bit longer because some of the books may be a quick 1-2 day read.

The idea behind these two lists is that my "Duty List" will be a time of strengthening, growth, and training. The "Leisure List" is designed to give me an escape from heavy or challenging reading, but to keep my mind afresh and enjoying reading as a hobby.

I hope this helps, and feel free to comment with your own summer reading list or ideas that you use when reading.

1 comment:

Josh Mock said...

Good idea. I keep a must-read-this-year pile going, and it's definitely true that the tougher reads slow me down. I've often wondered if I should separate those ones out and be reading two things at all times so I don't get slowed down as much.