Welcome to my weekly Book-ish post where I share what I've been reading and watching recently. If you missed it, you can see my Reading Goals for 2018 and 44 Books I Plan to Read This Year.
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My Crazy Reading Goal
I set a goal to read 100 story-driven/non-self-help books in 2018. So far, I've read 26. Yup. If you just did the calculations, that means I'm quite behind my goal.
Now here's the thing: I'm all about grace and not stressing myself out over hitting a goal just to hit a goal.
I know that I've spent way more time doing things with my family and being with friends and hosting people this year than I ever have in my life. So that has eaten into a big chunk of my reading time. And I'm so down with that!
But if I'm being really honest, I also know that I have spent quite a bit of time getting sucked into reading about other people's lives on Instagram — people I don't know, mind you. And it would be wiser to invest this time into reading books instead.
And I'm guessing there are probably other moments and cracks in my day that I could be investing into reading, too.
So I'm committing to make reading much more of a priority in the second half of 2018. In fact, because I like a good challenge, I'm going to aim to read three books per week for the rest of the year — without sacrificing time with friends or family OR sacrificing sleep.
If Teddy Roosevelt could read a book or two per day when he was President of the United States, surely I can do this! 😉
Oh and yes, audiobooks count, as do books I read aloud to my kids. I’ll keep you posted in my Monday posts and we can all see how this goes!
Am I crazy or do you think this is possible? You can give your honest opinion in the comments + your best ideas for ways I can fit more reading in! I'll take all the tips I can get!
I know it might seem weird, but this sort of goal gets me really excited — especially when it challenges me to get creative and make more time for something I really love!
What I Read Last Week
I finished At Home in the World and it was the perfect book to read before our family leaves for South Africa on Saturday! If you love traveling or travel memoirs or wonder what it’s like to travel with kids, I think you’ll enjoy this book.
Also, it made me add about 25 new places to my “Must Visit In My Lifetime” list. I probably should not read travel memoirs as this could be dangerous! 🙂
What I’m Currently Reading
The three books I chose to read (and hopefully finish!) this week are: Dance, Stand, Run by Jess Connolly, And Still She Laughs by Kate Merrick, and Relentless Spirit by Missy Franklin. I’m thinking I’ll pick three shorter books and one longer book each week. We’ll see how this goes!
What We Watched Last Week
So, we had fun introducing our kids to a few classics this past week! We watched RocketMan (we all enjoyed this one, despite how incredibly cheesy it is), Princess Bride (the kids loved this one; Jesse and I both were like, “Wow! For how well known that movie is, we had forgotten just how bad the cinematography is because it came out in 1987!), and Jumanji (the original — I’ve never seen it before and it was a little scarier than we thought it would be, but the kids enjoyed it).
When I Find Time to Read
People are always asking me how I find time to read. Honestly, it's because I love to read, because I've chosen to prioritize it, because I don't have a lot of other hobbies, and because I can't not read. Also, when you love something, you usually can find ways to get creative to find time to fit it in — even if it's in the little nooks and crannies of life.
I wrote a post on 3 ways to find more time to read — even when life is busy. And here are 7 more ways to find time to read.
What did you read and watch this past week? Any books or movies or shows you really think I need to read or watch?
