Tag: e-reader

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Reckoning with #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks in June

#ReadMyOwnDamnBooks has challenged me to think about my reading habits and patterns as well as what I want for myself as a reader and what is realistic for me as a person.

#ReadMyOwnDamnBooks has challenged me to think about my reading habits and patterns and what I want for myself as a reader and person.We’ve arrived at the halfway point of 2016, and for me, that means the halfway point of my commitment to read my own books this year.

When I’ve done reading challenges before, they’ve been numbers based, along the lines of “I promise to read 100 books this year.” The numbers game hasn’t led to much reflection for me. Mostly, it’s led to anxiety about keeping up. #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks is the first yearlong challenge that has pushed me to think about my reading habits and patterns as well as what I want for myself as a reader and what is realistic for me as a person. I’ve reflected on these before, of course, but not in the context of an explicit challenge. In the process, I’ve learned quite a few lessons about reading, and myself. Continue reading “Reckoning with #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks in June”

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Ramping up my reading challenge in May

I'm kicking my 2016 Reading Challenge into high gear in May with the #SmashYourStack reading challenge.

I'll be kicking my 2016 Reading Challenge into high gear in May with the #SmashYourStack reading challenge.My reading challenge has been my anchor during a busy first third of 2016. It has flown by in a haze of events, assignments, responsibilities, new experiences. In other words: life.

Through this rush, #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks has kept me focused without putting inordinate pressure on me to read a set number of books by a set date. It has reintroduced me to what is turning out to be an exceedingly well-stocked library (my very own!). It has staunched the slow bleed of my monthly earnings. Oh yes, this reading challenge came at just the right time, and I’ve loved everything about it.

Still…the rosy glow of affection and good intentions can dim over time, can’t they? Who hasn’t experienced the pull of old habits? Continue reading “Ramping up my reading challenge in May”

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When the choice is between e-reading and not reading, I choose my Nook GlowLight Plus

Nook GlowLight Plus

My favorite place to read as a child was under the covers with a flashlight. While the pleasure of being subversive and sticking it to The Man (who, in this case, happened to be a woman: my mom) no doubt played a role, more compelling was that I appreciated the sensory deprivation that facilitated disappearing into the world of a book.

My bedroom, with its white furniture and riot of stuffed animals, vanished from view, and I could submerge myself into the alternate reality of wherever I was traveling to—the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Claudia from From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, London with Sarah Crewe from A Little Princess or Paddington from A Bear Called Paddington, turn-of-the-century Manhattan with the five sisters from All-of-a-Kind Family.

This memory had slipped into my subconscious until I happened to mention to a friend, as a jokey aside, that what I most appreciate about my Nook GlowLight is how it facilitates reading in the dark. (And the “Plus” version is waterproof, should I wish to read in the bathtub by candlelight!)

Continue reading “When the choice is between e-reading and not reading, I choose my Nook GlowLight Plus”