For today's Bout of Books Challenge, a song I associate with a book and my reading update.
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Bout of Books: Book in a Song Challenge & Update

Today’s Bout of Books Challenge is hosted by Janey Canuck. As you may have divined from the title of this post, the challenge is to write about a song you connect with a book.

That’s an easy one for me. One of my favorite books inspired one of my favorite songs: Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita inspired The Rolling Stones’ Sympathy with the Devil. Interestingly, I loved them both separately before discovering that they’re connected. Though if you think about the subject matter, it makes perfect sense. 

And now for my Bout of Books update:

I’m not a fast reader. So I didn’t set a goal of finishing 57 books or whatever. Even five would be a stretch for me in a single week, barring my being trapped alone on a deserted island with nothing to do but read every moment of daylight. (Not that I would object to that.) My goal was more modest: to get back into a reading rhythm.

Bout of Books

At the moment, that means being able read without feeling distracted by my towering to do list. It means allowing myself to get lost inside the pages of a book, without feeling like half of my attention is on the million things I need to get done that do not include finishing the book I’m reading. To some extent, I feel like I’ve accomplished that. I have a few books going in different genres. That’s a key for me since it allows me to read according to my mood and focus level.

This week, I have:

For today's Bout of Books Challenge, a song I associate with a book and my reading update.The nice thing about those last three: They’re all books that have been on my bookshelves for a while. Thus: #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks win. Technically, Winnie the Pooh was a re-read (from years and years ago). However, I’d not read the e-book version that has been in my Nook for a while.

I’m still working on getting my reading life where I want it to be. Lucky for me, there’s another Readathon coming up: Take Back Your Shelves running September 2 – 5. Be sure to visit the fabulous JMill Wanders for all the details!

2 Replies to “Bout of Books: Book in a Song Challenge & Update”

  1. This post made me happy for you – and also surprised me. I think you’ve mentioned that you don’t consider yourself a fast reader before, but I can’t get over it – you finish so many books! But I mean, I believe you. But still….

    Also, I’m surprised to read (over your past few posts, as well) about you wanting to get your reading life back on track. It’s sort of reassuring that someone who loves books as passionately as you do and seems such a dedicated, constant reader, also has her moments where things sort of fall by the wayside. You have inspired me to get MY reading life back on track, so I know you’ll be able to do it – you have that inner strength and light. Hang in there, and happy reading!

    1. Thank you so much for the kind words, Alysa! I appreciate the support and faith. 🙂 Definitely, there are times when I have so much going on that it’s hard for me to focus. I’m trying to think hard about what books will work for me in this moment rather than feeling pressured to read what I feel like I *should* be reading, and that tends to help me.

      Science has confirmed I am a slow reader. 🙂 I took one of those reading tests, and I really do read very slowly! In truth, I can read faster when I want or need to and still understand what I’m reading. But when reading for pleasure, I’ve noticed that I tend to linger over words. I read every one (even sounding out difficult names that I could skim over) and often reread passages I really appreciate. It does take me a while to get through books, though!

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