Posted on by ChatterLei

1000 Books

Our oldest daughter announced to us at our Christmas family gathering, then announced on Facebook (because if it is on Facebook, then it really happened) that she set a goal in 2024 to read 1000 books. And, she achieved that goal! Divide that by 365 to know how many books she needed to average DAILY. I can’t even imagine reading ONE book a day! She was honest when she shared this achievement with the family that she mostly read romance novels that are quick reads. She is a very fast reader anyway, but reading that genre only helped to increase the number of books she could read at one sitting.

After she made this announcement at our family gathering, I leaned over to her 15-year-old autistic boy, gave him a nudge and said, “Your mom is back!” He, being a literal thinker, looked at me questioningly, then looked at her and back at me again. I said, “Your mom read 1000 books in a year. She obviously, was not very present in the moments. Since she will not be reading so much, she should be able to be more present in your daily life.” In a softly defensive response, she said, “We spend every Friday together because he volunteers at the library with me and we get to go to lunch together.” Well, I guess that is better than nothing and everyone parents their own way. Who am I to judge?

She has always been a bit goal oriented and well educated. While working full time she went to a local college and received her Bachelor’s Degree. Then she trotted herself off to Scotland for a year where she could fast track receiving her Master’s Degree in something that would help her become a top librarian at our local library. Our grandson stayed home with his dad while his mom was gone that year. They seemed to make it work.

I bet you are not surprised she is a librarian… and a good one, at that.

I suppose that when you are surrounded by books all day every day, it would make sense that you would want to devour a few!

Posted on by ChatterLei

An Unexpected Joy

Reading for fun is one of those guilty pleasures I do not allow myself time for very often. It seems that my mind has this crazy belief that if there is time to sit around and read, then the reading should be for learning or increasing knowledge about a subject of great interest, not just some waste of time reading fiction. My interests are (in no particular order) politics, news, religion, photography, writing, the outdoors, traveling, family history/life stories, watercolor painting, just to name a few.

Recently, in one of the writing groups I joined on Facebook, someone asked a question about what books are out there that would help increase her knowledge about writing. She is a beginner and would like any information people in the group would be willing to share. One of the suggestions, by several people in the group, was a book called “On Writing” by Stephen King.

Stephen King’s books or movies would not be my first choice, or last, or anything in between. Horror stories are not my thing. Although, I did watch the movie, “The Shining” with a group of friends when I was seventeen. Peer pressure was alive and well that night. Anyway, this is a book about writing, so I was intrigued. I found the audiobook version read by Mr. King in my Libby App and decided I would give it a listen. The description of the book said it is “Part memoir, part master class….” Wow! So true. It is clear why he is a successful writer. One of the very best.

Did you know Stephen King was a teacher? And, that he is from Maine? Did you know he had a brother? What do you know about his wife and children? He is a brilliant storyteller, author and teacher. He talks like a filthy sailor, but if you can get past that, it is worth the time to read or listen to the audio version. I did not expect to enjoy the audio version as much as I did. It was fun, as well as educational. Even his voice is interesting. Two thumbs up for sure! (Three, if you have an extra thumb!)

(Please excuse any annoyingly irritating adverbs or any possibly passive verbs I may have inadvertently used in the writing of this blog post!) Read the book or listen to the audio version. Inspirational stories and great writing advice!