OK, I know it's February, but I'm still thinking about New Year's Resolutions.
I recently stumbled on a blog that asked about people's reading resolutions for 2009. I was surprised to see so many people – for some reason, nearly all female – making the same resolutions I did this year. So far I'm failing miserably. I'm still buying far too many books, still not checking them out of the library, and my reading still lacks variety.
This last lapse is the most disturbing to me. My goal specifically addresses reading more non-fiction books.I like non-fiction books, once I actually start reading them. I rarely pick up a recommended autobiography or history that I end up disliking (in fact, I can't remember that happening in years). And, to be fair, I do read some non-fiction books over the course of an average year (generally because my book club insists). They're just a smaller percentage
than I'd like.
Davina Morgan-Witts, BookBrowse editor
Humans are much like fruitcake. Now, I know fruitcake analogies are hard to swallow for most American readers but, as a born and bred Brit, I love (a well-made) fruitcake - so go with me on this for a moment!
When we're young the things we learn, and especially the 'truths' we discover for ourselves mix the essential ingredients of our character, forming the person we'll become - they become baked into our adult selves. As adults, we keep on learning and discovering but
very rarely do new ideas impact us as powerfully once we get into our middle years - they form the icing on the cake, not the cake itself (and yes, before you ask, in England we do ice our fruitcakes - particularly for weddings and Christmas).
Kim Kovacs, BookBrowse reviewer
My friend and I have a long-standing annual competition: Most books read. I have a clear advantage in that my two cats are much more conducive to spare-time reading than are his two toddlers, but never-the-less the numbers are usually pretty close. He has recently accused me of cheating, however, since I include audio books on my list of books "read." In my opinion, I still experience the book, and I spend just as much time listening to one as I would if I were actually reading it, and therefore it counts. In his, reading is reading, listening isn't reading, and therefore it doesn't. (You say "potato," I say "po-tah-to.") He is, unfortunately, an accountant, and therefore quite literally-minded.
Although I am a voracious reader of "real" books, I'm still a big fan of audio books. They have the obvious advantage of allowing me to enjoy a book while doing less enjoyable tasks (like housework or exercising). I'll often purchase the audio version of something I've read in paper copy, as sometimes listening to the work can provide a different understanding or perspective than reading it. For some reason, too, it's easier to pick up an audio copy of one of those books I've been meaning to read that I never quite get around to (Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo are two that immediately come to mind).
