We Read More

Anyone ever tell you that you should read more? not me. No one is surprised to see me with a book. In some ways, books are my guilty pleasures. They are my soap operas and sitcoms, as well as my chocolate and cinnamon toast crunch (such a good cereal).
I want to a poll of all the books that are people's guilty pleasure type books, and I am going to provide, first, a guess list, until I know for sure. If you haven't read these, then shame one you.
1. Harry Potter
2. Hunger Games
3. To Kill a Mockingbird
4. Insert yours here.
5. The Demon King
6. The Goose Girl
7. The Chosen
8. Anne of Green Gables
9. Pride and Prejudice
I know I can only advocate reading for so long. I want to start talking about my favorite books, and why I love them so much. So you can all prepare to tune out, for in the future, after I read a new book, my report on it will stand right here.
Happy Reading

The great thing about books is that they can show you things that you might never have thought of before. People don't seem to understand that when they read, they read the product of another person's mind. Those who are shy should be a little more wary of how much of themselves is put into things that they write. How very personal it is to have some world, or some project, that you have devoted yourself too, and then have it given to the world for anyone to read? Wow. Talk about exposition.

But it is an exposition that we love. For some reason, if a random person came up to you and started talking about this and this experience that happened to them at such and such a time, we would give them a "what are even talking to me for" look, and think they were, at best, quite strange. But, have that person write it down, put it into characters, plot, setting and voice, and suddenly the experience becomes the most interesting thing to come along in a while. Books are a method of connecting humanity-- without ever connecting them.

Who could ever say that reading isn't worth it?

New Year... More time?

I had an excellent discussion in one of my classes about budgeting time. We all waste time. And the biggest excuse we have for not completing things, or even starting things, is that we don't have time. Here are a few choice questions you might find relevant:
1. How many books did you read last year? Is your excuse not to read simply because "you don't have time?"
2. In contrast, how many movies did you watch? A movie is two hours long. So, even if you watched one film every four days, that is still half an hour a day. The average person can read about twenty pages an hour. So, 10 pages a day. Which translates into 3650 pages a year. To put that is a bigger perspective... that is the entire series of Harry Potter. With just half an hour a day at average reading speed. Now if you are like me and read closer to 100 pages an hour... that amount increases. (14, 600 pages a year). How many pages are you shorting yourself?
3. How do you spend your "waiting time?" By waiting time, I mean waiting for appointments, lay overs in airports, waiting ten minutes when you go to pick someone up, the limbo time between classes, the driving time between work and home... etc. How do you maximize your waiting time?
4. How many times to you cut in on time doing important things because you wasted time earlier? You know what I mean. Like, you stayed up way to late, so you cut hours at work, or skip class the next day because you are too tired to perform. What if we gave all important things the time that they need?