•8:39 AM
Actually, I have a couple of problems.
With blogging every day for the entire month of April, my reading has really suffered. I have just finished my nineteenth book, and will be moving on to number twenty. However, this is not the pace I should be keeping in order to meet my goal. Ugh.
You know, I take things too seriously. I treat this blog like it is my job. Like it is important to anyone other than me. It is not ... as much as I would like it to be, it is still just a hobby. And I put too much effort into it. I read a bunch of stuff on the Internet ... sometimes for enjoyment, sometimes for inspiration, sometimes for research, sometimes for substantiation (...is that a word?). And then, I agonize over wording, flow, interest, should I or shouldn't I include something, too long or too short. I take things too seriously, but it is who I am.
I think my family is beginning to wish my self-imposed challenge would just go away. Or, that it was something they could benefit (directly) from ... like baking one hundred different things in a year would suit them just fine or having a challenge to actually iron the clothes that accumulate each week. But those things would not help me to grow as a person, would they? Plus, who wants to read (or write) about the pants or shirts or little pink dresses I ironed?
But April is just one month and there are many more months before the end of my challenge. Perhaps May can be "Read-as- Much-as-You-Can" month. One thing is for certain ... when summer vacation begins, and I have to entertain three children all day long, I cannot imagine that they will find watching me read to be very fulfilling. Although them playing at the beach while I read might be do-able.
The next book on my list is Backlash (The Undeclared War Against American Women) by Susan Faludi. Which leads me to my next problem. Jonesy picked it up for me at the Library ... which is a very funny story for another day. Backlash is (basically) a textbook. It is more than four hundred fifty pages ... of reporting on "the insidious war against women's rights, probing the dimensions of a cultural phenomenon that has changed shape and resurfaced in Hollywood films and TV, in the fashion and beauty industries, in New Right rhetoric and presidential speeches, and in office harrassment and clinic bombings." (Taken from the book jacket.)
Susan Faludi is an award-winning writer, and Backlash won the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award for General Non-Fiction. I am sure that it is a very enlightening look at the women's movement. However, at this time of my life, I just cannot read another textbook. It would take me a really long time, and set me behind even further ... this is the lesson I learned from reading And the Band Played On.
But isn't this challenge about learning new things and expanding my knowledge of the world?
Well, in the words of Leslie Gore ... "it's my challenge and I'll do what I want to." You would cry too, if this happened to you ...
I am off to find a substitution ... I'll keep you posted.
With blogging every day for the entire month of April, my reading has really suffered. I have just finished my nineteenth book, and will be moving on to number twenty. However, this is not the pace I should be keeping in order to meet my goal. Ugh.
You know, I take things too seriously. I treat this blog like it is my job. Like it is important to anyone other than me. It is not ... as much as I would like it to be, it is still just a hobby. And I put too much effort into it. I read a bunch of stuff on the Internet ... sometimes for enjoyment, sometimes for inspiration, sometimes for research, sometimes for substantiation (...is that a word?). And then, I agonize over wording, flow, interest, should I or shouldn't I include something, too long or too short. I take things too seriously, but it is who I am.
I think my family is beginning to wish my self-imposed challenge would just go away. Or, that it was something they could benefit (directly) from ... like baking one hundred different things in a year would suit them just fine or having a challenge to actually iron the clothes that accumulate each week. But those things would not help me to grow as a person, would they? Plus, who wants to read (or write) about the pants or shirts or little pink dresses I ironed?
But April is just one month and there are many more months before the end of my challenge. Perhaps May can be "Read-as- Much-as-You-Can" month. One thing is for certain ... when summer vacation begins, and I have to entertain three children all day long, I cannot imagine that they will find watching me read to be very fulfilling. Although them playing at the beach while I read might be do-able.
The next book on my list is Backlash (The Undeclared War Against American Women) by Susan Faludi. Which leads me to my next problem. Jonesy picked it up for me at the Library ... which is a very funny story for another day. Backlash is (basically) a textbook. It is more than four hundred fifty pages ... of reporting on "the insidious war against women's rights, probing the dimensions of a cultural phenomenon that has changed shape and resurfaced in Hollywood films and TV, in the fashion and beauty industries, in New Right rhetoric and presidential speeches, and in office harrassment and clinic bombings." (Taken from the book jacket.)
Susan Faludi is an award-winning writer, and Backlash won the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award for General Non-Fiction. I am sure that it is a very enlightening look at the women's movement. However, at this time of my life, I just cannot read another textbook. It would take me a really long time, and set me behind even further ... this is the lesson I learned from reading And the Band Played On.
But isn't this challenge about learning new things and expanding my knowledge of the world?
Well, in the words of Leslie Gore ... "it's my challenge and I'll do what I want to." You would cry too, if this happened to you ...
I am off to find a substitution ... I'll keep you posted.
2 comments:
Jill,
Don't feel bad about skipping this book. You can always go back to it later if you're ahead on your reading!!! I just started 2 books and decided I just couldn't get into them right now. I really hate doing that, starting a book and not finishing it but in the past I've spent a lot of time on books I didn't like and at the end felt like I wasted my time and could've spent it reading a good book. I could have my own book sale with all the books I have. Good luck
You should get that book back! It's a bit historical now but a great (and quick) read. Everyone should read this book. Faludi is smart and her thinking is concise and stimulating. I just came across this site but couldn't resist responding as I just finished Backlash.