Yep. I am done. This will be my last book blog post. Forever. When something you started for fun feels more like work, it's time to stop. So I am stopping. Because writing about the books I read suddenly feels like another job and between my teaching job, being a wife and mother and the sole cleaner/laundress of the house, I can't take on one more job. I am having flashbacks to senior year of college when I was writing about Shakespeare and Chaucer and all I wanted to do was read for fun. So now I am going to read for fun and I'll be happy to talk with anyone who wants to listen about the books I read. I'm just not going to write about them anymore.
I have read a lot of books over the years and I am so glad that I have recorded what I read and how I felt about what I read. It's actually kind of fun to look back and re-read posts and remember what I was thinking about when I read certain books. Lots of times the emotions come back to me, too, and I feel what I felt when I was typing. I am certainly not upset that I took the time to write it all down. It was good for me. I needed to do it. But I don't feel the same need anymore.
It would've been nice, too, had I met my 52 books challenge this one last time. But I think that not meeting the challenge shows that my heart just isn't in it the same way anymore. I have different priorities that are keeping me from reading as fast as I used to and I am not sure that I want to read fast anymore anyway. I have reached the point in my life where books and words are to be savored. And where life is so precious I don't want to miss it because I need to get a book finished in a week. And where I choose to read books that are 1000 pages long and those books CAN'T be read in a week, nor should they.
I recall writing last year these same sorts of words and indicating that my blog posts would be quick and to the point and that I might not even read 52 books this year (thank you, Outlander series). Well, it all came true but now I have stepped one step further and have just decided that I can't keep up with this blog even more. The beginning of a new year seems as good of a time as any to stop so here I shall end this endeavor. I grew as a reader and a writer and I suspect some of you out there got a few good book recommendations, as a result. But it's time for me to just read. Just read.
But, I can't leave you without my Top 10 Favorites for the year (in case you only have time to read 10), so here they are. And there are actually 17. Who can ever pick just 10?
In no particular order... (except Number 1 because it's my new favorite book)
1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
2. Dragonfly in Amber/Voyager/Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
3. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
4. The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
5. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
6. Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes
7. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
8. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
9. The Kitchen House/Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom
10. Paperboy by Vince Vawter
11. The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman
12. The Mr. Terupt Trio of books by Rob Buyea
Happy reading!
-Dodie
I'm SO sad that you won't be book blogging anymore!!! I can't count the number of times that I've come here to see what you are reading or to get your impression of a book before I decide whether to read it or not. I have been very happy to have recommended a number of books that you've blogged about over the years. But more than that, I am so very grateful to you for inspiring me to be a reader. I liked to read but generally only made time for books while on vacations, and I always had trouble deciding WHAT to read. During that two years that we shared a classroom, your excitement for the books you were reading was contagious . . . and so I picked up a couple that you were reading (including Uncle Tom's Cabin!!!). I'll never forget reading The Help upon your recommendation. It's still one of my very favorite books (and movies) of all time. With that book I remembered what it was like to get lost in a great story, and I discovered the joy of sharing my thoughts about what I was reading with a friend. I also tried out e-readers, having seen your cool Nook. I now have ebooks on my iPad (iBooks & Kindle) as well as on my Nook that was purchased for beach reading but which has become my e-reader of choice. I am now never without a book, sometimes reading one in the evening and listening to a different audiobook while walking in the morning. I never thought I'd be one to read two books at a time, but you set me out on the journey that led me here. I am forever grateful, and I hope you will continue to keep me updated on what you are reading through Goodreads. Happy reading, my literary friend!
ReplyDeleteSorry to see you go.
ReplyDeleteDodie...I always enjoyed your reviews. You write well and although I didn't always agree with your conclusions (Jodi Picoult is a formulaic hack), your reviews were fun reads. Sorry you're backing away, but I get it. I hope that The Tempest never starts to feel like a job!
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