Well, my reading life has changed quite a bit since becoming a mom! I’m sure many of you are quite aware and familiar with the phenomenon…
I realized I would have less time and energy to read even before he was born, but I had no idea just how much my reading time would take a hit. Anyway, I AM still reading, just much sloooower.
Here are some of my recent reading observations (don’t mind the rambling):
Oddly, I’ve been reading more nonfiction this year than anything else. I’ve been enjoying parenting memoirs and finance books. Finance books? Yeah, super boring and something I never would have expected to be reading. Becoming a parent and a homeowner makes you more responsible and “adult-like” though, and I’ve taken a big interest in my finances over the last year. I’ve been reading books about debt-repayment, investing, saving, etc. Now granted, we don’t have much extra money to do a lot of these things, but I like learning and using that knowledge as much as possible with our limited funds. We’ve made some progress and I’m happy about that! So far, I’m digging Dave Ramsey’s money philosophies. I’ve only read one of his books so far, but I plan on reading more.
Fiction – chick lit and women’s fiction in particular – is still my number one though, don’t you worry! It’s just harder for me to focus on fiction at the moment. Typically, I only get to read right before bed these days, and I usually get tired after just a few pages. It’s taking me forever to get through books right now, and I find that nonfiction is easier to read with this slower pace. With novels, you have to focus more because you have characters and back stories to remember. It’s hard to remember all that with only a few pages a day, ya know?
That said, I do still love me some novels and I finally read Me Before You. I really, really liked it and can definitely understand all the hype. It took me over a month to finish though, which I believe is what led me to giving it four stars instead of five. Slower reading makes it harder for me to connect to characters and stories right now, therefore making stories a little bit less enjoyable. After finishing that one, I turned back to some nonfiction and… a Harlequin romance. Yup. I decided I needed something really light and easy that wouldn’t require much focus. I want to save those really good novels (i.e. Me Before You) for a time when I can really focus, concentrate, and read faster… so probably when Caleb is a smidge older, sleeping better, and more independent. I absolutely don’t want to wish his baby-hood away though, so for now I’m still enjoying my books… just slowly. The time will come for me to fly through books again… that time just isn’t right now.
I’m also reading kid’s books of course! Right now, Caleb and I are strictly reading board books. They’re sturdy and small enough to read with an infant on your lap, and also perfect for grabby baby hands. My absolute favorite one so far is Goodnight Moon; I could read that one over and over again. I love the rhythm and rhymes, but have been sorely disappointed by most of Margaret Wise Brown’s other books (especially My World – that book is straight creepy! It also flows horribly!). I have discovered that I’m a huge fan of rhyming kid’s books though, so that’s fun. I’m also a big fan of The Boss Baby because it’s hilarious and so true.
I’ve recently started tracking the books I’ve been reading with Caleb on Goodreads; he has his own shelf called “Caleb’s Reads.” My library is starting a program in the fall called “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten.” The goal is for each child to read 1,000 books before starting kindergarten, so I wanted to begin compiling a list of all the books Caleb has read (AKA been read to). I’m going to maintain this list because my librarian / bookworm heart hopes that my son will also become a reader and how cool will it be for him to be able to see every book he’s ever read since the time he was a baby?!
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| His summer reading prize! |
In other bookish news, I finally have a bookshelf in my bedroom! Our room is kind of on the smaller side, but we managed to get a little shelf in here over the weekend. Typically, it would have been full by now but as I’m feeling too tired / too lazy / too busy at the moment, it’s currently only about 1/4 of the way there. I’ll probably have it filled by the end of the week though. Now I can look at pretty books from my bed, so that’s always good news.
Very clearly, I haven’t been doing too much reviewing on here lately, HOWEVER, I am still reviewing on Goodreads! I still review everything I read over there (including baby books now – yay?!), though my reviews tend to be on the shorter side now. As long as I get down some quick thoughts about each book… I’m happy. Feel free to friend me if we aren’t friends already!
Well, I guess that’s it for my bookish ramblings on this late Wednesday night when my child refuses to go to sleep. I’m thinking tomorrow’s going to be a rough one…
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