On Another Note

Have you ever wished you could read more but feel like you don't have time? I've come up with a new system to do that recently.

I used to be an avid reader. I have more books than I have shelf space to hold. I have my own mini-library. I'd buy interesting history books as well as Star Trek novels. And books on writing, languages, Christianity, and yes, some self-help.

But they'd languish on the shelves, especially since the MegaStress. But lately, after several months post-wedding, I'm getting back in the groove. (The fact that I can't do a lot of other stuff because of my hands doesn't hurt, but it really doesn't have as much to do with that as you might think.)

I read different books at different times or places. And I've found that I can plow through these books pretty fast even if I only read for a few minutes at a time. Right now, I'm reading 3 different books (not including my text book for my travel agent training).

Now, not everyone can mentally handle 3 books at once, I realize. But like following multiple TV shows and characters, I can do that. So I can retain what I read one day from one book to the next time I get there for the most part, and same with the other books.

Also, some books read slower than others. Novels tend to read faster. I can read a Star Trek novel in a day, given nothing else to do. It would take longer to read a history book with the same number of pages.

So here's how I do it. I read a history book during breakfast. It stays on the dining room table with all my pills and vitamins I take at breakfast. And all I usually have for breakfast is a Slimfast shake. So I get maybe 10 minutes, tops. Since I started this, I've read a book about American POWs in the Berga concentration camp, a companion book to a documentary miniseries about Auschwitz, a very large book about the Annenerbe, and I'm nearly finished with one about the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.

I also have a book I take with me to work. Let's face it, I have Crohn's. When I go to the restroom, I may be in there awhile. Why be bored? So it has to be a pocket novel. Something I can surreptitiously take with me. I've read a Star Wars trilogy, several Star Trek novels and a mystery novel based on an assassination attempt on the King and Queen of England in 1939 and am now reading another mystery/adventure book set during WWII.

I keep a book in my car. That one doesn't get read as often, but, say I have a doctor's appointment. I'll take that book with me. Now, when I'm sitting in the waiting room, waiting to be called, I can read that book. That's presently a book on freelance writing.

It's a cool system that is letting me get through my mini-library, finally. There are a lot of books there I'm been hoping to find time to read someday. And I really shouldn't have typed this with my hands. I've worn them out and they hurt.