On Reading Books

I love to read books ... something about the incredible amount of life that can sit between two cardboard covers.  Some books represent a lifetime of thought, others lead you through a time lost, others explore people from the past.  So I read everyday, often in the morning and sometimes in the evening. Doing this I can achieve (according the good reads) approximately 30-40 books a year. Not bad.

But I think this is the crazy part. Reading begets reading, without much effort I could list out 30-40 books that I would love to read and hope I do shortly. I probably have nearly that many on my bookshelves, books that I would love to read and hope to soon. If I took some time, I feel fairly confident I could turn that list into 200, just by looking over my shelves, reminding myself of the authors still to explore, the ones I have only barely touched, the ones that connect to subjects of interest, the ones that seem necessary to understand our crazy world, the worlds of interest I haven't had time to explore, etc. So to me that is the crazy thing about reading ... you are always ready for the next 2-5 years! The key is to be patient with yourself and realize that the book you are currently enjoying is where you should be and kind of put the rest in the "God willing and the flood don't rise." I think as I have gotten older, I have realized the obvious, I will never read all the books I want to read. Another reason to enjoy the ones you have time for and then try and live affected by them.


Comments

Matt said…
This echoes my feelings perfectly (I'll have to consult Good Reads about how many - probably not 30 a year). That patience is the hard part :)
Derek said…
i love you brother and im glad you read

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