On Reading: Chasing the Wind

In my “real life” of maintaining a household, being a wife and a friend and a mother, a cook, a chauffeur, laundress and shelf-stocker, I often feel as though I’m chasing the wind. Am I the only one? I start the morning with a clean sink and clear countertop, and by noon, after a few breakfasts have been eaten, lunches have been made, and I’ve fixed my lunch at home, I am right back where I started.

Some days I am busy all day long. I load, I drive, I clean, I work. But I look around, and I feel as though nothing has been done at all.

Like chasing the wind, it seems fruitless and wearying.

And on other days, although I’ve spent time working hard, it just doesn’t seem as though it’s done right: clothes come out of the dryer stained or wrinkled or casserole dishes go back into the cupboard with just a smidge of baked-on something.

But reading? That I can do, and I can well, my friends.

When I sit down to read a book, I lose myself in the pages. Page after page read might speak of chores or work that has been left neglected, but each page I flip brings me closer to the end of the book as well. And a finished book somehow gives me a sense of personal accomplishment that is much less easy to claim in my roles as wife and mother (and wife and friend and daughter and disciple, for that matter).

Each month I participate in What’s on Your Nightstand here (the fourth Tuesday of each month — join us on March 22). There have been times that I began to feel as if it was just a fruitless exercise, but I’ve recently become rejuvenated, realizing as I set out to make a list of what I hope to read, or what I’ve reviewed over the past month. I am also encouraged as I read your goals, whether reading has always been a priority in your life, or you have recently vowed to make more time for it.

I’m participating in the Spring Reading Thing at Callapidder Days for the third time (I think — or 4th? — with 3 other Fall challenges under my belt as well). It starts today, and it’s another great way for me to look at my goals for a season. With at least 90% of the books I read being review copies, it makes it difficult for me to list what I’m going to be reading three months into the future. But as I mentioned in my Nightstand post last month, I am striving for a little more balance this year, paying attention to some books that have been sitting on my shelf that I’ve wanted to read for a long time, so for this challenge, I’ve simply listed the titles that I want to read personally — books that don’t have publisher deadlines or responsibilities, which makes them often get pushed to the bottom of the priority list. You can look at my list HERE.

So–tell I’m not crazy. Tell me that reading is also something that you take pride in or feel accomplishment about. Tell me that you like working your way through a series or a particular author or a stack of library books. Tell me if you set goals or just revel in whatever time you can steal to devote to your beloved hobby. Tell me that reading is an antidote to chasing the wind.

Tell me.

Jennifer Donovan is also good at loafing, surfing the net or the TV lineup, and spending big chunks of time chatting with friends. She blogs (when she’s not wasting time) at Snapshot.