Winter: Time to Read

At least, that's my hope. I always want to snuggle down in a blanket and read at this time of year. My memories of childhood Christmases (after the little-kid toy Christmases) are of everyone getting new books, and all of us in the family sitting around the house reading in quiet solitude. It didn't really matter if I was living in Arizona (not very cold) or California (not cold at all), I loved the long series of days with no obligations, being able to read for hours non-stop.

Of course, most of this time period I'm talking about was when I was in school or college, which meant part of my calendar was designated as vacation. My job of being a student was suspended while I enjoyed no structure in my days, no homework, etc.

Today I have a toddler, from which there is no vacation. I keep trying to remember to instigate a "reading time" during the day, but we're just not people that do the same thing every day, much less at the same time every day. So maybe it will have to be occasional. But toddler needs to learn how to let Mommy read while she plays with toys or looks at her own books. She's at the age where she's just starting to play by herself sometimes, so maybe reading time for me is in sight. I hope so. There are so many books I want to read! And now there just keep being more all the time!

I've been looking at different reading lists on NPR and found a few I think I'll like. In one browser window I'm looking at the book list and reading the descriptions, and in another browser window I'm reserving books at my local library. And in another window I'm putting books on my wish list on Paperback Swap. And did I mention it's 6am? Everyone else is asleep, that's why I can successfully do this multi-tasking stuff.

So here's one of the lists I like, by Nancy Pearl, the famous librarian who has a librarian action figure modeled on her. She calls her list Under-the-Radar Books.