The Little Things that Matter: Keep Reading

Copyright by Moyan Brenn

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love to read.   Reading is a comfort. It can distract you when you are over-thinking, comfort you when you are worried or sad, tempt you to try something new or teach you something you want to know.

I will read anything and everything that comes my way. I often read too much. If something is there waiting to be read it is hard to for me to say “that’s not really what I want to read” or even, “that’s not worth reading”.

That’s been a problem since I had children. I have less time to read and more distractions whilst I am reading.

Magazines are available everywhere. The internet, with its vast supply of reading material about every possible topic, is there. They are cheap or free.  Books require, for me, living in a rural district, a time-consuming trip to the bookstore and sometimes the book I most want is too expensive. Keeping up with what is around that I might want to read can be difficult.


Over the past couple of years, I have had to make a conscious effort to reintroduce book reading into my lifestyle. 

Here are some way I have crept reading back into my life:

Always carry a book. I always carry a book. I keep one in the car. Then, instead of waiting, I can be reading.

Reduce television/internet. Especially confine internet reading to only those things that I really find entertaining or useful. To help with this, I review the subscriptions in my feed reader every 3 months. 

Read books, not magazines. I stopped buying all but my favourite 1 or 2 magazines, and kept the money saved for buying books. Although, I always like to buy a surprise magazine when I feel in a funk and want to jumpstart new ideas.

Read fun books. It doesn’t have to always be a book worth reading, find books that grip you and make you reading. This may not be the reading you want to admit to, but it makes more of a reading habit and makes reading more relaxing than magazine snippets

Have a List. I use an Amazon wish list to keep track of books I might like to read.  And I order books online for my Kindle or to be delivered.

Why should you read?

Reading helps you to be a relevant and interesting person. It gives you something to talk about.

Reading entertains you. No more boring waits in doctor’s offices.

Reading inspires you to try things and go places you never would have thought of otherwise. Readers have great knowledge of how things work and who or what people were.

Reading introduces you to new ideas.

What’s been on my nightstand lately?

The Long Earth, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
The book is set in a future where humans have discovered a way to move – step - between alternate versions of Earth. The story follows the travels of Joshua as he tries to discover why human-like creatures from the alternate Earths are migrating.

Brain Rules, by John Medina
An exploration of 12 rules about how the brain works and how that influences how we learn and work. 

Cold Vengeance, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
A book featuring a favourite character created by these authors, FBI Special Agent Pendergast.  This book is part of a series dealing with Pendergast’s hunt for his wife’s murderers.  Books by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have been my favourite fun reading for a while now.

What are you reading?