I love to read. Always have.
Growing up, I found the stacks in our local library a place of escape – row after row after row of books to take me anywhere I wanted to go. Nancy Drew Mysteries. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet. The Hundred Dresses. The Best Loved Doll. Any and every book I could find about horses – Black Beauty, Black Stallion, Misty of Chincoteague, National Velvet….
Still some of my very best childhood memories.
I’m glad my love of reading has stuck around all these years.
I came across this quote recently…though I can’t remember where. I just jotted it down like I normally do when I find a gold nugget:
Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~ Charles William Eliot
I don’t know anything about Mr. Eliot except that he was a Harvard President – but I did find that his quote resonated. Books have been my quet and constant friend, from the time I learned to read at 4 years old, through today (I’ll spare you how many years that is).
I’ve not read nearly as much in the past few years than I do normally – I have wrongly let work consume me and cut into both family time as well as personal time to pursue things I love, such as reading and writing. I’m hoping to make some significant changes this year, to get work corraled back to its rightful place, and to bring some of the joy and rest to my soul that I find when I have time to think, write and read.
Reading Resources
To kick off 2023, and because I’m going to try to read significantly more this year myself, I thought I’d share some reading resources with you that I’ve found helpful and enjoyable.
Every year I set a reading goal of 52 Books – one per week. This year is no different, and I plan to track my books read in both Goodreads and Notion.
If you are interested in a social media site dedicated to books and readers, I highly recommend Goodreads – its like Facebook for book nerds. I love seeing what my friends are reading, and I enjoy tracking my reading progress and rating books I’ve completed. You can check it out here: Goodreads
If you’d like something a bit more robust where you can not only track what you are reading, but pretty much organize your entire life – check out Notion. Lots of templates to get started – if/after you sign up for Notion, Google “Notion Reading Tracker” and you’ll see several templates to try – or, you can always create your own.
Another fun way to get ideas of what to read (and to track your reading) is Visual Theology’s Reading Plan Posters. I buy myself one every Christmas (yes, as a gift to myself, lol) and I place it in a cheap poster frame that I bought at Amazon. I use the suggestions on the poster for reading topics, and I cross off each one I complete. I was first introduced to it in 2016 through Tim Challies’ blog, and have used it ever since. You can purchase the poster here: Visual Theology – 2023 Reading Challenge
So – what are your reading plans this year? I’d love to hear about them – leave a note in the comments below, or send me a message – and Happy Reading to you!
