Getting well-read

I want to read more this year. A LOT more. My friend out-read me 5 to 1, I'd say. And that's embarrassing. I could make a very slim list of books I HAVE read alongside their monstrous lists of actual reading conquests.

My problem in the past was sheer disinterest and lack of brain function that would allow me to absorb into a book.

Lately, though, it's been writing. How in the world can you expect me to let my mind slip into someone else's world when I'm still constructing one of my own?

I realize as I read my own writing that a lot of my problems stem from the kind of narrow mindedness that comes from a lack of reading. Similar to my amateur artwork being held back by my lack of exposure to the art world.

Every year I say I'm going to read 50 books. Every year, I read about 10. That's pretty sad. I noticed Matt said he's going to read 30 this year on his blog. I think that's a reasonable goal. I've read almost 2 so far. I'll need to amp that up a bit, I think.

I can read non-fiction pretty fast- I'm sure some books on writing would be in order. Some of the ones I own and want to actually read this year are:

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.
The Plot Thickens by Noah Lukeman.
Hooked by Les Edgerton

I'm sure we have more around here they we bought, and forgot about. Sad but true. I need to just tear through them, mark them up and put the ideas to work.

Other books I want to read that I already own have to do with my love of history, particularly history of the West and the Gold Rush:

We Saw the Elephant: Women in the Gold Rush by Jo Ann Levy
Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West

I have the very beginnings of an idea for historical fiction...someday...

I should probably read some parenting books or something. I guess...nah...

On the way to me via Amazon is a book I'm anticipating to be awesome. It's call Elfland by Freda Warrington. Usually when I get all excited like this, I get let down. Maybe this will be an exception?

I'll let you know how I do. This, like my goal of doing yoga every day and my goal of eating more leafy greens will probably fall to the wayside.