1.06.2015

Book Time

How do you keep track of the books you read?

"I'm bare boned and crazy for you...oh come crash into me...."

Excuse me. Sorry about that. I just zoned out for 8 minutes while listening to a live version of Crash Into Me by the Dave Matthews Band on Pandora. Could that song be any better? No. No it couldn't. And it somehow never gets old. I listened to it for an entire summer at the age of 16. Ah, sweet, young, Emily...little did you know that you'd still be obsessed with listening to songs on repeat 15 years later.

Back to business. Book business that is!

So...how do you track your reading? With goal #2 in mind, I want to be sure and track my reading progress this year! I signed up for Goodreads a long time ago but never made use of it until recently. Are you a fan? Other ideas? Do you keep a physical list somewhere?

I thought I'd share my current reading list! My morning time books and my free reading books. I'm sharing in the hopes that you'll leave a comment and let me know what you're reading. I'm also sharing in the hopes that this will hold me accountable to actually finishing all of the aforementioned books.

"I know you've made your point, but I just don't want to remember. I know you got the feeling, but I can't say I'm agreeing."

Oh jam-diggity! It happened again. Music time zoning out. I'm writing this at 9:22pm on Monday after the #worldslongestmonday. That might be the problem. I am #tiredgirl. The aforementioned lyrics are from the tune Amazing by Josh Kelley. Thank you, Pandora, for reminding me of that hit, too! I listened to that one on repeat on a drive back from Colorado quite a lot of years ago while my mom napped for a bit.

First up, free reading books....I'm early on in these three, so it's too early to comment.

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The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer

And morning devotion time books...

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Jesus Calling by Sarah Young: I've been using this since mid-November. I can imagine that there will be seasons of life when I really like it (now...for example) and seasons when I don't connect as much to the approach. There are 365 devotions in this book with corresponding Bible verses for each day (about 2-3 verses per day). It's written from the perspective of Jesus speaking to you, the reader. Like I said...sometimes that's really comforting. Other times it's like, "Wait...Jesus didn't really say these things...how do we know for sure if that's what he would say today?" I had a bit of a spiritual "reset" in November/December, and the book has been helpful. I'm a fan. But I recognize it's not for everyone. And for the first several months that I had the book (received it as a gift from a dear Zion friend), I wasn't into it. Now I am. Life is funny like that. I recommend giving it a try. It's super duper popular, so you can find it anywhere. Read one or two at the book store next time you're there and check it out.

Yes, And: Daily Meditations by Richard Rohr: I started receiving Rohr's daily devotions a few months ago, and I really enjoy those, so I thought, "Why not give the book a try?" The book is comprised of snippets from his multitude of writings. I REALLY like his faith/life approach and much of his theology is a good fit with mine. I recommend it! I read one or two of the short reflections per morning.

Daily Affirmations by Rokelle Lerner: Lerner has written a number of helpful books. Some are more of the devotional/affirmation variety and some are more straight self-help. She's a psychotherapist, facilitator, and speaker. Excellent background, super knowledgeable. Lerner mentions God in the devotion but keeps it VERY general. I appreciate her approach. This book is 365 short, encouraging reflections. This particular book is specifically geared toward those who have experienced addiction related issues somewhere in their family tree. But I think the themes of her writings are universally helpful to many people regardless of family tree - especially if you are prone to worry, insecurity, mistrust, fear, control, people-pleasing, unhealthy partner relationships, and guilt. Her daily reflections take about 2 minutes to read, and they are consistently excellent! I often find myself snapping a pic and forwarding it to a friend. Here was yesterday's. I loved it. Perfect for this goal-setting season.

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"I will move with confidence, knowing that change is a series of small successes." Amen!

I am excited to hear what's on your current reading list! Have a lovely, book-filled Tuesday!

5 comments:

  1. Dear Em,

    Goals are great, and you've picked outstanding goals that will uplift you! However, based on your recent posts, particularly this one, I wonder if some more fine-tuning of your goals would be helpful.

    Two thoughts along those lines: prioritize your goals, and state them with respect to your priorities. For example: blogging daily is a great goal, but unless it's your highest priority, perhaps that goal should instead be something like "blog most days, if time is available considering my higher priority goals." Then after #worldslongestmonday, you can more likely meet what I would suggest is a higher priority goal, getting 7-8 hours of sleep. Good sleep aids your health, which in turn facilitates achieving your other goals. Don't get me wrong; I deeply appreciate your blog. Even so, I'd much rather find that you had not provided a blog entry some day, in favor of specific work on higher priority goals. You might even just put in a quick blog entry to say which higher-priority goal prevented you from writing a full entry. ;-)

    On to feedback you actually asked for. I keep a "significant reading log" as a text file, in which I record books and potentially other large reading projects. I use a numbered list for each year. For each book, I record the full title, author, copyright date, the date (month and year) I finished reading it, a few sentences that describe my reaction to the book, and whether the book seems worthy of my reviewing it and/or recommending it to others. I find this information helpful, and sometimes a little surprising. Occasionally when I indicate that I should review a book that initially seemed so-so overall, I find that my opinion of the whole book greatly improves after going back over my notes. Must have something to do with not remembering the important bits without seeing them a second time. :-)

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    1. Hi Paul,
      Thanks for the good insights. I appreciate those very much! And thanks for taking time to explain how your maintain your reading log. Very good!!!!
      -Em

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  2. Jesus Calling is forever on my night stand :) love it. I don't read enough books to need a filing system. ...But I'm reading "Unlocking the secrets of successful women" right now!

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    1. That sounds really good, Kaitlin! We will have to discuss on our lunch date!

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  3. I haven't read it, Allison!!! I'm so curious about it. You'll have to let me know. I saw the Kindle version was $4.99 the other day. How is "You're a Badass"? Sounds pretty kick@$$!

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