Book club fail
Back in mid-December, a bunch of my coworkers formed a book club and asked if I wanted to join. I figured it would be a great way to put myself on a reading deadline. I haven't finished a book in so long that I feel almost illiterate. This is tragic because I have an English degree. I spent 4 years of my life reading everything I could get my hands on (for credit!) and I have a massive collection of books.
Then I learned to knit. All of my reading was replaced with knitting. And I've never been able to get back to my regular reading habit.
So joining a book club was perfect. I could knit in the evenings while watching tv, then read after Shane goes to bed.
Wrong. I fail. I didn't finish the book. Not even close. I think I'm on page 75 of over 500, and the club meeting is tonight. Needless to say, I'm skipping it.
So, you knitters out there - do you read regularly? How are you able to knit and get any reading done?
I'll stay in the club one more month, but if I'm not able to finish next month's book, I'm giving up.
Then I learned to knit. All of my reading was replaced with knitting. And I've never been able to get back to my regular reading habit.
So joining a book club was perfect. I could knit in the evenings while watching tv, then read after Shane goes to bed.
Wrong. I fail. I didn't finish the book. Not even close. I think I'm on page 75 of over 500, and the club meeting is tonight. Needless to say, I'm skipping it.
So, you knitters out there - do you read regularly? How are you able to knit and get any reading done?
I'll stay in the club one more month, but if I'm not able to finish next month's book, I'm giving up.
Labels: miscellany
posted by Beverly at 6:03 PM
9 Comments:
Knitting did kill my literary hobbies. I spent the entire 90s engrossed in books and writing, In the 00s I picked up knitting again and I've hardly read a thing. I also have attention problems. I've resorted to reading children's books. Really. I have time to read before sleep and it took me three weeks to read the Graveyard Book, (2009 Newbery medal winner!) because I kept falling asleep. I'm starting an adult book now, wish me luck.
I read about 1 or 2 books a week of varying lengths..mostly novels but right now I'm reading 1-2-3 Magic about a particular discipline technique I'm wanting to try out on the kids.
I don't knit, though.
Have you tried audio books. My ultimate in multitasking is listening to a book on tape while crocheting and riding a stationary bike. I haven't done that in a while, but I kind of miss it... You can check out books on CD from the library and save them on your ipod (just remember to delete them later, or you get random book chapters when you listen on shuffle).
Tracy C.
I do exactly what you mentioned... I knit while we watch TV in the evening and then pick up a book when we go to bed. I don't finish books nearly as quickly as I used too but it's ok. I also read on the bike at the gym.
It all depends on how good the book is really. If it's awesome, then the knitting gets pushed to one side. If the book is blah!, then I only read for a page or two before I fall asleep at night.
Right now I'm reading the Story of Edgar Sawtelle. It's big for our book club - over 500 pages. We usually stick between 3 and 4 hundred. We're giving ourselves an extra week to read it.
Maybe you can suggest a shorter book for book club reading.
What a timely topic for me! After dropping out of my local bookclub for over a year, I recently decided to re-join. I miss reading books. I follow the same patterns as the others: knitting while watching TV, book before bed.
I hope I'm able to keep up this year!
Yes, I do... and I also go through reading binges, when all I do is read.
But... grad school has taught me how to skim a 500+ page book in less than an hour and get the main points. That's what happens when a prof makes you read 9+ 300 and up page books for his class... for a 2 week period. For one out of 3 classes. Oh, and report on them.
But enough grumbling. Just read at your own pace.
I'm like Disco. It depends on the book. Mostly there hasn't been much out there to hold my attention, so my time filters back to the knitting.
I read mostly when I can't knit, or am bored with whatever I'm working on. I still have a stack on my bedside table to tackle when I get sick of sock.
No, I don't plow through books as I used to, but I still get done what I really want.
I just read and knit at the same time.
Nothing complicated - lace and cables and such is for TV-watching or all by itself - but if I'm doing a big block of straight stockinette, I'll prop the book open on my lap (more of a challenge with paperbacks than hardcovers), or sometimes sitting at the kitchen table (butterknives make great book weights, or sometimes those big black binder clips to hold a page), and hold the knitting closer to my chest, and while away an hour or two.
But, my literary voracity has fallen WAY off in recent years. Knitting didn't edge it out, as it had faded a bit before I started knitting in earnest. I think it's like many things in life: cyclical, waxing and waning. It'll come back, someday.
And I wish I could hear well enough to use audiobooks.
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