Reading A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle. It was recommended by a friend. He’s listened to about six of the webcasts also and has not had a real worry in four or five days! The book is about self-talk--from the individual to why the nations can’t get along.
His favorite book of all time--Grandpa's Fiddle, by Timothy J. Halloran. He loaned it to me! It was tucked away in the storage cabinet there on the right, the door with the green stripe on it, with a stack of other books. “Give it ten pages,” he said. Well, I'm past that now, and am really enjoying it! The book was written by a friend of his, who was inspired to write it by a dream he had in which he was visited by an old man. His friend didn’t do any research, but somehow he knew things he otherwise couldn't possibly have known, because of these dream visits. It begins with a slave named Abraham being emancipated for his knowledge of how to seal barrels to keep rum fresh--his master had been running out of good farming soil, going into debt and, in order to get Abraham's secret, which would win him $3,000, he agreed to draw up a contract and set Abraham free.
I'm in the middle of three other books right now, but hope to finish and return the book to him before too long!
When he was a kid he liked comic books.
How do you prioritize the books you're reading?
9 Comments:
Well, I usually try not to read more than 2 books at a time, but I sometimes go up to 3. If I'm reading 2 books, there's usually a "home book" (large and/or hardcover) and a "bus book" (small paperback). Sometimes I get a new exciting book when I'm in the middle of another one and I try to sort of read a bit of each... but I usually just give up and dedicate my attention to the exciting book.
The one area in which I practice discipline is in reading. I am a member of several reading groups so I schedule reading group books. Books that have been loaned to me are my second priority.
I save to savor those books I have been anticipating...the latest in a series, a new novel by a favorite author.
Ah - it's all up to destiny. I have three books by my bed, about four on my coffee table, two in my car ... and I have found, if I listen hard enough, I'll be reading the book that I *need* to be reading at the moment ... interesting to hear that the fellow likes Eckhart Tolle. Unlike Oprah, I wasn't too impressed (shocking!) ...
I have a system. I keep a pen-and-paper list of all the books I want to read. Anything new goes on the bottom on the list. Then I check out the five or six entries at the top of the list from the library, cross them off, and repeat. I have about six weeks' worth of reading lined up at any given time. (But every once in a while, I come across a writer who is so awesome that I just can't wait to read more.)
I like this because it keeps me from unconsciously prioritizing books and letting ones that I've "always meant to read" slip down to the bottom. The very next one on my list is War and Peace... eep.
I can't find Grandpa's Fiddle listed anywhere. Would you talk about it when you finish reading it?
Would it be really bad if I said by the cover...?
I try to read the books that I have been most anticpating first, otherwise I will read the library book with the most pending due date! Sometimes if I hear a lot of "buzz" about a book that interests me I'll put that high on the reading pile.
I have usually had two books on the go at a time, ideally one fiction and one non-fiction, but right now I have four - two on the nightstand, one in my workbag to read at lunch, and one on my elliptical machine in the basement (so the exercising doesn't interfere with my reading time!).
Usually library books first, right now it's school books. It's hard to concentrate when I know I have other reading to do..
I'm with Honour, destiny sometimes plays a part--something is given to me or I buy it and I just start reading it; or I'm with Girl with the Mask, the cover draws me in and I can't resist; or a student gives me a book, like today, A Million Pieces, and tells me it's the best book he has ever read, and I am drawn in. And so, even though I am loving Eat, Pray and Love, I have started my student's book. I can only hope to finish both soon. I like them both!!
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