Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Miriam's History of Reading




Last night I couldn't sleep which has been a regular occurrence for a few weeks now so I decided to update my read books book. I am one of those personalities who loves lists specifically because I love monitoring my own progress. That's not always a good thing though because I am my worst critic. I looked over some of the books I have read and I decided to go through and star all my favorites. I made a pop up on the blog for those. I decided that I haven't truly enjoyed many of the books I have read. I want to start a new chapter of my life where i read one book a week. at least one fun fiction a month and then hopefully one classic and two historically significant books. I was appalled by my reading record. In the last 14 years (from all the books I can remember, I just started logging last year) I have only averaged out 10 books a year! Atrocious. I have the tendency to reread my favorites if life starts to feel mundane but I need to expand my mind. I have been out of school for 16 months now and I don't like it.

As some know my goals are high when it comes to my education. I want to become a history professor and reach tenure. Thus I must read. This new reading schedule will rejuvenate my mind. I am going to start in the new year. The only problem is finding the titles. When I look back on my short life I see different parts of it that were major turning points for the path. I can specifically remember all the crucial decisions that have brought be to this exact spot

If this post is really weird I must say that I wrote this post to clarify my thoughts. I am excited for the move back to the mainland specifically because I am going to start looking into Masters programs. I gave myself (in my mind) a two year break before I would start my masters. So I better get on it.

All this takes me back to a time when I used to thrive on five and ten year plans. I have yet to fail to accomplish anything on these lists. Although in 2003 I made the goal on my 10 year plan to be published within 10 years. Not a book necessarily but an article at least. I don't think this goal is unrealistic I just need to continue to work on it.

When I look back at the books that made me love the escape or reading the specifc title that comes to mind is King Arthur. I must have been a nerd my entire life. I remember as a child I loved everything medevil. It started in second grade when the theme of that year was the medeval era. I remember when we first moved to the United States when I was in fourth grade my obsession for the kind Arthur story started. There were only 5 different stories for king Arthur in that library and I remember I would borrow them over and over again and just reread them. They all had rather drastic differences but I loved it. I think I will start collecting King Arthurs now. How thankful I will always be for king Arthur (that sounds absurd but I don't care).
For those who took the time to read this I would deeply appreciate a list either commented or emails with your top ten or however many you want to put. I loved to read and I believe a persons taste in books is a great indication of their personality. So either comment them or email them to me so I can have some titles I can trust.

Miriam

10 comments:

Heather said...

Wow you are very impressive. I'm afraid I don't have any good books to ad to your list. Especially the intellectually challenging ones. I personally like to read for escape purposes only. If I can't escape all of the stress going on in my life then what's the point? :) Some of my favorite authors are David Baldacci, Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer, and of course Jane Austen. Good luck with your plans and goals. I am the same way and I always feel so much better when I have things that I can work towards.

Unknown said...

So I tried to think of my favorite 10 books, but, for me, it comes down to authors, I think. Mine are all fluff and fiction. I tried to think of non-fiction books I liked and I could only think of one. It's really beautiful, but probably only to me. hahaha. It's a decorating book by nate burkus, one of oprah's henchmen. hehehehe. anyways, back to favorite authors: Stephenie Meyer, Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Christopher Paolini, and Madeline L'Engle. I used to really love Anne Rice as a kid, but I had an obsession with vampires that apparently still exsists. And two books I really love are The Little Prince and Jane Eyre. Seriously, though, you are thoroughly organized with your goals and such. Well done.

Maliana said...

yeah good job, you're totally going to be published before 2013, easy! i have a weird friend who could recommend a lot of weird books on socialism and economics... but me? hmmmm i don't know i'll have to think about it and get back to you :p

Line'sLucky3 said...

Well you already know that Im foremost a fluff/entertainment reader. Ocassionaly, I gotta put the fluff down and actually read something that could get me on "Jeopardy"...LOL So Im horrified that I can only come up with literally a handful of books for this years readings but I've been kinda busy. LOL Favorite authors: Jane Austen (L.O.V.E. Her), David Badacci, C.S. Lewis, Stephenie Meyer (the newest on the list), and Dr. Seus (seriously)!! Oh and my standby for fast fluff...Grisham (sp?. I loved this blog except for the part when you talked about leaving Guam...sucks for me!!

Sarah said...

Very impressive goals - good for you!! I think that first and foremost, you should be an active member in our book club blog. You should read the book and make a posting on the blog. We've just picked a new book for December, so now would be a good time to jump in. I've added you as an author; you just need to go and accept it (I sent the invitation to your mktr1984@gmail.com address).

Hmmm ... now for my favorite authors. Sheesh! Definitely Stephenie Meyer, J.K. Rowling, I love Mary Higgins Clark - she writes a good mystery book. I just finished 'The Lucky One' by Nicolas Sparks and it was good. Um, for some classics - loved '1984', though it pissed me off royally - still definitely worth reading. 'Lord of the Flies' always makes for an interesting read. Hmm, I can't think of anything else off the top of my head. I'll keep thinking.

You can always post something on the book club blog, asking for suggestions ... :)

MoBo said...

Holy Kanikubusters! you are one intimidating Manneskja! So Friggin Sure of yourself, its Amazing! Everyone is awed By you. I'm just so impressed, I want to read your publishings, make sure to inform me! hehehe hahaha
My Reading is for relaxational purposes, so my favourites are awesome truly, but I am a very emotional person So I very much dislike books that encourage angry feelings, or books that disgust me, I know the world is a yucky vile disgusting place, so I dont want to be reading about it! but yeah, if I remember too I'll write a blog or something about my favourite books, hehe Toodlesoo!

MelanieMoMo

Sarah said...

I thought of another author I love - Shannon Hale. I've read all her books (some multiple times) and I love them. They're not hard reading; but very cleverly written. She has a blog with some reading suggestions on it, if you want to check it out:

http://oinks.squeetus.com/

By the way - she's LDS, so her books are clean.

Chelsey said...

Miriam, My mom just told me she received a wedding announcement for Suzanne. Hurray!Just thought I'd let you know. i didn't recignize the name as someone around AF. They are getting married in the SL temple.

Unknown said...

I forgot to tell you a while back that I was reading a book on Mao Tse Tung and it was really interesting. I only read it because of you. hahaha. it was really long, though, so I only got through a little bit of it before i had to take it back to the library. He was an interesting fellow.

Hera said...

You are my daughter for sure hehe.
I will give you my list next year. I have read many on history and culture. I miss the little English second hand books with all their cheap books. Some were real old.
I have a big library which you have not seen yet. There is one thing in my life that I allow myself. That is buying books. I have read most of them hehe. Something to look forward to in the future. Reading.
until next time.