Measuring Up On The New Reading List

I read a fair amount.  I always have been a reader, but lately I feel dissatisfied with the number of books that I make it through on a regular basis.  I’m still reading lots, but I think a lot of this reading is of blogs and internet forums and magazines that make their way into our home one way or the other.  I am also distracted by television and email, like most of us. 

This morning it dawned on me that those things we measure are the things most likely to improve, so why not publish my ongoing reading list right on my blog.  That way I am publicly beholden to what I have and have not done.  My style of book reading involves digging into several at a time and slowly making my way through them if they continue to interest me or putting them on the shelf it they start to get too repetitive. 

Thus, my reading list has four sections:

1. Currently Reading – These are the books scattered throughout the household with bookmarks in them placed by me at some fairly recent point in time.  These bookmarks are making an often times slow journey from the beginning of the book to the end, although I hope to speed up this cycle some.
2. On Deck – These books have been acquired at some point and are queued up for digestion in the near future.
3. Finished Books – These are the books that I finish cover to cover.  There is nothing there yet because this reading list is from this point in time and forward.  If I started including books already read, where would I stop?  That would also be an annoyance spending time tracking down book titles and authors that could be spent reading.  Or blogging, because that’s cool too. 
4. Started & Discarded – These are the books that I start but never really finish because either I think they are boring, too repetitive, poorly written or all of the above.  I rarely actually discard a book, and at worst, I will donate it to some place it can be re-sold, so don’t take the category name too literally.  Started and discarded just has a rhymey and sing-songy sound to it, which I like.

At any rate, here is a link to the new reading list.  The only real and true conclusion a person can get from perusing the current list is that I am a complete dork when it comes to choosing reading material.  You might also wonder if I even understand what I’m reading.  Quite honestly, there are definitely times I wonder the same thing, but I courageously keep piling in the data with the faith that my brain will file it away for future use in some semblance of order.  It’s kind of like learning any new skill, say off road riding, where you just plug away knowing that the new series of movements and inputs will gradually go from slow-clumsy-clueless to slightly-less-awkward to smooth-skilled-expert if you’re just dogged enough to keep at it. 

So where are all the multi-sport related tomes?  Keep in mind I’ve been doing multi-sport for almost 7 years now, so those books are already lining the shelves.  I haven’t read everything there is to read on the topic, but believe you me I’ve read enough.  This isn’t to say that the occasional sport book won’t crop up from time to time, but those days of immersion into swim-bike-run books are in the past.

So be sure to check in on my reading list on occasion and take me to task if books aren’t transitioning off the Currently Reading list fast enough.  I want to read more, so let’s make sure I measure up.

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