I jumped on the whole "52 books challenge" a few weeks late, and pretty soon found myself doing a backflip off that wagon and on to the express train not wanting to get off. Here's a sketch that shows the 26 books I got through in March alone. Needless to say I'm close to nearing the end of my challenge or rather extending it indefinitely since I'm about 6 months early. That is what happens when you listen to audiobooks at double the speed. Some people speed read, I speed listen. In case you are wondering sometimes it did feel like the book was being shoved in my brain. I listened to them while cleaning, walking, doing production at work, or before sleep. Quite surprising to me I found out that shopping while listening to an audiobook is nearly impossible. Also do not listen to meditation books at double the speed: it will backfire and give you anxiety. Regardless, now I cannot listen at normal speed ever again. Just like in real life, in books I need and like things to move faster.
I read fiction, but also children's books, art books and nonfiction. Some were extremely moving and some forgettable (obviously not mentioned in this post). I feel in love with the genre of historical fiction with books like The Painted Girls based on Degas' ballerinas, and Z: A novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. That lead me to reread The Great Gatsby and The Paris Wife, a novel about Hemmingway's wife. I read books on creativity such as Creative Confidence (5stars) and books on the way the brain functions such as The Power of Habit and the Wisdom of Psychopaths.
I have always hated biographies when I was younger - perhaps because I always had to use them for history book reports, but now I've developed a bit of an obsession for them. I read Open, a biography of Andre Agassi which was quite good and much better than expected (the first chapter alone is phenomenal). One day, I came home to tell my husband I finished Chanel's biography (Sleeping with the enemy) so he could respond with "you mean Audrey Hepburn's"? Please, keep up that was so yesterday-literarly. Some biographies like Audrey's make you idolize the person more, while others like Chanel's makes you question ever wanting to touch anything she ever made. I am hoping my brain won't turn to mush and I can keep all these stories, experiences and beautiful things straight.
The most bizarre and random book I picked up was Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil. Tom Mueller is a fantastic writer and he made olive oil so exciting I bored everyone I knew with the details I learned in the book. He turned me into a person who would not stop talking about olive oil, so I'm not sure if I should write him some fan mail or some hate mail.
I'd say I've always had a reading problem and there are days I would rather sit in bed with a book and forget to eat. Being an only child, books were my siblings and at times my friends. I can still hear my mom "No reading at the dinner table!". She's the one to talk since I inherited this reading addiction from her, and my father the book
But how can anyone not love reading? George R.R. Martin said it best: "I have lived a thousand lives and I've loved a thousand loves. I've walked on distant worlds and seen the end of time. Because I read." And that is where I disappeared these past months - in the world of forgotten histories, living other people's lives and feeling their joys and sorrows and it has all been a wonderful adventure. I just want to keep reading more fantastic books, learning more and time traveling!
