Sunday Salon: This is February
Last weekend the nomadbaby and I ran errands in t-shirts. Today, we woke up to this:
Now that's more like it. February, it's lovely to see you. Winter, it's about time you made another appearance after your strong start in November (yes, it was a White Thanksgiving and Very Brown Christmas this year.)
Bucket List
I completely failed my January Bucket List. I managed to read only one of the five titles, The Position by Meg Wolitzer, which I quite enjoyed (review coming this week.) I managed to finish ten book in January, but five of those were audio. I was tired a lot this month. Hawthorne had some sleep regression, and our wake up time shifted from 7 or 7:30 to as early as 5 a.m. He dropped one of his overnight feedings, which sounded great in theory, but I soon discovered getting up twice and sleeping until 7 is preferable to getting up once and sleeping until only 5. It seems that two-hour difference is enough to make it too hard for me to concentrate on a book. The last four nights, he's been only getting up once and still sleeping until at least 7 a.m., so we are happy and reading again.
February Plans
There are a ton of new releases I want to read in the coming months, plus I want to sneak in a few more Tournament of Books finalists before that kicks off in March. (I will write more about the ToB in another post.) Then my favorite day of the year comes in early March: the Baileys Prize longlist announcement! I'm smart enough not to plan on reading anything else in the weeks after the announcement. There are just too many books I want to read. And while this problem is not new, what matters to me most right now is that I'm reading. Which books I read when matters less and less. For now, I'm going back to picking up whatever strikes my fancy at that moment. So I won't be promising to finish my January Bucket List in February or declaring a new Bucket List for February. Instead, I will try to be mindful of my top two reading priorities: making progress on the 2014 New York Times Notable Fiction list and making progress on all Baileys Prize titles, from 1996-present. As long as I'm crossing at least one of each of my list each month, I'm happy. And, yes, I realize reading one a month makes it impossible to ever actually finish those lists. But Hawthorne won't be this needy for ever. And he will sleep through the night soonish. And one day I will have more time and energy to read.
Now tell me: what book are you most looking forward to reading in February?
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I'm jealous of your snow - we had one flurry in the week that didn't even settle and that's it. One cm of snow would be good at least!
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy your snow day and manage to squeeze in your reading time :)
That sounds like our day! I am currently in my office looking out the window and noticing all of the white-outs that blur the limit visibility to just a few houses down. After all day of this, I am now getting worried about the work commute tomorrow. I definitely did not go outside today and have even prevented my son from heading out to his girlfriend's house. No one should have to be outside in this.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the rest of your day and good luck finishing that book!
I have found picking up and reading what I really want to read in a moment and not feeling obligated to read something is really helping with how much I read this year so far. I don't generally read things I don't want to read but I am realizing that sometimes what is next on my list is not what I really want to read at that time. I have given myself permission to move on to something else and it is very liberating!
ReplyDeleteI love the Tournament of Books but I rarely get to the books chosen until a year later. If that.
ReplyDeleteThis does look so pretty, but we've had way too much snow.
ReplyDelete