Musing Mondays: Finding time to read...

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about finding time for reading.

Do you have to carve out time in your day for reading (due to work and other obligations), or does your reading just happen naturally? 

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your opinion in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks. For more responses head over to Just one More Page.


This question made me laugh a little bit. Reading doesn't just happen naturally around here, it happens when ever I have a spare second from everything else I have going on. With one year old twins and up until Friday being a full time graduate student and now applying for jobs and packing for our cross country move, carving out time for reading is necessary. I read when the babies nap (although it's rare that they nap at the same time).

Occasionally when the babies are awake I'll read a page or two if they're quiet and occupied for a few minutes. I also carry a book with me every where I go in case there's ever any down time. In line with this I go to any appointment about 30 minutes early with the intention of having a few minutes of peace to read. Of course my largest opportunity to read is after the babies go to bed for the evening when I can read for a longer period of time. I'm lucky that I read really quickly so although my reading time is limited I can get through a fairly large volume of books. 

In my mailbox (2)...

In My Mailbox was started by Kristi over at The Story Siren and it explores the contents of my mailbox, shopping bag or library acquisitions on a weekly basis. I had another really good book week (which helps make up for a really poor week in other ways). This week I added the following:

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs - This book is from paperback swap and it's not something I would usually read. Which is exactly the point since it's for an online reading challenge where we allow someone with opposite tastes in books to pick something for us outside of our comfort zones. We'll see how it goes.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - I bought this book because I've heard a ton of rave reviews and they were right. I read this book in a few hours (a full review coming soon).

Notebooks by Tennessee Williams - I've actually already read this book. It's a collection of all of Williams' personal journals, however the copy I read is from the library which I have to return soon and it was too good. So when a 40% off coupon arrived for Borders I figured it was a sign or something and I ordered the book.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson - This book book was sent to me by a wonderful woman from South Dakota for an on-line book exchange I'm part of. I'm so excited to finally have a chance to read it.

Stone into School by Greg Mortenson - Also sent by the wonderful lady above for the exchange!

The Hardy Boys The House on the Cliff by Franklin W. Dixon - This book actually belongs to my one year old daughter. My mother in law sent it too, but since she's too young to blog and we did get it in the mail it still counts.


Total books this week =6  Total cost = $30 for Notebooks and Hunger Games the rest required no money.

From the Shelves of Eli & Emerson (1): Make Way for Ducklings...

I am occasionally going to write about what I've been reading to my babies as a way to keep track and remember all the books of their childhood. The most appropriate way to start seems to be with Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.

We recently took a trip to Boston to have the babies one year pictures taken and it just so happens that we were taking the pictures in the Boston Public Gardens the setting of this book. In preparation for the trip my Mother-in-law sent the babies their very own copy so they could be ready.

The night before we left Marcus read the babies the story (which is just adorable). I had forgotten how cute this book is.

Marcus reading to the babies.

Once at the park we immediately went searching for the statues and it wasn't hard to find because there were surrounded by little kids. We waited patiently for our opening and stuck our kids next to the statues for a photo op. They had no idea what was going on but they both starting touching the duck, laughing and then Eli started licking it (which totally grossed me out.)

I have to say it's one of the cutest statues I've ever seen.

Checking out a duckling.

Emerson sitting on Mrs. Mallard the mama duck.

Eli sitting on Mrs. Mallard.

It was a great afternoon, and the story is adorable. I know we'll be reading it over and over again with the babies.

(An Ice Cream truck outside the park with a Make Way for Ducklings illustration on it). 

Musing Mondays: second hand book stores...

Do you frequent second hand book stores? Have you ever bought a book home only to find anything interesting within their pages? To see other answers check out Just one more page. The host of this meme. 

I started my book collection many years ago at a used book store. When I was younger my grandparents used to take a grandkid and let them stay by themselves at their house for a week or so. During my week we did lots of different activities that were specific to my interests. By far the best part of that stay was going to their used book store. My grandparents had a ton of credits and they let me pick out as many books as I wanted. (And I picked out 7 John Grisham books which I still have, among others). I was in heaven getting free reign over the books. I remember the bookstore owner kept trying to direct me over to the children's section but I was more interested in Grisham and Stephan King. 


Since that early experience I haven't actually been to a used book store until a few weeks ago, when I discovered a great used bookstore down the street from me (It only took me 3 years of living in this city to discover it). I've also found the goodwill store a great place to find books at really cheap prices. 


Unfortunately I haven't ever found anything exciting in the pages. In fact all that I have ever found is this, 

Not nearly as exciting as money or something. 

In my mailbox (1)...

 In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren and it explores the contents of my mailbox or shopping bag on a weekly basis. I doubt I'll have new books every week (although a girl can dream) but I actually have some new additions from this last week:

A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I've been wanting to read this book forever and when I went to find it at the library I discovered it was one of the "lost" books. (Which is such a sad concept, a book just misplaced somewhere amid millions of volumes). So I finally got a copy through paperback swaps yay!

The Best American Nonrequired Reading edited by Dave Eggers. I won this book in a blog giveaway from Lovely Little Shelf. From the back, "The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction."

Fencing The Sky by James Galvin. This book I picked up in the lounge of my graduate school from a box of books marked 'free'. I love this time of year because people always clean out their books and give them away around here. As an added bonus to being free it's in perfect condition and it's signed. 

Do Not Go Gentle by Ann Hood. Also from the box of free books. 

Reckoning with Apocalypse Terminal Politics and Christian Hope by Dale Aukerman (another from the box of free books). The title of this one sounds really strange but the premise sounds really fascinating, although it could go very wrong. I guess we'll see.

Total new books =5 Total cost = $0 (my favorite way to acquire books)

What I read in April...

1. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
2. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
3. Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
4. Dark Testament and Other Poems by Pauli Murray 
5. Finders Keepers by Karin Kallmaker 
6. The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder 
7. The Chosen by Chaim Potok
8. Serena by Ron Rash
9. Look Again by Lisa Scottoline 
10. Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
11. On Writing by Stephen King
12. Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters by Chesley B. Sullenberger
13. Song Yet Sung by James McBride
14. Just Hospitality by Letty Russell 
15. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer 
16. Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics by Margaret Farley 
17. Church in the Round: Feminist Interpretation of Church by Letty Russell 


I had a big reading month in the beginning of April. Then towards the end the semester came to a close and final papers and exams arrived. I haven't had time to read anything for fun in a few days.

Flash Back Friday: The Baby-Sitters Club...

Flashback Friday is a chance to showcase books that you loved as a kid or teenager and is hosted over at Lovely Little Shelf.

Every Friday we’ll post about the books that we loved.  Do this however you want.  You can outline the plot as you remember it, tell why you remember this particular book, talk about how it is still affecting you, whatever you want.  This part is totally up to you. Feel free to nab the little guy up top and put him at the top of your blog post.

Oh, how I loved the baby-sitters club when I was in elementary school. I was reminded of this love recently when I discovered Ann Martin recently released a prequel, aka a brand new Baby-Sitters Club book! I was nearly delirious with excitement and joy and immediately went to Amazon to make my purchase (much to the amusement of my husband).I then did my part in educating every single person I ran into, "Hey did you know there's a new baby-sitters club book?" (FYI when telling this to people in their late 20's and 30's the reactions are incredibly varied).

I think I was so excited about the new book because it immediately brought back a flood of memories. My love of reading all the books. The T.V. show, playing pretend with my sisters and putting on plays where we created and reenacted our own baby-sitters club meetings. I was struck by just how much these books were part of my childhood. I so hope my children will love to read so one day when they're all grown up they'll see a book from their past and  be reminded of a different time when anything was possible and the world was full of make believe and possibilities. (The truly ironic thing about my love of the BSC books is I hated baby-sitting. I had no problem reading about it and holding fake meetings, but I had no desire to actually do it).

I've been reading the new BSC club book out loud to my 1 year old twins, again to the amusement of my husband. I'll start them young and then they'll have to love books right?