Books, books, books - a thousand lives in one lifetime if we are lucky enough to read them! A very dear friend become a librarian several years ago and thanks to her brilliant help, I’ve gone from reading 5 books a year to 55+ a year. We are playing a book bingo this month to recap what we read last year, swap recommendations, and just spend time together. In case you want to follow along, read on the for the book bingo card and the hacks I've used to expand my reading goals.
Book bingo is like any other bingo. The place card has different book categories and author or genre specificities in each box. Each player fills out the bingo place card according to what they’ve read in the year. You leave the box blank if you didn’t read anything relevant to the box. Once all players are ready, the announcer picks a box (individually cut out from a blank bingo card) out of a hat. Then each player puts a marker on that box. 5 boxes in a row wins a bingo! It’s fun to play because as people win the bingo- you get to hear what books they read. Sometimes it’s fun to swap bingo cards and just see what people read in each category. I think it would be brilliant to be able to fill out the whole place card - but I never get that far in the game either because we run out of time, or because some of the categories are hard to fill.
Reading eclectically is part of the game. I'll admit that it's a challenge to dabble in a little bit of everything. And I wonder if my tolerance for eclectic genres is higher because I've had to slog through strange and dense texts for previous careers (e.g. political theory and technical writing.) But I'm often surprised by genres I wouldn't expect to enjoy. Well, except thrillers. I just don't handle it well. My imagination runs wild and I get too scared!
The other challenge is getting through enough books to fill out the bingo card. There's so many good books out there, but time is hard to find. The best thing here is to make do with a little chunk of time. Even 5 minutes counts. Another trick here is to learn the eye scanning tricks used by speedreaders. I learned this technique as a kid and it helps me quickly zip through pages.
But I know that the best thing for my reading record has been the sheer amount of time I can devote to listening deeply as I go about my work day. Since I work from home, I don't have to worry about coworkers so I can play a book in the background. And I have a lot of work where I'm able to split my brain attention to both focus on a task and listen to an audiobook. It doesn't work all the time. For example, I can’t do it when I’m brainstorming or writing concepts. But I can listen intently while sketching, drawing and especially coloring.
The strange truth about that is that a finished illustration will trigger a book passage from the audiobook that was playing in the background while I made it. (E.g. ACOTAR got me through a long and tricky commission once!) It’s similar to a sensation I've had before while running and listening to podcasts. Afterwards, certain streets and parks would remind me of a part of the podcast conversation. Well, now I can look at a painting and be reminded of character scenes in the outline of a drawing, or whole passages in the paint strokes of an illustrated piece.
My happiest reading hack was learning about Libby from my librarian friend. Libby, the Overdrive app is an access app to your libraries online catalogue - including audiobooks. So it’s just like Audible - but free! Most libraries in the US offer it as part of their services. Some overseas libraries offer it too. I source my library cards from my hometown in Florida and I bought a membership card to a public library in the state of Virginia for Christmas. Between the two of those libraries, I can typically find most book titles I’m looking for.
Other hacks include listening to audiobooks while driving, or reading on phones for commutes, having two books by the bedside at all times and try to read at least a page from each before falling asleep, and carving out time once a week to read instead of watching Netflix. Oh, and get yourself a librarian friend or a book-loving friend. Then you will inevitably talk about books and constantly get inspired. It worked for me!
With that, here’s the top 5 books that tickled me pink this year:
The Bookstore on the Corner by Jenny Colgan A romantic and adventurous self-fulfilling fictional story of a Brit pursuing her life dream of owning a traveling van bookstore in Scotland.
The Tools by Phil Stutz A self help book by the psychologist from the Jonah Hill documentary filled with useful visualisation exercises to work through common yet difficult emotional and mental spirals.
Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come by Jessica Pan The hilarious true account of an introverts quest to become more extroverted. Filled with funny anecdotes, research and great ideas for switching up social routines.
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed The compilation of a gutsy advice column with piercing wisdom and beautiful passages. Knocked me off my socks.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Kilmarer A wholesome walk through seasonal traditions and nature’s bounty alongside a botanist with indigenous roots. This book hooked me, made my climate anxiety wane a little and gave me philosophical ideas to dream about.
I filled out my bingo card with these titles and others that I read through this year. If you plan to play, I hope it helps you celebrate your reading record, spend time with friends and maybe get an idea for a title or two to find at your local library or bookstore. Download a copy of this past year's book bingo to play:
Cheers to books and whatever time we find to indulge them,
smarti
Comments