Why are readers scaling back on how much they read in 2015?

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

I am a devoted follower of Book Riot.

Bookriot.com is an online hub for readers to purchase book-related merchandise and talk about reading and writing. The articles posted on the site are composed by people who love adore worship (ah … there’s the right word!) the written word.

So why are so many Book Rioters committing to read less in 2015? Shouldn’t lovers of literature want to read more?

I already heralded blogger Jeremy Anderberg in my last post about my reading and writing resolutions for 2015, but I want to show him some more love by once again quoting his reasoning behind read fewer books this year:

It mostly comes down to me wanting to accomplish more with my free time than just reading. I want to write more, I want to craft more, I want to do more woodworking. […] I even want to just socialize more and spend more time catching up with friends on the phone or over coffee. I don’t want my default activity for free time to be to grab a book and go lay down on the couch in my basement.

I firmly believe that reading should compel us to growth. And at some point, a point which will be different for each person, it no longer does that. It reaches oversaturation. I believe I’ve hit that point. It’s really just a feeling I’ve had recently while reading that “this isn’t contributing to me — to who I am.” If we just read read read forever, what’s the point? Shouldn’t our reading compel us to action in some way?

Today, I also stumbled upon Jessica Pryde’s Book Riot blog post, Why I’m Not Participating in the Goodreads Reading Challenge in 2015.

Before I delve too much into Pryde’s experience with Goodreads challenge, I want to preface this by saying I clicked her link in wholehearted agreement. For 2014, I committed to read 30 books. As of today, my count stands at 25 1/2 books. (I’m halfway through Scott Westerfeld’s AFTERWORLDS, and I don’t predict I’ll finish it before 11:59 p.m. tonight.)

When I began to fall behind in the Goodreads challenge, I started reading for the sake of reaching a quota. Picking up a book became an obligation, not a pleasure. (Although once reading commenced, the pleasure returned.)

Pryde says it a bit more eloquently:

I was reading every chance I got. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to catch up. Have you ever gone onto Goodreads and seen that you were three books behind on your challenge? It’s nerve wracking! I felt like I ALWAYS had to be reading, no matter what else might be going on. The challenge was exacerbated by the guilt that I had so many books in the house, both paper and electronic, and felt that I needed to push through them.

So in 2015, I’m going to give myself a year-long thirtieth birthday present.

I’m going to give myself a break.

I should note that Pryde’s book tally was far higher than mine — in 2013, she read 189 books. Her reading goal for 2014 was 175 books.

That’s about six times as many books as I planned (and failed) to read.  Clearly her life was a bit more consumed by reading than mine was.

But that’s what brings us back to Anderberg’s point about reading compelling us to action. Reading is an important part of life, but it shouldn’t become life. Just as a healthy work-life balance is needed, so is a healthy reading-life balance.

Like Pryde, I am skipping this year’s Goodreads Reading Challenge. Although I still hope to read as many good books as life allows, I want to keep it fun and stress-free all year.

I’m still participating in a reading challenge of sorts for 2015, but I don’t plan to try to tackle all the different types of books on the list below. Instead, I plan to use it as a long-term scavenger hunt.

Goodwill Librarian

 

This challenge may take me one year, five years or a decade. Someday I’ll have all the boxes checked off. But the point is to keep it fun and non-demanding.

Readers are committing to read less to reduce quantity but improve quality. In my reading resolutions, I list more purposeful book selection as a goal:

I want to be more purposeful in what I read. Certainly, there will be books I grab off the shelf for sheer entertainment. But I need to stop reading for quantity (goodbye, Goodreads challenge) and read for quality. Likewise, I want to take time to savor and absorb what I read, not rush through one text so I can tally it off and then grab the next one to read as fast as I can.

Pryde concludes her blog with an excellent point:

There are all kinds of reading challenges people set for themselves, and they’re not always based on numbers. Some decide they’re going only read fiction, or read more books by women or authors of color.

For 2015, let’s make reading challenges more about content and less about numbers.

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6 reading and writing resolutions for 2015

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

The year is winding down, which means everyone is gearing up to share their New Year’s resolutions.

I’ve already made a list of goals I want to accomplish (see my 29 Things to Do Before Age 29 on The Times website), but I also have a few reading- and writing-related goals I want to accomplish in 2015.

So here they are — six literary goals for 2015.

  1. Join two reading- or writing-related organizations. I have had my eye on a few organizations, both local and national, and want to join at least two of them. One is the Starved Rock Reading Council, a chapter of the Illinois Reading Council, which promotes literacy among all education levels. Then there is the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, a national network of children’s book authors and artists. Another is the Friends of the Library, a group that raises money and donates time to the Streator Public Library. A fellow writer in Streator also has mentioned creating a writer’s group. Readers and writers should seize the opportunity to network with peers who share their literary interests and professional aspirations.
  2. Offer creative writing lessons to elementary school children. As solitary as writers and readers can be, most of us can’t resist “talking shop.” Leading a few creative writing lessons and activities — especially among young, wildly imaginative minds — is appealing. My goal is to pack up my writing experiences and visit a few local classrooms.
  3. Read less. When I first read the headline to Jeremy Anderberg’s Book Riot blog (“In 2015, I hereby resolve to read … less?“), I was a bit scandalized … and also knew there had to be a catch. So I clicked the link to read the blog. It turns out Anderberg has good reason to read a bit less. “It mostly comes down to me wanting to accomplish more with my free time than just reading,” Anderberg writes. “… I firmly believe that reading should compel us to growth. And at some point, a point which will be different for each person, it no longer does that. It reaches oversaturation. … If we just read read read forever, what’s the point? Shouldn’t our reading compel us to action in some way?”
  4. Be more purposeful in book selection. Hand-in-hand with reading less, I want to be more purposeful in what I read. Certainly, there will be books I grab off the shelf for sheer entertainment. But I need to stop reading for quantity (goodbye, Goodreads challenge) and read for quality. Likewise, I want to take time to savor and absorb what I read, not rush through one text so I can tally it off and then grab the next one to read as fast as I can.
  5. Write longhand and be more committed to journaling. A lot of great fiction pours forth at the keyboard, but writing longhand in journals always has been my way of letting my brain reset and find inspiration. In the past decade, my journaling has trickled down to a drip. This year will be the year I open the floodgates on journaling.
  6. Start my day with writing. On Jan. 2, I change from a day shift at our local newspaper to a night shift to work as the night editor. (This is a positive thing — I’ve never been much of a morning person.) This means my mornings are wide open now. Even though the plan is to sleep in a bit, I plan to start my day with writing when my mind is fresh and stress levels are low. (Rather than the alternative of ending my day with writing after hours spent at the office.)
  • What are your literary aspirations for 2015? Strike up a conversation in the comments below!
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How well can you do at this book trivia?

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

How well do you know SARAH & KATY AND THE IMAGINATION BLANKETS? Try your hand at this quiz to find out!

Take The Quiz!

SCORING:

  • 80-100%: You’re a SARAH & KATY expert! Thanks for being the biggest fan.
  • 50-79%: Great job! Clearly you’ve read the book.
  • 0-49%: Nice effort! You might need to brush up on story by rereading the book.
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A reading challenge for 2015

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

Forget the New Year’s resolutions this year!

(Although really, I could afford to lose some weight…)

But never mind the weight thing. This year, my plan for 2015 is a reading challenge.

In 2014, I participated in the Goodreads Challenge, which allows readers to set a goal for a number of books to read. I set my goal at 30 books (and fell short by six … perhaps I should have read fewer 400+ page books).

For 2015, I ran across this excellent reading challenge at Goodwill Librarian’s Facebook page:

Goodwill Librarian This challenge is way more interesting than simply tallying how many books I’ve read in a year.

 

And let’s face it: This also is more fun. It’s a scavenger hunt for literary selections, folks!

Best of all: It encourages readers to step outside their usual reading patterns as they find titles to fit each category.

I already have my picks set aside for a few categories:

  • A book written by someone under 30: CALIBUR: THE MONSTER, Jakob L. Waitekus (published in 2012 by a local author when he was 18 years old)
  • A book with nonhuman characters: Perfect time for a reread of WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
  • A Pulitzer Prize-winning book: THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt
  • A play: INHERIT THE WIND by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (This was a 5o cent discovery at a used book sale)
  • A book you own but have never read: This is an embarrassingly large portion of my bookshelf. I can probably just close my eyes and grab a random book. (What can I say? I love secondhand bookshops. I own hundreds more books than I could ever read in one lifetime.)

If you have any recommendations or want to share books that fit a certain category, do tell! I would love to hear your top picks and favorites.

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Norman: The man with the big, red imagination

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Julie Stroebel Barichello
This artwork originally appeared in the book "Clifford Takes a Trip" and has been circulating social media after Clifford creator Norman Bridwell died Dec. 12.

This artwork originally appeared in the book “Clifford Takes a Trip” and has been circulating social media after Clifford creator Norman Bridwell died Dec. 12.

I said farewell to a friend this week.

I call him “friend” even though I never met him.

(To be honest, I didn’t know what he looked like before yesterday. I had never bothered to search Google for his face.)

But I knew him well by his words, by his art, by his imagination.

And by his name, which was on the cover of many of my favorite books.

Norman Bridwell.

Like me, many know him better as the man behind Clifford the Big Red Dog.

The Associated Press reported Bridwell died Dec. 12 at age 86. He created the iconic oversized, floppy-eared, bright red dog in 1963 with a book simply titled “Clifford, the Big Red Dog.”

(The New York Times reported Clifford’s name originally was meant to be Tiny; thankfully Bridwell’s wife encouraged her husband to name the dog Clifford, after one of her childhood imaginary friends.)

Bridwell wrote and illustrated more than 40 Clifford books that sold more than 120 million copies worldwide. Clifford became an icon in other media as well, including cartoons, a feature film, a musical, stuffed animals, key chains, posters and stickers.

I befriended Clifford at a young age. The school library was full of book-bound characters whom I learned to know and love: Clifford, Arthur, Amelia Bedelia, the Berenstain Bears.

Of each series, I had my favorite. There was always that one book I would check out over and over again.

With Clifford, it was “Clifford Takes a Trip,” its cover showing Clifford lying atop a city bus, much to passengers’ dismay.

(I confess, I judged a book by its cover. That was my favorite Clifford book cover as a kid.)

“Clifford Takes a Trip” also is the book that first featured an illustration of Clifford’s owner, Emily Elizabeth, sadly hugging him goodbye before the family left for a vacation.

That same illustration has made its rounds on social media this week, stamped with the words, “We’ll miss you, Norman” and shared on the official Facebook page for Clifford the Big Red Dog.

The page featuring that illustration broke my child heart with each reread.

Emily Elizabeth narrates the scene: “Last year was different. Last year we went to the mountains. Mommy and Daddy said it was too far for Clifford to walk.”

On the next page is Clifford, lying with chin on paws: “So we left him with the lady next door.”

And then the next page, Clifford’s nose in the air, howling at the moon with drooping sad eyes: “That night Clifford was so lonely he began to howl. He howled and he howled and he howled.”

I was saddened every time.

And I was saddened one more time when the illustration landed in my Facebook feed with the news of Bridwell’s death.

Farewell, Norman.

Thank you for making childhood a little brighter. (Bright red, in fact.)

Thank you for telling stories that teach us about friendship, compassion and kindness.

Most of all, thank you for making my imagination as big as Clifford.

[Editor’s note: This column also was published in The Times newspaper (Ottawa/Streator, Ill.) on Dec. 22, 2014.]

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