I’m doing something I’ve never done before, something I didn’t think I could do…I’m reading two books simultaneously. My year of no studying led me to challenge myself to read more books than before. Okay, I’m messing with you; we all know that’s not really the challenge.
The real challenge is to read books by authors I am not normally attracted to.

I started the first book in January, a birthday gift I received from two loved ones, “The Universe in your hand,” by Christophe Galfard, a scientist. It really is about the Universe. The scientific notes and explanations said in really layman’s terms; not the astrological or spiritual notes on the Universe and why or how we exist. Oh Boy. Science, my fifth favourite subject in school (I only did 6). So I started it. Excitedly, to be honest, because I really want to understand the point of us and the Earth. And I’m still reading it. A month later. Am I enjoying it? Yes. Am I reading it everyday? Yes. Is the book a million pages? No. So why am I not finished? Because science was my fifth favourite subject. I take long to process information. I need time to think and process and think some more. And every page of this book has information. On Us. On Earth. On the Universe. And I want to absorb and remember it all.

Not getting through it fast enough was depressing me, especially since the list of people who want to read it next keeps growing. So I needed some motivation. Something that makes me feel like I can still read and understand the words…something a little simpler. But I refused to give up entirely so I’m still reading it. And reading something else too…

I picked up “The year of reading dangerously,” by Andy Miller. I bought this book a year ago and picked it up twice but never opened it. I had books from my loved authors and being a creature of habit I always chose them. But this is my year of reading dangerously so I started it. Today. And I’m already feeling a little more intelligent. 50 pages in and I have to stop myself from nodding and “hmmm-ing” at every turn of a page. This man is me in a parallel world. Trying to find time to read, deciding to read books you wouldn’t normally read, accepting that words and not numbers are your calling, needing solitude and almost missing train stops because the book is just that good. Yes, yes, yes.

So it’s February and I’m two books in, and zero books finished. But as Andy says, “I had also been reminded of the value of perseverance. I determined to finish what I had started…” and I’ve already mentioned that this is my year of reading dangerously.