Competitive Reading

I find that I don't read anywhere near enough, that I need a kick to get started into books. I spend too much time on what I call light immersion, the net, twitter, Facebook, bit of TV. Not enough time writing or reading.

Maybe I just need that touch of competitiveness to it. In my first year in high school, my awesome English teacher was talking to me about reading while we set up a record of what books we had read in the back of our workbooks. I tried to show indifference even though I loved reading. I did mention that I read quickly and in a flash he had summed up a young boy who loved sports. Put it to me as a challenge. "I bet you can't read 50 books this year!"
"50?! I'll smash that easy Sir" I proclaimed.

So despite doing athletics and cricket (badly) I hit the books, hard. He fueled the fire, suggesting authors to me and by the end of the year I had read 135 books. I think he was a little shocked but probably chuffed that he had suckered a kid into being addicted to books.

It was with interest this morning that I saw on Facebook that one of the Herdsharers, Tony, was trying to read 52 novels this year. I saw an opportunity to get myself to read a bit more, to immerse myself again, so I threw out a challenge to him. Whoever can read the most books in a year, new ones, gets a novel of their choosing from the other. Sounds like great fun.

Tony has a bit of a head start on me but I have a few queued up that I have been time wasting on the net and not reading. 2 of Birmos books, a crime novel and the new Game of Thrones which I read two pages of, then got distracted by something shiny.

I wonder if he'll let me count reading books at bedtime to Curtis.