One of my favorite places in Provo is Pioneer Book. Every book in the store is a used book. Almost all of them are in like-new condition. So you get amazing books for used book prices! It also is one of the coziest little stores. I often find myself spending hours perusing the shelves. Like I did today!
The Pioneer Book Reading challenge is truly a challenge and not just because it was over forty books this past year. I used to hate reading. I was slow and reading never got me excited. But then one day, in my thirties, I discovered that you must be passionate about what you are reading and then you will do more of it. The book really does matter. I also learned from a very wise librarian friend that you shouldn't waste your time on bad books because there are too many good books out there! And the cool thing is that what your friends may like may not be one of your "good" books. It is an individual thing. I don't always jive with the New York Times Bestsellers, and that is 100% okay. Maybe limiting the category books can come from also added to that challenge of not finding what is really my favorite type of book. For example, one of the categories this year was a book written by an author born more than 100 years ago. I tend to like more modern stories. Sorry Faulkner and Steinbeck. Well, I guess it makes sense for it to be challenging seeing it is a reading challenge, right?
So, here is a little bit about the challenge(I'll do a bit more of this tomorrow, seeing this is getting to be a longer post):
Favorite Three Categories:
1. Book from the Sports section-I chose Shoeless Joe byW.P. Kinsella. It’s the book the movie Field of Dreams is based on. The book is always better than the movie and this is no different. By the way, I chose three books that had baseball in them this year, and I loved every single word!
2. Book from the Science section-I chose The Making of Memory: From Molecules to Mind by Steven Rose. I have found out that I actually love learning about science and especially about the brain!
3. Book from the Self-help section-I chose Flourish by Martin E.P. Seligman. Basically, this book is about the science of being happy. The biggest thing I got from this book is that gratitude actually rewires your brain to produce more dopamine and it also rewires it to find more things to be grateful for. The science points out that you should write down three things you are thankful for daily to get the most benefit. Try it. It really works.
Least Favorite Three Categories:
1. Book with 500+ pages. Eww. That is just too long. I chose a book that was written in poetry form because it was tons faster to get through. Crank by Ellen Hopkins is actually a good read. It’s about a girl who gets hooked on drugs one summer.
2. Book by an author born over 100 years ago. Like I said a bit too old for my taste(unless it’s Shakespeare!). I chose The Pearl by John Steinbeck. It was short. The end. (And I really hated the ending. I hear many of his books are disappointing like this one.)
3. Christmas or holiday book. The book I chose was actually quite good: Santa Cruise by Mary Higgins Clark. It was just was hard because I had to leave it for a last category because I felt I had to read it around Christmas.
Tomorrow I will list my top five favorite books, followed by Friday and my five least favorite books. I will also include a list of all the books I read last year, just for your enjoyment. Feel free to ask questions/comment on here. If you happen to be like my aunt and have a hard time commenting on the blog you can always email me: softballrita@gmail.com or message me on Facebook or Instagram.
Hope the first day of 2020 treated you well. I just walked to my favorite spot and hung out. Being off from work really is a dream come true for me. I am already dreading Monday, but all good things must come to an end so you can have more days off in the future!
