This month, I’m doing something different to tackle my habit of invalidating reading as a habit itself.

I will be documenting how much I read, when I can fit it into my day, and the book(s) I read throughout the month. If you’ve read my last post, you know that it’s ambitious for me during work weeks. In summer, I’ll treat my Book of the Day like a comfort blanket that I carry to places it shouldn’t be. All of my books are damaged because of the chlorine, salt water, and endless sun damage they’ve received. I know that, in book etiquette, we’re still working towards embracing book annotations, so I can assume what your perception of me could be.

Today is the first day of a month I look forward to all year. Here was Day 1:

22 pages.
I read 22 pages.

I’d meant to start reading The Unwilding by Marina Kemp for our Book Club pick, but I lent my copy to a friend and couldn’t get it back in time. I placed an order last night, and it’s on its way to my nearest bookstore. I’ll be picking it up on the 3rd, this Wednesday.

Instead, I downloaded Writers & Lovers by Lily King and tried my best to enjoy it before work. I read during my shaky commute for as long as 6 subway stops take. Seats weren’t available and, between carefully shifting through orchestrated layers of people and keeping my balance, not much reading was done. 16 pages. However, despite the noise and my half-focused attention, I was hooked.

It’s strange, to not be the youngest kind of adult anymore. I’m thirty-one now, and my mother is dead.

Page 9

Writers & Lovers captivated me with a few sentences when the odds were not in its favor. And that’s a testament to this book, as far as I can speak on it.

I love these geese. They make my chest tight and full and help me believe that things will be all right again, that I will pass through this time as I have passed through other times, that the vast and threatening blank ahead of me is a mere specter, that life is lighter and more playful than I’m giving it credit for.

Page 10

Then, hours later, a short break in the staff room! I read 6 pages in pure bliss, as I sat on a plastic chair that I never sit in long enough for it to become uncomfortable.

If you’re wondering why I don’t just read after work, I have a separate job afterwards because I love it. By the time that’s done, I have to plan for the next day. Again, I love everything about every job I’ve had, as long as I can do it in my style. Soon, my afternoons will be all mine, and by then, commutes will just be that. On the way back however, I managed to go back to a page that sent me in the right direction;

We were all trying to be writers, with jobs that got us by. Nia and Abby were working on novels, I was writing stories, and Russell was a poet. Of all of us, I would have bet that Russell would stick with it the longest.

Page 18

I´m so glad that i finally chose to read this book, particularly at this time.

The day is now almost over on this side of the world, and a list of tasks awaits me. I won’t use this post as an excuse, or as a reason not to read, and I will attempt to make more time before the day ends. For now, I’m happy to make time for something that will take over my life in a few weeks.

This was Day 1.

Let me know how you started off your month, whether with your reading or writing. Some of you might even be blogging every day for the month.