Sorry I haven’t blogged in awhile. It’s been a crazy week. But one reason I wasn’t writing, was because I was reading.
I’ve always thought that to be a good writer, I should learn from the other writers out there. Plus I’ve been trying to read this one book for months now. In case you were wondering it’s Jane Austen’s Emma. I’ve read some of her other books and enjoyed them. Then one day, some of my friends wanted to start a book club and read together. We decided on Emma and got several chapters in before life caught up with us. Now I’m not sure if I stopped reading because it felt more like an assignment than a pleasure… or maybe because I was trying to wait for the other book club members to catch up… but well I stopped. Normally, I’m not the kind of person to start a book and not finish it. I kept meaning to read and would get through a chapter or two every week, but that was it.
Then yesterday it happened… I was sucked in. Not every book does this to me, and I’m not sure if I can blame the author, sometimes it just depends on how much time I’m willing to give a book. But yesterday I was trying to take it easy after a busy week and screens weren’t very restful so I picked up Emma and started reading. Throughout the day I kept going back to the book, reading one more chapter, then one more until I realized I was sucked into the story. I had to know what would happen next. I meant to go to bed early but I found that the book was addicting and it was almost midnight before I could finally put it away for the night. Even now, as I’m writing this blog post, I’m itching to get back to the book and see how it all ends.
After thinking about this, I’m wondering if the way books are used in school could be improved. I guess I’m saying that books aren’t meant to be read one chapter at a time with deep meaningful discussion between each piece of the plot. I know people read at different paces, but ultimately, the books you love, are the ones you can’t put down, even if you’ve read them before. I would like to think every book has this capability, at least to someone out there who enjoys that type of book. I just wish there was some way to let books be enjoyable and also let kids learn from other people’s perspectives. Classroom settings just don’t seem to work…
I remember all the classics I had to read in high school, and… well I didn’t enjoy them. Maybe I just didn’t understand, maybe I was too young, maybe because it was an assignment, the book lost it’s appeal. But I don’t think I was the only one to feel this way. If there’s anyone out there that has an idea of how to change this, please let me know. I’d love to hear your opinion.
But for now, it’s back to reading…
NovelSisters 
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