Read A Book A Month For a Year

At the beginning of the year, one of the things on my list of what I wanted to achieve this year was to Read A Book A Month (at least).  The main reason for this is the size of the pile of books by my bed which I still need to read.  It was getting a little silly and I'm trying not to buy any more for a while.  Here's a picture.

After taking this photo I rearranged them into fiction and non-fiction which helps me when deciding what to read next as I tend to read according to mood.  They now look like this:

Fiction - A definite preponderance of chick lit here, but there is some more serious fiction in there too.

 

Fact - More factual reading which I'm in the mood for at the moment.

I counted them and there's currently over 40 waiting to be read.  I just keep on finding them in charity shops or borrowing them from the Little Free Library down the road.  I know one book per month won't really make a huge dent in the pile, but it is a start and is at least realistic, as I don't often take the time to read, except when I get into and before I get out of bed or if I know I'm going to be sat around waiting somewhere or travelling and need something to pass the time.  Very occasionally, if I'm really enjoying a book, I may sit down with a cup of tea and read, but it is pretty rare.  I'm hoping that I will manage to read far more books than just 12 this year, but for the moment I am keeping my ambitions real.

Today, however, I read about a very similar blog challenge created by Laura at Circle of Pine Trees and so have thrown my hat in the ring and joined the challenge, if a bit late.  I have, however, started well enough and in January I managed to read this book by Bea Johnson, which I posted about a few weeks ago.

It was an interesting read and has made me think a lot about waste, overconsumption, repurposing and how to generally simplify life.  It has inspired me to do some more de-cluttering this year and maybe be a bit more brutal.  It has also made me think about how I could reduce the waste created in our household and whilst I haven't put too much into practice as yet, I am constantly thinking about it and thinking before buying more 'things', to consider whether I am going to use them well or whether they will last and are fit for purpose, which is no bad thing.

I must admit that I do tend to enjoy reading self-improvement type books early in the year, when my mind is full of good intentions, so the next book that I'm looking to read is this one. 

 

This book has been in my pile for a long time now, bought new like a few in my pile from a local market stall for £1 or something similar, so I'm finally looking forward to delving into it.  Numerous visits to France mean that I have long admired the 'savoir faire' of some French women, which is what attracted me to this book.  I've already read a couple of books about the attitude of French women to their appearance, clothes, bodies, exercise, families, children, etc. and I find the cultural differences quite interesting.

This book is written by Mireille Guiliano the writer of French Women Don't Get Fat and who has in her esteemed career famously worked at the luxury Champagne brand Veuve Cliquot. (I may have spelt this wrong).   I have read the above mentioned book previously and enjoyed her writing style which I found very easy to read, but this book has a more work orientated subject matter, which I'm hoping might help me be a little more motivated in a work sense.  I started reading it this morning and so far am enjoying it.  I'll post a bit more about it when I've read a little more.