Book-ation: def. – to take a break/hiatus from routine reading habits – books, articles, etc. – replacing them with literature not ordinarily read.
I’m on a “book-ation”.
Usually what one might find on my nightstand are books covering a myriad of topics like parenting, spiritual development/disciplines, marriage, counseling, Bible study, etc. While I was wasting a few minutes (hours) on facebook, I came across a “note”. In this particular “note” was a list of 100 classic pieces of literature. The instructions were to put an “X” next to the books that one has read. As I surveyed the list of classic lit. I realized, to my chagrin, I had only read about 24 books out of 100. I felt so…so…illiterate! Since being out of school (which was the only reason I read any of those 24 - well, maybe it was more like 15…or 10…my memory is getting a little fuzzy on the details - books was because I had to for English Lit. class), I realized there is an entire part of my brain that is not getting any exercise what-so-ever. I call this the really, really intellectual part (I know, I can’t believe I came up with that all by myself either). Not to say that what I read now is for dummies. It simply doesn’t challenge me intellectually. The reading I do these days challenges me in ministry, home, marriage, spiritual growth, etc. However, intellectually? Not so much.
So, after perusing through the “100 classic books” list, I made the decision that I am going to take a “book-ation”. My first victim: “Anna Karenina”, by Leo Tolstoy. In high school just the name Tolstoy made me shiver with fear and intimidation. I’m older now and decided to take the plunge. For however long it takes me to complete this novel (hopefully I can knock it out in under a year), I am putting all other extra-curricular reading on hold. (There are a few books/articles I am committed to read, anything additional is staying on the shelf until I complete “Anna Karenina”.) This is my “book-ation”.
Once completed, I’ll be sure to write up a review.