I set a goal in January to walk sixteen minutes every day this year. I did that for about two weeks, then I got lazy one day, it got cold the next, I got off work too late, the third day, etc. The past month or so, though, I have taken to reading walks, wherein I read while walking. People think it dangerous, but thanks to (marching) band, I have excellent peripheral vision. I also come to a complete stop a good three or four feet from the road at any intersection busy enough to warrant a sidewalk. In short, I'm safe about it and can put the book down for the few moments it takes to check for vehicles in all directions or in otherwise unsafe conditions. It's the only way I can read LotR. I'm almost done with the second book.
In general, I've been better than I have been in recent years about reading. However, after I finished Monica Halloway's "Driving With Dead People," I decided to pull my Thomas Hardy anthology off the shelf and read "Far From the Maddening Crowd." I'm only a couple of pages in, but I just don't think I made the right choice for a second book right now.
Today, just now, I kind of feel like I've had a bit of a break through in thought. I wanted to restart my Old, New, Random, True cycling habit, which I fell out of for a while. Until I got a library card this week. This means I can read books that have been published in the last three years without having to go to another town to purchase them. However, I also have what I refer to as my Personal Gospel Library, that is, books and films I own related to theology and Gospel topics, the majority of which are of the LDS faith. (I couldn't pass up a fifty cent copy of the Apocrypha inscribed to someone who shares my first name, or a manual about Jewish courtship and marriage practices from the 50's/60's. That kind of thing.) I have been wanting to read "Jesus the Christ" for years, and finally purchased a copy of it for myself just over two years ago.
Hence, I have decided that one book will be from my cycle. (So, the LotR series are counting as my Old.) The other book will be from my personal Gospel Library, which means I'll be starting on rereading Daughters in My Kingdom, partly because I need a refresher and partly because I'm considering sending a copy to one or both of my sisters.
