Bookish Cathy
That title comes from my friend who lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland—every month or so she has an Instagram post picturing a stack of books with the caption entitled “Bookish Helen.” She will then note which she really enjoyed and why. I quickly discovered that Helen and I think alike on many topics so I learned to follow her book recommendations.
Remember last time that I said I will sometimes compete against myself? I really outdid myself this year on the reading. On Christmas Day, I finished a fifteen-book streak that started around the first of October (with a recommendation from Helen). Today I decided to update Goodreads with all of the books I had read this year. I still think I am missing a few that I checked out from the library, but so far here are my stats for 2025: 30 books, 10,816 pages!
I probably need to explain why this is so exciting for me. From at least the third grade on, I was one of those kids who got in trouble for hiding a book inside my math book during class, and had to sneak a flashlight into my room at night to stay up half the night reading a book under the covers. I proudly called myself a bookworm. Thankfully we lived on Air Force bases for several years so I was able to ride my bike to the base library and come home with my basket full of books every few days. Unfortunately, as I got to college age, required reading cut into my reading-forenjoyment time, then supporting myself did the same, then graduate school, then marriage and child-rearing, but I still managed to plug along with reading. Then I discovered audiobooks. Back then I was commuting more than 160 miles round-trip to work, so those books on cassettes and CDs from the library were just the thing. Fast forward to about twenty years ago when I suddenly found myself unable to concentrate enough to read even a paragraph or even an audiobook paragraph. Turned out I had a tick-borne illness that somehow affected my brain in that way. Even after the illness was finally diagnosed and treated, I did not go back to reading for many years. About ten years ago someone gave me a 500-page book and I managed to read it. I was so proud of myself. Then I started listening to more audio books, but still did not return to the level of book-worminess I had been at in my younger days. My daughter theorized I had just gotten out of the habit and I think she was right. I think what finally turned me around was reading the Bible all the way through a few times over the past several years. That felt like a big accomplishment, especially the first time I completed it within a year. Obviously the switch was flipped back on this past year!
I am telling this story because READING IS IMPORTANT. Unfortunately, literacy—the ability to read, is in steep decline in this country among school-age kids and young adults. Among those of us who can read, few do any more. Reading exercises and develops the brain, even if you are reading for fun and never read “important” works. Reading feeds your imagination, makes you think, and stokes your creativity. If you are not already a regular reader I hope you will consider challenging yourself to read more in the coming year. As shocked as I am to have read 30+ books in the past year, I am already strategizing how to top that in the coming year. I hope I see you at the library! Spring-CreekArtsGuild@gmail.com