Awhile back I read (roughly) a book a week for an entire year. I came in a little short, but overall I was proud for seeing something in my life that I wasn't happy about--a lack of reading since having kids--and making a goal to change it. This concluded in March and unfortunately my "reading high" was short-lived because since then I've fallen back into some bad habits. 

Reading is not a chore. When I read, I'm happy. But, for some reason, making the time to read is still a struggle. Part of it is the distraction of social media. I log into twitter for 5 minutes, just to "check a couple things," and the next thing I know a half hour has gone by. Another part of it is being tired--I start to read at night and fall asleep almost immediately. But the biggest reason my reading has slacked is because I choose to do other things instead of reading, mainly watch tv. I even wrote about this issue during my reading challenge here.

But, good news: lately I've found myself curled up with a book more often than not and I'm loving it. While I'm enjoying this new trend, I decided to hold myself publicly accountable since that helped last time.

October is already underway, but my goal for this month is 3 books. I've already read one and have a review coming in which I'll discuss "The Martian" and compare it with the movie that I saw this week. I'm currently reading two books, one that a friend loaned me, "Undercurrents" by Martha Manning and one from the library, "The Young Elites" by Marie Lu (the author of one of my favorite series I read during my reading challenge last year, the Legend series). I have another library book, "Eleanor & Park"  by Rainbow Rowell, waiting once I finish one or both of those.

I'm also forming a book club. I've joined various groups in the past to varying degrees of success. My biggest goal in this new group is that I don't want it to feel like a chore or something that's dreaded, because what's the fun in that? In traditional book clubs I feel like once a book is selected it is often forgotten about until right before the next meeting. Then the majority of the participants either speed read out of obligation or don't read it at all. With the intention of avoiding the "homework" element that comes with book clubs, I'm taking a different approach.

I read about this idea awhile ago and I actually put it on my 40 before 40 list. I want to form an "any book" book club. We'll meet every month (give or take, holidays are hard, as is the summer) and discuss a recent book we've read that we love. If you have a copy you want to loan out to someone, great. Otherwise, just come to discuss your current faves and leave with (hopefully) a list full of books you want to read.

A book lovers book club.

Interested? Send me a message. We'll kick off in January (which may seem like a long way off, but we're already in October and with the holidays coming I figured: new year, new group) and I think I want to start with a max of 8-10 people. If that seems doable we can expand, I just don't want it to be overwhelming and for everyone to get a chance to share. 

Reading goals, an "any book" book club, reviews. Loving this lit-centric living thing I've got going on right now.

Also, connect with me on Goodreads! I'd love to see what you've been reading...it's how I've gotten so many great suggestions over the past year. 

xo Sara