Never be Bored Again: Read

I not only love to read, I can't get through the day without it. I have to read to sleep, to ride a stationary bike or elliptical machine, to ride the train. Once I was so addicted to books on tape I couldn't work without listening to them all day at my desk. Every time I was in the car I had one going.

I wasn't a reader when I was growing up, but my parents were. I didn't read much until college, and then I became an English literature major. If you want your kids to read, you basically have to set the example of being a reader. My boyfriend's father was a house painter who never went to college, never went to high school. But he read voraciously all the classics he could buy. One son became a college professor and the other a geologist. I'm convinced that their father's example maximized their potential to succeed in school. They didn't have TV until they were older, so books were all his dad had to do for entertainment.

Here's my quick and easy ways to become a reader:

1. Never buy a book. The library has everything you want to read, and if your branch doesn't have it they can order it for you if you reserve it via the library website. If you buy a book, you might hate it, and then you will have wasted $7.99 and you might give up. If you must buy a book, they are .50 for paperback and $1.00 for hardbacks at the library. Half Price Books also has a $1.00 section because they get tens of thousands of books per week. If you must buy one, you can shop there.

2. Carry your book around with you everywhere. At some point in the day, you will have downtime. Whether it's the car wash, the treadmill, jury duty, the doctor's office, your in-laws, lunch alone, you are going to run the risk of getting really really bored. Use this time to learn something new, escape, or just be wildly entertained. They still make books on CD, and if you wind up totally hooked, you can check them out at the library and listen at your desk on your ear buds hooked into your laptop all day. They will think you are listening to music. You can get through two novels a week (unabridged). I can assure you, I would never have survived Bituminous for eleven years without doing so. This does not lessen your ability to do your job once you get used to it. In fact, it may very well enhance it.

3. Ask your reader friends what they like to read. You may already have a favorite genre, author, book on tape reader. Readers love to talk about their favorites and make recommendations. Just ask 'em.

4. If you start a book and it's boring you to death, move on to the next. If the reader's voice sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard, toss it aside and stick another CD in. Life's too short to suffer through a dull book or shrill reader. Some narrators are so phenomenal I could listen to them read the phone book (Frank Muller). Some write well but cannot read their own books (Stephen King) without ruining the experience.

Here's a few of my favorites based on genre:

Legal Thriller:
Scott Turrow's Personal Injuries*, Ordinary Heroes
Michael Connelly's The Brass Verdict

Drama:
Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible
Joci Picoult's My Sister's Keeper
Wally Lamb's I Know This Much is True*
Scott Smith's A Simple Plan
Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show*

Historical Fiction:
Kathryn Harrison's Poison*
Ron Hansen's Hitler's Neice

Horror: Stephen King's Misery and the following short stories, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil, and The Body*

Mystery: Ruth Rendell's An Unkindness of Ravens Elizabeth George's Deception on His Mind

If you were one of those kids that said "Tell me a story" when you were a kid, reading nurtures that "inner child" who still wants to hear a great story.

*Exceptional on CD