Destroy the Joy

I sure am having a hard time reading these days and I wonder why.  Is it because I hate to be told what to do and I made that list of 101 things and put, "read the books I already own but have never gotten around to reading" on it?  Or is it that I'm just not enjoying the book I'm currently reading?   Normally, I love to read, but I really don't like to be told what to read.  I once joined a fantastic book group.  The other women involved were great, the books tended to be books I wanted to read, and the food was always excellent.  But from the very first month of joining, I could not force myself to read.  Not even the newspaper.  I finally quit the group after failing to read the book of the month four times in a row.  And promptly went back to obsessive reading.

So, knowing my history makes me wonder.  I'm I struggling to read Eat, Pray, Love because it's on my list or because I just don't like the book that much?  I sort of enjoyed the Eat part.  It took place in Italy and made me want to learn Italian and visit Italian restaurants.  The Pray part seemed to drone on and on and on.  I'd finally decide that life is too short to waste time reading something so boring.  I'd decide to quit reading the book as soon as I got to the end of the chapter and Bam!  The author would write something that moved me or gave me one of those light bulb moments about my own life and I'd decide to keep reading.  After all, it may get better.  What if I've struggled this far through the book and the last part is where it gets really good?  I wouldn't want to miss out on the fun.

I sure hope it doesn't take me another two weeks to get through the Love part though.  At this rate, I'll never make my goal of reading 89 books in 1001 days.  Specially since Eat, Love, Pray is one of the thinner books.  Which is why I chose it to read next.  Well, that and the fact that it happened to be laying on the floor next to the couch when I finished my previous book.

And that leads me to realize that rather than worrying about what I'm reading, I should really be working on that goal of "getting the house clean and keeping it that way."