Reading, reading, reading

As basically everyone knows, I read tons. People are usually pretty shocked to find out how much I read when they ask me. I've thought a lot about what has driven me to read so much. Probably 4 years ago now I may have read a total of 5 books all year so something lead/drove me to want to read. There are probably 3 major events that have driven me to where I am at now. One thing to note, I did read a bit when I was younger. Not a lot, but I grew up encouraged to read.

Reason #1 - Graduation

While I was studying at the University of Utah, I just didn't have a lot of time. I was studying full time and working in my spare time. Almost all reading that I did was purely for educational purposes. I did have one class where we read an incredible large amount (of Russian Literature from the USSR nonetheless) - at the time I felt overwhelmed but I think I would like that class a bit more now. Anyways, there just wasn't much time for outside reading. Once I graduated, I found I had a lot more spare/free time. Reading is definitely what fills it now.

Reason #2 - Kindle

My kindle was really what drove me to read the amount that I do now. I had already started visiting the library on a regular basis when I received my Kindle, but after that I began to read a ton. Probably the main reason is because I'm the type of person that likes to use the things that I have and find it hard to let things sit around unused. While I didn't purchase my Kindle, I wanted to put it to good use. Last year I read 130 books on my Kindle alone and I've read several already this year.

Reason #3 - Priority shift

This is the single biggest reason for reading so much. I used to be a huge sports fan. I would watch every sporting event (especially local teams) and get really into them. I was extremely competitive and got extremely emotionally involved. I noticed that this was effecting me and those around me in negative ways (my wife definitely helped bring this to my attention). It would be hard for me to get to sleep at night after a sporting event because I couldn't get over the win or loss. Also, I would have an extremely negative attitude after the team I was hoping would win, lost. I needed something that I could do to relax and not worry about sports as much. Reading was the big thing that took over for me.

Reading has really changed how I relate sports in general. I still cheer for teams, but I don't feel upset or mad when the team I'm cheering for loses. In fact, I can easily turn off the television if it's coming down to the last seconds of a game. I don't watch a lot of the big games because it doesn't matter as much to me anymore. A lot of times I don't just watch a sporting event on TV. I'll read during a game and only check the score every now and them. Reading has been something that has really calmed me as a person and helped me to relax from things that just really aren't that important...I still enjoy watching sports at times and enjoy going to games, but a lot of times I'd rather read.

For me, reading has been a good way to relax and also I've learned a lot of very interesting and fascinating facts as I've gotten into books about history. I definitely find reading far more interesting than tv series and it's a great way to increase my knowledge.

Some book stats - 2010

After reading Tyler's book stats, I wanted to do some stats of my own. Here you go:

Total books read: 265
Total pages read: 102,352
Average book length: 386 pages
Average rating: 3.86 out of 5

Of the 265 books:
57 were audiobooks (22,273 pages)
130 were kindle/ebooks (51,949 pages)
74 were checked out (27,307 pages)
4 were borrowed (1,570 pages - thanks Danielle)

251 were books I'd never read before

4 received 1 star
42 received 2 stars
110 received 3 stars
91 received 4 stars
18 received 5 stars

From when I added a book to my 'to-read' list to when I finished reading it took me 79 days on average.

Link to my 2010 books.

I calculated my stats by exporting my booklist from Goodreads and doing some excel calculations.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's already 2011. 2010 was a great year and I grew a lot over the year and I accomplished a lot. In an effort to improve in different areas of my life, here are 3 of my goals for 2011.

1. Blog at least twice a month
   During 2010, I only had 12 total posts. One of the reasons for that is because I was so focused on reading (see my reading goal below) but also because I wasn't focused on what I wanted to write about. As part of my blogging, I want to cover a recipe or food that we enjoy at least once a month. That will leave me with at least 12 more blog posts over the year that will cover random topics that I'll choose as they come along. I suspect that in January I will be blogging a little more often as I cover my top lists from 2010.
   


2. Become more flexible
   This past year I accomplished something that I never thought possible: I ran a half marathon. On top of that I've really began to focus on getting and keeping myself in good shape. One of the areas that I am severely lacking is in my flexibility. More specifically, by the end of 2011, I want to be able to comfortably touch my toes while standing (right now I can get about 6-8 inches away fairly comfortably). In order to obtain this goal I will be including a regular stretch routine in the evening when I am doing some other small exercises.
   


3. Read 100 books
   You may be surprised that my goal is so low this year compared to last year (final count was 264 books), but having read so much last year I realized that I was ignoring some other things that I also wanted to do. I was so set on reading at least 250 books that I would put off other tasks (there's still no lawn in the backyard). By setting a lower goal I'll be able to still enjoy reading while finishing up several other projects around the house and also round out my time with some other personal goals (not listed here).
   

Here's to a New Year and to making it even better than 2010. I'm off to complete one of those house projects.

Preview of what's to come

It's been a good year and I've achieved a lot over the past 12 months. I've also learned a lot about myself but the thing that has been completely clear is that I am a total bookworm. I also learned that I like to keep in shape as well (sorry sister, no six pack yet though). My wife has definitely confirmed her skill and love of drawing as well as she's been studying practically non-stop all year.

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I am not much of a goal guy and so last year I didn't really set any goals for myself at the beginning of the new year. However, in about March I decided that I wanted to read 250 books for the year. I achieved that goal! As of right now, my total is at 262 and I suspect I'll add a few more to that number before the end of the year.

Having read so many books, I have written a lot of reviews, and if you want to look through them all, then here you go. However, like last year, I'll be putting together a few different lists over the next couple of weeks, so here's what you have to look forward to:

• Top 5 audio books


• Top 5 series (at least 3 books)


• Top 10 books

On top of my posts for reading, I will be adding a couple of other posts:

• 2011 goals (I'm actually setting some goals this year)


• Top 5 movies (maybe I'll make it 10 if I can remember them all)

I look forward to some more blogging and you'll see that reflected in my goals for 2011.

Reading and More

Time sure flies. I haven't been very good at updating the blog here about what has been going on. So here is a quick glimpse of what's new and happening.

As most of you know, my wife has been going to school. That has kept her pretty busy and left me with lots of free time. Probably my new favorite hobby is to read. When we moved into our home about a year ago I started to read again and with my new Kindle I usually read a couple hours or more a day. I keep track of all my reading and books on Goodreads(post devoted to Goodreads to come).

With reading, our TV doesn't get much use. In fact, we usually turn the TV on for 2 hours a week. Typically on Sunday evening we will watch Extreme Makeover and Desparate Housewives. That is it. I don't even turn the TV on to watch sports (instead I tend to use a site like justin.tv). We don't have cable and some of our channels don't work. Whenever I see an awesome deal on TVs (Slickdeals) I have to remind myself that this would be the most pointless purchase. We just don't use the TV.

The time that I do watch TV is in the morning. I have been getting up every morning and going over to our clubhouse that has a pretty nice workout facility. I run 3 times a week and usually turn on Sportscenter while I am there. However, I have started listening to a lot of audio books now on my phone and so I don't watch a whole lot. I do turn it on though.

I went to the theater for the first time in almost a year last week to see Avatar. We saw it in 3D and it was alright. I quite enjoyed the film itself and the graphics were absolutely awesome. 3D technology, however, has a long way to go. The glasses are pretty limited and hurt my eyes. They also make it so the colors aren't as bright in the film. If I was going to see it again, I probably wouldn't go to the 3D version of it. I would definitely see it in the theater though as I am sure the film just won't be the same on DVD. My wife didn't really like the movie. I would give it 8 out of 10. And yes, it's better than Titanic in my opinion. I am laughing at the difference between those movie sites. Clearly, times have changed.

I have been trying to come up with good food ideas. With Anya going back to school, I typically get to make the food. I like to make homemade bread, lasagna, and chicken enchilada casserole. If you have a favorite recipe, leave it here. I will post a more detailed post about preparing food at some point.

Work is going good. Still using and working with Drupal. In fact, there is a group meetup coming up next Tuesday in our offices downtown, if anyone is interested.

I know this post was all over the place, but I wanted to get caught up.