and that is why i don't read books

The title of this is totally ironic, because I read hundreds of books in high school and college. I love to read. And that is exactly my problem. When I pick up a good book (and I don't waste my time unless I am certain it will be good), the only thing I do for a day or two is read that book. My kids somehow get by, my house is trashed, and then I suffer with extreme guilt after the fact. I want to be one of those people that takes a week to read a book, reading a few chapters every day, and savoring it all. But I am not that person...I just can't take my time (unless it's the Book of Mormon...)

I read The Help last summer when I flew out to see my sister. Two long plane rides made it possible, and I didn't have to live with guilt about anything (except for kinda ignoring Emma on the airplane...who was lost in her own book). I decided I would finally give in and read The Hunger Games on our cruise...afterall, I wasn't going to feel guilty about ANYTHING while I was on the cruise. I didn't love the book, but it was a captivating read and I was done in two days. I did take a pause from my book to watch the men's hairy chest competition - gross. I didn't have the rest of the books in the series so I started on Dan Brown's latest (The Lost Symbol). I didn't finish on the cruise so I had to finish it when I got home, ignoring the house and the kids for a day or two in order to just be done already. (I did like that book...but it was long.)

I realized that my kids will be out of school soon, and living with the guilt of ignoring 1 as opposed to 3 sounded like a good idea so I bought the other two Hunger Games books (on my phone) and read one at Gualala and then the last one after we got home. I didn't feel too guilty reading while camping but the last one I managed to finish on Memorial Day while Tanner was making it clear that he wasn't happy with me staring at my phone all day. But phew, I was done! And I am making a promise to myself to NOT read any books for a couple of months (except one book I read a bit of every day).

My thoughts on the Hunger Games? I hated the premise (seriously, how do people think these things up?), but loved that there were some redeeming characters. I didn't love the first book though I was interested, LOVED the second book, and really didn't enjoy the last one at all. So now I can be cool and know what all my younger, hipp-er friends are talking about. And maybe I can even go see the movie now.