Ode to the list, or Summer Reading

A couple of weeks ago I started a summer reading list. Yep, I just began making my list of books to read this summer...in July. That's how I roll.

I had been reading, I just hadn't committed it to list form. I'm a sucker for a good list. I LOVE crossing stuff off my list. It makes me feel like I've accomplished something. I know I do stuff, but lists remind me of all the stuff I've done.

I've been known to make a list, find myself spending a large chunk of time on something related to but not actually on my list, and retroactively add it to my list so I can cross it off. There's probably some TLC show about that kind of list dedication.

Lists help me remember. I'll be making breakfast, doing the dishes, exercising, drying my hair...and a rush of IMPORTANT! THINGS! TO! REMEMBER! will come to me and I start to stress that I'll forget them. So I make a list.

Sometimes I still forget. Sometimes I forget to add big important stuff to the list...like the time I forgot that it was our turn to bring snacks to Bubba's baseball game. Sometimes I have a big, long, practical grocery list and it gets left at home on the counter.

More likely, there's a TLC show about that kind of list making. "When Lists Don't Remember" or "The List That Should Have Been" or "Listen to the List"

But most of the time, lists save the day at my house.

My summer reading had gone all willy nilly. I had purchased a couple of books in anticipation of summer, I had one left from a reading binge back in January,I joined a summer book club, and every time someone on Facebook talked about a book I said to myself, "Ooo, I'm reading that next."

Every time I began to choose my next book, all of those books poofed out of my head and I picked up the first book that caught my eye at Barnes and Noble. Because really, I'm also a sucker for a good trip to Barnes and Noble.

I needed a list to focus my reading attention.

I began to type my list in a Word document, and I thought "There's got to be an app for this". And it turns out, there is an app! And a whole entire social network dedicated to making and editing lists of books!

So, I made my summer reading list, that will actually probably become a regular Books I Want To Read list on Goodreads. My username is Talkinghairdryer. I chose Talkinghairdryer for my username because it's easier to find me with that than with my real name, Jenni.

If you're on Goodreads, will you find me? I've heard it's way more fun if you have friends on there. And really, who doesn't need another social network page to check every so often?

And just becasue I know there are a few of you out there that won't join just so you can see my reading list...

I just finished The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. It was just a'ight for me.

I'm currently reading The Summer We Came to Life by Deborah Cloyed

Up next is The House At Riverton by Kate Morton