Australian Reading Hour

[image error]Today is the day!  What is Australian Reading Hour? It’s a day where everyone is encouraged to stop for an hour, pick up a book, and read it. Read it to yourself, read it to your children, read to someone else’s children. Read to another adult who can’t read. Just read!

It may seem odd for someone who reads for more than an hour every single day to be making a fuss about this, but it’s the bigger picture of course, the large scale encouragement of reading that I like to get behind and support.

Because I do read everyday, all the time, I still wanted to do something a little different with my reading time today to mark the occasion. So I got up earlier than normal and read over breakfast, not something I generally do on a work day. It was extremely relaxing and while I probably couldn’t be organised enough to set aside an hour every morning before work, it made me realise that even fifteen minutes of reading over breakfast, instead of scrolling through social media and answering emails, is probably a better way to start my day. Food for thought!

[image error]So, what did I read this morning for my reading hour? I have been working my way this week, in between other books, through a short story collection that is due for release at the end of October. An Evening in Paradise by Lucia Berlin. It’s a posthumous compilation of previously unpublished stories. I don’t read a lot of short stories; the shortness of them tends to inhibit my enjoyment. I want to get into something, not have it all over not long after it has just begun. Surprisingly though, I am finding that Lucia’s writing is breaking through this barrier for me. She has a way of wielding a lot of power with few words and her stories are incredibly engaging. I can see why her work continues to garner so much attention.

I hope you set aside some time to read today and if you do, please let me know what you read. You can find more information on Australian Read Hour over at their official website.