Saturday, June 21, 2008

Blogs of Note

So I've been planning on highlighting a couple blogs for the last week or so. I really need to start building "blogging time" into my daily routine.

Patrick and I meet for breakfast every Thursday. He spent 2 or 3 years living in Central Mexico after university, and he met his wife there. While he was there he collected 43 stories based on his experiences and I find them fascinating to read. He has cleaned up and posted 23 of them so far at patvoy.blogspot.com. They are worth checking out.

Eric and I met in Calgary when I was going to U of C. His blog is a collection of quotes and passages from books he's reading. I try to check in regularly, but he's a pretty prolific reader (and blogger). Recently I asked him how he reads so much, and if it ever feels like a chore to him (sometimes it does to me). He said:

First of all, I read a lot of fiction which I really enjoy and it doesn't seem like work to me. I try and balance that with some non-fiction that really interests me (usually history, politics and economics). I am about to read Common Wealth by Sachs (I'm pumped). Mostly I only make myself read something when I really want to read it. I leave books until I think, "I should read that, I bet its good". The Devils by Dostoevsky has been sitting on my shelf for 2 years. Reading should be fun, if it isn't right now, take a break. And don't worry about "I need to read everything" because you won't, and that is OK.

He's right - I won't read everything. And it is OK. I needed to hear that - reading is again a peaceful, fulfilling activity for me. Anyway, check out his blog at raskolnikov-thethingsiread.blogspot.com.

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