Monday Musings...

I read an editorial in Booklist last week by one of the contributors to the magazine. In it he said that last year he didn't read one single book that he wanted to read, he only read books that he had to read so that he could review them, presumably for the magazine. Reflecting on the article, the thought struck me that I may not have read anything I wanted to either. Could that possibly be true?  With two book clubs and demands of a teen librarian on me it certainly seems like I am always reading books I should rather than those that I want to read just for pleasure.

With this in mind I looked over my reading list for 2012 and I am happy to report that my initial estimation (none) was wrong.  Nearly every month I found time to read at least one book just for myself. Sometimes those books ended up in the library but often times, not. I rarely reviewed them, especially if they were adult books.

Here's my round-up:
January-The Fault in Our Stars. I am such a big John Green fan, I would have read this even if I wasn't a teen librarian. (1 out of 9)
February-Henry Tilney's Diary by Amanda Grange. Even though I have the book in the library, I read this for no other reason than because I am an Austen fan. (1/7)
March-Mirrormask by Neil Gaiman. I'm also a Gaiman fan. (1/11)
April-Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough. Reading Ladies is a little like eating comfort food. It is one of my go-to books when I need a feel-good read. (1/9)
May-Hunger Games in audiobook format. Though I read it the first time as a teen librarian, this second time through was just for me. (1/14)
June-Peace Like a River by Lief Enger. Though this was a book club selection, I'd already read the book twice before so I didn't need to reread it, I wanted it. (1/4)
July-Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern were blogoshere favorites that I HAD to read (and I'm glad I did.) And A Dog's Purpose at the urging of my daughter. (3/19)
August-Dancing with Mr. Darcy. Another book for this Austen fan. (1/6)
September-Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Saved a Nation. This was an audio selection that my husband and I listened to together. (1/4)
October-No serious personal reading this month. (0/15)
November-Rip Van Winkle by Irving, illustrated by Rackham. Even with Mock Printz in full swing, I took the time to read this classic for myself. (1/10)
December-Several Christmas stories that we read as a family plus the Art and Characters of Nutcrackers. It was a good month for personal reading. (5/11)

It appears that no matter how busy I am that I do make time for myself and for personal selections. I'm fairly sure if I didn't I would start resenting the books I "had to read", decreasing my enjoyment of them, too. It's nice to have balance.

What about you? How do you balance what you have to read verses what you want to read?