Tackling the Tomes: A New Adventure

Hi and welcome to the reading world!

Recently on Bookstagram, @thestackspod announced an upcoming episode for The Stacks Book Club on Anna Karenina and invited followers to join in reading the book prior to the May episode. Tracy broke it down as saying her copy would require 11 pages a day. That struck me, and I looked at my copy, sitting on my TBR where I thought it’d lay for months if not years.

I did the math with my copy- if I read 14 pages a day, I could finish Anna Karenina by May. I can do 14 pages, I told myself. But could I?

Reading is always something I love to do (writes the girl with the book blog), and I notice that my relaxation time oftentimes involves reading. But when I’m stressed, overworked, not taking a lot of breaks? I don’t even read 14 pages. But I’ve been reading Anna Karenina the past few days, and just those 15-20 minutes of reading have been something I know help me feel more calm and focused. I’m reading Anna Karenina! A book I’ve always wanted to pick up, but felt intimidated by and avoided because “who has the time”?

I can make 15-20 minutes a day happen. Not always, and that’s ok since life happens and the point of reading is to encourage my work-life balance and not add additional stressors. But what about after I finish Anna Karenina? What about all those other books I’ve been wanting to read that are “long and intimidating”? The ones I’ve always wanted to read, but keep putting off because “I just can’t get through those”. Can I keep setting aside 15 minutes a day? And so I decided to challenge myself, and as I set out on this road, I’ve decided to make the challenge a little bigger.

So, here we come to Tackling the Tomes. This is a new challenge I’ll be starting for myself and anyone who wants to join, and if you want to follow along I’ll be checking in on Bookstagram with #tacklingthetomes and @tacklingthetomes. I’ll also be hoping to share reviews of the books and progress on wrap ups here on the blog. It’s not a readathon, it’s not a sprint, it’s me wanting to incorporate reading a little bit of my most anticipated but intimidating books on my TBR in order to give me some time for reading and reflection each day and inviting you to do the same.

If you’d like to join #tacklingthetomes, tag the bookstagram @tacklingthetomes, and feel free to share your own books you’re wanting to read. I’ll be posting updates and I would love to see yours as well! What’s a tome you’re looking to tackle?

Thank you for stopping by!

-Rae