Reading for Fun in College

Let me be blunt: you won't have time to read for fun at college if you don't make time. I have 30 books assigned for next semester. THIRTY. 

So disclaimer: I probably will not be reading for fun this semester. These tips are more for people with reasonable reading assignments or who would rather give up eating than pleasure reading. And while no, I won't selecting what I read until December, most of the books I have to read are still great reading material. I typically like most of them. No textbooks for the English/History major!

But I digress. You're here because you want know how to read for fun at college. Or maybe you've just found yourself busy with your job, your high school work, your newborn baby, your car, your yard work- you get the picture- and want to fit reading into your schedule. Look no further: here's what you should try.

The most important thing to do is choose a book that can be easily put down for several weeks. It will be extremely difficult to read your book continuously over a couple of days. Last year, I brought along Life is So Good by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman to school. Over the course of the semester, I could pick up this book with weeks in between and not feel lost because of its building plot and memorable story.

I highly recommend any "auto-biographical" or "memoir" type book for that reason. It's fairly easy to jump in after being away for a long period of time. A couple other options are Ellen DeGeneres's Seriously...I'm Kidding (just don't listen to it as an audio book- surprisingly a bad idea) and Barbara Kingsolver's High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never.

You should also set aside a certain time to read. Even the most die-hard readers struggle to pick up a book spontaneously when faced with unfinished assignments and unread emails. In the past, I've set Saturday mornings as reading time. It worked maybe once. But I have generally stuck with Saturday mornings as my "chill" time. If I have a book I want to read during chill time, I totally can, guilt free. You can choose whatever time or frequency you want; it's all about what works best for you.

Finally, use your book as a reward. Tell yourself "if I finish this chapter before dinner, I can read Life is So Good for 30 minutes." Or, when the procrastination is running strong, tell yourself that every minute spent on Twitter is a minute lost on reading time. When you get your work done, you won't feel as guilty for taking time to read as you would when a blank Word document stares you in the face.

How do you find time to read for fun? What books do you recommend? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

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Below the Line:

• Another great post on this subject is by Katie at My College Advice. She writes more about why you should keep reading in college.
• I FINALLY FOUND THE PLANNER. Whoosh, that was a frustrating, stressful process. I'll reveal my choice in another back-to-school post next week.
• The clock is ticking on summer days, and I have quite a bit left to do. Like the big stack of books next to my full bookshelf that still needs a home. And the stack of boxes in front of my closet. And all the blog posts I was going to write and plan ahead...

Unconventional College Packing List

I started out thinking I would write the generic "Top 10 Things to Bring to College!" post. It's the start of my back-to-school series (woot woot!) and what better way to start then with a list? But once I asked my Facebook friends for their suggestions, it turned into so much more than just a list (and so much better). The things my friends found as "must-haves" ranged from bed sheets and towels to a Time Turner and blankets for floor naps. From my friend Danielle:

Never underestimate the power of a comfy chair (or futon if you're blessed with space), especially for those introverts among us who enjoy studying in our rooms but not necessarily enduring the cold, hard reality of a desk chair for hours on end. Other than that, I would have to say I'm inordinately fond of my hanging closet shoe rack. It only takes up a little bit of precious closet space but can be used to organize all kinds of small non-shoe items.

And my friend Lydia:

A tiny but well stocked first aid kit and a tiny travel sewing kit! You might be surprised how many disasters can be saved by some band-aids or thread.

Then there's Grace, whose comments just can't go unrecognized:

I also always bring my SpUnKy personality and good looks.

As I laughed along or nodded in agreement, I realized how much stuff I use at college the lists online never prepared me for. So I compiled a list of all the Facebook suggestions, more or less in my friends' own words. The items in bold were suggested more than once, and therefore are the best stuff on the block. ;)

But enough of my blabbering! Without further ado, here is the unconventional college packing list:

What are your unconventional college (or uni, my European friends) must-haves?

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Below the Line:

• Special thanks to my friends who generously offered up their must-haves: Grace, Lian, Kirstyn, Casie, Laura, Haley, Hattie, Jackson, Alison, Danielle, Erin, Erica, Kenzlie, Audrey, Kate, Sarah, Lydia, and Mary Kate. You guys are bam-kicking ;)
• Second installment of my back-to-school series coming up Friday! Hmm, I wonder what it could be...
• My family went on our annual trip to the Indiana State Fair on Saturday! My sister tried a deep fried Oreo and deemed it "really yummy." My favorite part was the penny candy- but then again, it's always the penny candy :)

What I Read: A Lesson Before Dying

 3/5 Pineapples

(Back to pineapples we go :))

I wanted nothing more than to love this book.

Ernest Gaines wowed me with "A Long Day in November." I walked away from that story thinking, "dang, I wish I could write like that." I walked away from A Lesson Before Dying thinking "wait...what happened?"

After I've thought about it for a few days I can't help but think... nothing.

It's the plot's fault. The characters were solid, the language great. But it wasn't until chapter 21 that I felt like things started happening. Twenty-one out of 31 chapters. Before that chapter, the book was mostly about the narrator, Grant Wiggins. Grant whines and complains about being "stuck" in his community and wants nothing more than to just marry his girlfriend and leave Louisiana. It's a very flat story line, and not what I read this book to hear about.

I read this book because I wanted to know about Jefferson, the young African-American sentenced to death for, essentially, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I wanted to better understand incarceration of young black men in the 1940s in order to put the problem today in perspective. Alas, that did not happen.

Until chapter 21, Jefferson wants nothing to do with people. He sits in his cell feeling sorry for himself (rightfully so), but hurts the people who love him. I really didn't like his character through the first two-thirds of the book. The sympathy I felt for him at the beginning was swept away by his selfishness.

Then, all of a sudden, his death date is set. And BAM- Jefferson is a new man. Just like that.

I was really confused why he suddenly talked to Grant, why he suddenly decided he was willing to eat, and why he suddenly stopped calling himself a pig over and over. The rising action to this climax simply wasn't there, since Gaines had spent most of the time on Grant and his woes.

After those first 20 chapters, however, I did get into the book. Jefferson became sympathetic, Grant took his "Nick Carraway" role, and I started to feel something for these people. By the end of the book, I was left frustrated and anxious. I can't exactly explain why (no spoilers here :)), but looking at the end of Jefferson's story, I wondered if American injustice will ever change.

The end was the only glimmer that helped me to understand today's messed up "justice" system. Gaines wrote this in 1993; he wanted readers to look at more than just the 1940s south. Yet due to this book's "first-draft" feel, I didn't get the powerful takeaway I expected.

What do you think of A Lesson Before Dying? I might be the only crazy person for feeling this way about a classic, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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Below the Line:

• My "back-to-school" series is coming at you next week! I'm starting with a college post freshmen are definitely going to want to check out.
• Went on a reading spree the past few days while I was traveling. Look for a We Were Liars review coming soon!
• I had a half-day trip to San Francisco while I was in California this past week. It was a ton of fun! But my goodness, those hills...unlike any hills this Hoosier has ever seen. Let me know if you'd like to see a post on this trip below :)

Traveling Woes

I was going to write about my grandparent's farm. It's a beautiful, beautiful place that I love very dearly. I wanted to share it with all of you as I do, in word and picture. But I want to spend time on that, since it is so important to me. And time is not something I exactly have, because of this:

Yup. Those are boarding passes. And no, I didn't collect them. They are all from Sunday, in my attempt to get to San Jose with my boss for a conference. I say "attempt" because it took this many boarding passes (only two used) and a car to get to our destination.

Delayed, missed flight, delayed, cancelled, five-hour drive. I wasn't reunited with my bag until this afternoon, much to my chagrin. There was much rejoicing in the kingdom when we were reunited.

So needless to say, my recent travel was (is) exhausting. I've been up since 6:45 am eastern time Sunday. I am looking forward to nestling myself in my bed and sleeping as soon as this post is done! So I thought I would just give you a few brief takeaways from my experience these past 40 hours (give or take):

• ALWAYS pack an extra outfit in your carry-on. My mom had me do this for years, and today it finally came in handy. We jumped around on so many planes, our bags ended up stuck at the airport without us. Fortunately, I had an outfit in my carry-on I could change into today. I just felt so much cleaner and ready to face the day sans sleep with fresh clothes.
• NEVER bring just one book on the plane. Just don't. I don't care if your book is 800 pages and you just started it. You never know how long you're actually going to spend in airports. I know better, and yet I only brought one book on the plane that I finished in two hours. Always have back-up reading material, and delays and layovers become more manageable.
• NEVER yell at the customer service agents. It's not their fault, and they're trying to help you. It's not like they said, "oh, whoever yells the loudest, we'll give her a first-class seat on the next flight out of here, even if we have to kick someone off!" No one says that. No one (who would?). Just be patient, and all will be resolved.
• Finally, ALWAYS stay positive. After a previous bad flight experience this summer, I started this trip accepting the fact all might not go as planned. It makes things a lot easier to be ready to respond to sudden changes positively instead of getting frustrated. My boss and I managed to make it to our destination simply by being ready to jump around and not letting things we can't change get to us.

So those are the four major things I've taken from this rough-rider worthy experience. What flight woes have you endured, and what did you learn from them?

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Below the Line

• This post was written with a rough two-ish hours of sleep. Please forgive any proofreading errors/things that just plain don't make sense :)