Simple Life: Book in One Sitting

Matthew 6:28 - "And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin ..."

I'm taking a Writing for YA and Middle Grade class right now. One of the assignments for the class involves reading 15 YA books over the semester.

One evening in the last couple of weeks, I was waiting for a friend to finish one of her assignments so we could hang out together. I was sitting in the library, biding my time, when I decided, Hey, why not pick another book to finish up this requirement of mine?

So, I ended up selecting a book with the overly-long title of Is Kissing a Girl Who Smokes like Licking an Ashtray? by Randy Powell. I anticipated either getting bored with the book and chucking it aside, or checking it out.

I ended up sitting on an armchair for nearly two hours until I finished the book.

The book was all right. It didn't change my perspective or anything. The experience was a different story. I was surprised I'd spent so much time just sitting and enjoying a good read. I thought about many of the movies and TV shows I've watched, and how I often watch them for hours at a time in one sitting.

But this time, my hours-long entertainment binge was with a book.

Something about the experience made me think about things, about life before TV and the internet, life before I was ever around. I felt more liberated about knocking back a book than I ever have bingeing entire seasons on Netflix. Something about it gave me an odd sense of accomplishment.

I know this is difficult, but I challenge all of you to do the same. Pick a book of reasonable length, go out, and try to read it all at once. I guarantee you won't regret it.