Rest & reset / Books & rituals
Read a book without setting a goal
No annual target, no race to the final page. Just the pleasure of finding out what happens next.
Reading can become surprisingly busy once it acquires a target. There are books to finish, lists to follow and a sense that the next title should already be waiting before the current one is done.
There is another way to spend an evening with a book: open it because you want to be there, stop when you do not, and allow the experience to be enough.
Choose the book you want tonight
It might be a new novel or a familiar favourite. It might be a collection you can dip into for a few pages. You do not owe your free time the most impressive choice on the shelf.
If a book is not for you, you can put it aside. Another season or another story may suit you better.
Let the pace be yours
A chapter can last one evening or several. You can linger over a sentence or turn the pages quickly because the story has taken hold.
The number of books finished is one way of describing a reading year. Remembering a scene long after you close the cover is another.
