SIGH….I’m going to try to describe how I’m feeling….

I finished my second to last book on my LOST challenge about a week ago, (review coming soon), and I only have one left until I’m done! I have wanted to be finished with this challenge for a while now. I’m really glad I’ve done it but sticking with it has caused me to put other reading aside and my To Be Read list has grown to about 200-something. I have opted out of reading the last couple of books that my book club is reading just so that I could finish up my goal. And I’m sure my husband and family are ready to see me doing something other than reading in my free time. This goal has been a very motivating thing, and a very positive thing, So, I’ve wanted to finish strong and then be free from it. But now….I’m feeling a little sad about coming to the end.

This list of books has taught me a lot. In some ways it has provoked new thoughts in me that have been eye-opening and refreshing, and in other ways it has confirmed and strengthened what was already inside. This blog has met a tremendous need in me; to talk about what I’m reading and to glean from and share in the literary community that I’ve discovered. It has been just what I needed. April at The Steadfast Reader asked me the other day what I planned to do when I finished the project-would I keep up with the blog? I definitely will.

When I first thought about putting myself to this challenge, I considered the time it would take. I am, in general, a slow reader. Meaning, I don’t actually read slow, but I chew and digest and think about whatever it is I’m reading. I don’t just zip through a book. And I also, for some reason, can only read for about 30 or 40 minutes at a time. After that, my eyes and brain just stop. I can get up, do something else for 10 or 15 minutes or so and then go back to reading for another 30 minutes but I have to do it that way. I don’t know why, with the daily practice that I get, that my endurance for reading is so low but it is what it is. Also, I am a stay at home mother of twin 15 year old boys – who are home schooled. This distracts me a little.  Anyways, I figured this challenge would take me about three years. I wanted to do it in two, and I know lots of people who could do it in one, but it turned out to be three for me. I began in April of 2011 and I will begin my last book this April, 2014. I have read lots of other stuff during this time including a read-through of the Bible. Sometimes I skipped my LOST reading for a month at a time depending on what was going on, but I never lost my desire to keep going with it.

So now, here I am at the end. I’m going to start my last book, Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens on Monday, and I’m a little hesitant.  Although I’ll probably be living with it for a long time. It’s Dickens and it’s like 888 pages. I have it on my Kindle but I’m on the lookout for a comfortable copy for my shelf.

When I am done, I will continue to review other LOST books from the list. I didn’t start the blog until last July. I did review some in the notes section of my facebook before but my original intent was never to blog about the books anyway, it was just to read them. Now that I’m in the practice of reviewing, (really just talking about them), I’d like to revisit several of them for a little conversation with you guys.

That’s where I am ya’ll.
I’m excited, I’m a little melancholy, I’m tired and I’m inspired.
It’s all good.