I am really late in writing this post, but I want to participate in my friend Trish’s Winter Reading Challenge. I used to say that no matter how late it was, I had to have some time to read and wind down before bed. Sadly, evenings are when I get most of my design work done now, so reading has been put on the back burner. That is something I want to correct this year, and hopefully this challenge will help me keep this promise to myself.

Quality reading time for me usually involves one of two things: good fiction or educational tutorials, both of which I love. As a rule, I’m not big on non-fiction. I have a houseful of partially-read books in this category, whereas a work of fiction has to be just plain awful in order to be left unfinished (this brings to mind Heart of Darkness, which I despised but was assigned for two classes in the same semester in my first year of college; unfortunately, I did have to finish it). I love what reading does for my mind; when I’m reading a lovely work of fiction it permeates me, and the thoughts just seem to flow nicer in my brain.

I am going to be practical in my goals. In spite of good intentions, I know my reading time is limited. Here goes!

• Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte. I am totally cheating here; I finished the book earlier this month, I’m just late writing my post. We watched the Masterpiece Theatre production of it over the weekend and loved it!
• Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen. My cousin Lynn posted for the second year in a row about about the publisher’s winter sale on the Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen. I ordered it this time – what beautiful editions!
• The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov. I have a bachelor’s degree in Russian and am quite partial to Russian literature (as opposed to Soviet literature, which was mainly hideous stuff). A book unlike any I’ve ever read (I read it once before in college), it’s sitting in my van waiting for spare moments of reading time.
• Classic Photoshop Effects – Scott Kelby. I discovered this book while killing time when the rear brakes in my van were being replaced in November. I finally ordered it this month, and hope it will progress from its current position as a resting place for my desk phone to the learning tool it was designed to be. Can’t wait!
• The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien. I read the LOTR trilogy while nursing my seventh child, but I never read The Hobbit. I think it’s time to remedy that situation.
• Mansfield Park – Jane Austen. Can you have enough Jane Austen?
• In a perfect world, I’d tackle some Robert Ludlum and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, too. I would love to reread the Bourne trilogy; I read it many years ago and love a good spy novel. I adore Sherlock Holmes and have said it’s a miracle (and probably a blessing) that one of my sons doesn’t have Sherlock for a middle name. I’ll be happy if I make a dent in the list I have.

If you would like to join the Winter Reading Challenge, write a post and sign Trish’s Mr. Linky to be entered in a drawing for a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate.