The Evergreen Bookclub - connecting reading to life
It's no secret that I like (love) books
If you follow me over on Instagram you'll know that I regularly highlight and discuss the books I've been reading.
Instagram book reflections - The 50th Law
I read a lot, but I didn’t always
Well, I consider it a lot!
On average, about a book a week and a mixture of fiction and non-fiction.
But, this wasn't always the case: after completing my BA, and no longer having to read a bunch of books for literature classes, my reading habit dropped off substantially. I read even less during my biochemistry PhD, when I was too busy doing experiments and reading scientific papers to have the "time" (or motivation) to read anything else.
Funnily enough, it was only after having my first son 3.5 years ago that I started to pick up books again. I say it's funny because it coincided with a severe reduction in time and energy - I was more busy than ever, yet reading more.
“Although I’ve been reading a lot since then, I’ve found it hard to remember what I’ve read and apply the lessons I’ve learned through reading, to my life.”
Of course, not all reading needs to be for knowledge-building or to have a direct and tangible impact on our lives. I think fiction in particular is a great way to focus on being in the moment and enjoy time passing by while occupying another world. But, I think a lot of people read non-fiction to learn something, and, ideally, to take those lessons and use them to improve their lives in some way.
Recently I began compiling notes and quotes from the non-fiction books I've read so that I have them to refer to. I've then been using these to write book "reflections" over on Instagram.
“Since I’ve been getting such positive feedback on these reflections, I decided that maybe it would be a good idea to flesh these out and turn them into a resource on here for those of you who want to dive a little deeper and find a way to relate what you’ve read to your own life.”
And so I arrived at the Evergreen Bookclub:
A place where you can access my comprehensive list of reflection questions and exercises that I’ve come up with while I read each book. A “worksheet” or “guide” of sorts.
For now I will focus on non-fiction books and I anticipate preparing a new one each month.
It's "evergreen" because these notes will always be here to access at any time. You do not need to read a certain book at a certain time. In fact, I hope that reading these reflections on the books perhaps prompts you to consider books that you haven't even read yet.
Note: these will not be traditional book "reviews" (I'll save those for year-end favourite books, see here for my 2020 list), nor will they be summaries.
Instagram book reflections - Make Your Bed
How to use the Evergreen Bookclub? (The 3 Rs)
READ the book! (optimal), OR Peruse through the resources that I mention, OR Simply attempt to follow along (I think I provide enough context to understand the questions and exercises).
REFLECT on the questions and exercises: choose to respond to those that are the most relevant or interesting to you. This is not an exam - you don't have to complete everything! My aim is to simply spark some thinking about the concepts from the book and how they might relate to your own life.
REACH OUT if you enjoy the Evergreen Bookclub or discover something interesting by answering a question (you can do this in the comments or privately here). Feedback is really motivating and helps me to keep evolving everything I do here at Life Inspiration File so that it can be relevant to you. Also: there’s always the possibility in turning this into a virtual bookclub if there’s enough interest.
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Head on over to the first instalment of the Evergreen Booclub:
Love books? Check out my suggestions:
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