Reading Day 2: Recharge

On January 1, Dave and I tried our first official Reading Day. (You can read all about it here, including my lengthly list of favorite books.) It was a reaction to the massive amount of exhausting, awesome fun we’d been having since our move to Vermont. We enjoyed the intense relaxation of Reading Day so much, we decided to put one on the calendar once a month when we were developing our plan to have the Awesomest Summer Ever™.

I’ve written about the relationship between “fun” and “happy” before—and Reading Day is a commitment to ourselves to slow down on the fun and focus on happy.

This is the original plan we sketched out for how Reading Day should work:

And here’s how it plays out in reality…

We’ve prepped in advance all of the annoying, daily maintenance things we usually have to do to take care of ourselves—things like counting out supplements, measuring the loose tea into the tea infuser, prepping vegetables and protein for meals—then on Reading Day, we can loll around in our pajamas all day with nothing more taxing to do than reheat food and make the incredibly important decision about whether to lie in bed or sit on the couch. (Or recline on the couch!)

We’ve declared phones, computers, and television off limits, unless Dave wants to look something up on the internet or make digital notes; social media surfing and email are strictly forbidden.

I’m ridiculously excited about our Reading Day tomorrow! In January, we took reading day on a rest day from working out, but we’re starting tomorrow with a kickass workout, then immediately diving into full-on recline mode immediately after our post-workout breakfast.

I encourage you to try to find a day in your schedule over the summer to fully relax and recharge, too. If reading isn’t your thing, you could declare Game Day at your house and play tabletop games with your near and dear—Dave has shared his recommendations for excellent family games at the bottom of this post.

Get the Reading Day prep schedule

This post has all the info you need to plan and organize your very own reading day.

What I’m Reading

This time around, I’m starting with Fun Home because (a) Alison Bechdel, the author/artist is a graduate of the Center For Cartoon Studies where my husband Dave is currently working on his Master’s degree; and (b) we’re going to see the show in New York next month. Not exactly light reading, but it’s gotten such rave reviews, I think it’s worth a read.

When that’s done, I’m going full schlock.

We took a spontaneous side trip to Hobart, New York, this week. Known as the “Book Town of the Catskills,” it’s a village with six bookshops along a 1-block stretch of Main Street. During our browsing/buying spree in all of the shops, we interacted with exactly three humans and three cats. That’s a 1:1 ratio of cats to humans. I like it!

Anyway… one of the books I bought at the all-mysteries book shop cost one dollar (!), and I was sold when I realized it has an old fashioned library check-out card pasted in the front. It’s called Borrower of the Night: A Vicky Bliss Novel of Suspense, and it looks fantastic.

For your amusement, the jacket copy:

“It began as a game, a treasure hunt in an old German castle. For Vicky Bliss—tall, beautiful, and brilliant—it was also a challenge, a chance to bring an arrogant young man down a notch or two. And all things considered, it would have been no contest.

The prize was a centuries-old shrine, carved by Tilman Riemenschneider, probably Germany’s greatest master of the late Gothic. The place was the forbidding Schloss Drachenstein, where the stones were stained with ancient blood and the air reeked of evil.

The problem was that someone had targeted Vicky, and the game was soon being played in deadly earnest…”

I dare you to tell me that doesn’t sound TOTALLY AWESOME.