The 15-Minute Book Club

Dear Everybody, 

You may have read my little post about how to make time for reading and writing and you may remember that I said a little bit of a good thing is still a good thing. Well, I took my own advice and decided not to be hindered by how the days are just so busy, how everything demands so much time, how reading for pleasure is a luxury no one can afford, et cetera. I started to read 15 minutes from two favorite books and saw very quickly that it is next to impossible to not make 15 minutes for something.

I am reading The Odyssey by Homer and In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. 15 minutes a day and no longer. I’ve read The Odyssey I don’t know how many times by now. I used to take it to the wine-blue waters of the Aegean with me every summer back when I went on holidays in the ancient Ionian land-and-seascapes. And I’ve read the beginning of Swann’s Way during pretty much every walk to Hickory Hill and back (there were many, more than enough to memorize it), but I never really got past the first 60 pages or so—there’s only so much one can walk. 

The Odyssey is an old love of mine, and Proust is a favorite which comes with the bonus of Virginia Woolf reading him right before she began writing Mrs. Dalloway.

All this brings me to say, to write, to invite: If there was ever a book you wanted to read for a long while but didn’t think you had the time, thought it was too long or too difficult, that it would wait another couple of years or decades, why not join me and become a part of my 15-minute club?

This is not a class. Yes, I underline the texts, yes, I take notes, but that’s just how I read. It’s not for anybody but me. If you want to give the 15-minute club a go, you won’t be expected to do anything unnatural to you or your reading practices. This is all and only about reading. I tried to enlist my father first. It turns out he’s rereading Anna Karenina these days, except he can’t read for only 15 minutes a day. That's too short for him. But if you want to give short-is-good a chance, please know that we don’t have to read the same thing. You are welcome to join me with whatever it is that you've been waiting to read or reread. 

Shoot me a text and I'll add you to a little group for the sake of community and accountability. It’s nice to have fellow readers on board. It’s nice to be celebrated for what one accomplishes. You may also join the group by scanning the QR code below. ‍‍‍‍

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