Does anyone else remember the Scholastic Book Club?

When I was in elementary school, once a month the teacher would distribute the book club flyers. They were printed on flimsy paper, almost like tissues, but they were full color and advertised all sorts of books. There was something about flipping through the flyer, reading the descriptions and seeing the covers, that was almost more exciting than reading the books, perhaps because the book club combined two great things: reading and shopping!

Every promo listed the price of the book and an id number for you to pencil in on your order form to be submitted to your teacher with your payment. I had a budget, so I could not order all the books I wanted at once. Sometimes I would keep an eye on a book advertised in every issue until I finally marked it on my order form. Then the teacher sent in the orders and a couple weeks later the books would arrive! The best part however was the lovely anticipation, knowing books were on [...]

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I am a slow reader.

You would not have guessed this in 2nd grade when I was the only student to read 50 books in our annual reading contest. If I only read kids books, my slow reading wouldn’t be a problem, but it takes me forever to read adult books. Depending on the layout, how many words are on a page, and the complexity of the prose, I can read about 35-50 pages an hour. A 350-page book takes at least a 7-8 hour investment of time for me. This sometimes makes me feel disabled, particularly when I have a friend who can read a Baby-Sitter’s Club book in less than an hour and coherently relate the plot afterwards. She doesn’t even skip the part where they explain where Kid Kits are and how weird it is that Claudia eats lots of junk food but never gets fat or has pimples.

I only have about 2-3 hours of free time in a day, if you account for the time I spend cooking, exercising, paying bills, and [...]

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