105 Ways to Give a Book

A Confession

I was getting ready for work and realized that I had no clean pants to wear. Everything was in the hamper or wrinkled from spending time in the pile of doom that is my clothes closest. No problem, because I had my trusty six-dollars-at-Ross denim skirt that goes with anything... as long as you don’t really care about making any fashion statements. Again, no problem, because I had my Best Boots Ever to add to the outfit. The Best Boots Ever were a find at DSW, reduced to ninety percent off the $300 price tag, just because it was the end of the season, and the toes on the shoes are so pointy that it looks like I am wearing ice picks on my feet. The points are just for show and stick out much farther than my actual toes — I don’t actually have feet shaped like triangles. Oh, and bonus, the Italian leather boots had a label inside pricing them for retail at $750, so I was wearing the bargain of the century.

Watching the clock, I put on my denim skirt, one of my many sweaters, and my kick-ass boots. Really running late, as usual. But. Oh. No. I hadn’t shaved my legs. We aren’t taking King Kong here, but I am just not comfortable with stubble. I have an image to maintain. But I didn’t have time to shave or go through the process of finding a new outfit.

So, I shaved the six inches of exposed skin between the top of the boot and the bottom of the my skirt. In an apt analogy of my life, it is all about cutting corners.

In the book The Children of Henry VIII I skipped the long battle discussions, pages at a time. Why not? I just wanted the scandals.

In Loving Lefties, I skipped the whole chapter on sports — which my left-hander doesn’t play — and skimmed the special equipment section entirely. I had gotten what I needed.

In Thousand Pieces of Gold, I skimmed through the last fifty pages when I realized halfway through that I had read the book before. At the end, I just wanted the summary.

It is not for every reading experience, but sometimes you need to have the courage to shave a little off your reading. And it’s okay.
Category: 1 comments

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I completely agree about shaving off the parts that you don't need from your reading. Life is way too short to read the parts of books that you aren't interested in. I've always been a skimmer of many books, and one who is willing to put the book aside completely if it isn't giving me what I want. Thanks for an entertaining and yet insightful post!