Reading Schedule for the Brave

Good morning fam! Look at me coming at you with another blog post that isn’t a book review! I am moving to a new house on July 6th and have been packing a lot so I haven’t finished a book to review yet this week. However, I’m doing that rare thing I do where I read two books at once.

I like to read at least one non-fiction book per month. I love nonfiction because I feel like I’m learning something while I read. I went on a self-help binge last year and read so many amazing books. Anyways, right now I’m reading a history book (my favourite kind of nonfiction) about a man named Witold Pilecki called The Volunteer. He was a Polish resistance fighter during WW2 and he volunteered to go to Auschwitz and start a resistance movement. The book is fascinating, it’s incredible how much the prisoners actually did to rebel. It’s refreshing to read about how they fought, but there is still a lot of death and sadness. Because the book is so sad, I’ve implemented my strategy for reading a nonfiction all the way through.

I’ve given myself a daily page goal for the nonfiction book that I have to read first. If I finish those pages, then I can read my fun book. So I basically give myself a little incentive to finish the nonfiction. The way I figure out the page goals is by deciding when I want to finish the book by and then seeing how many pages there are left and dividing it by day. For this book it’s actually an ARC (thank you Harper Collins Canada) that releases on June 25th. So I wanted to finish by Sunday so I can post a review on Pub Day.

The fun book I’m reading is called The Lost Girls and it’s actually a memoir so it’s nonfiction too! But it’s a travel book which I always devour. It’s about 3 friends that decide to travel the world for a year before they turn 30. They save for a year, then quit their jobs, leave their boyfriends behind and head to Peru to start. They just reached the top of Machu Picchu which is on my bucket list so I’m thoroughly enjoying it!

It’s not always easy to stick to my schedule and if I fall behind I just try to catch up the next day. Page goals aren’t for everyone but I find it really helpful with finishing those important but harder to read books. I also should let you know I don’t do this all the time. In general, I’m a one book at a time kind of gal. I only do this when I’m reading a harder nonfiction.

Do any of you read like this? With page goals for the day? With hard to read books and happy books at the same time? I’d love to know!