With only five days left, my lead is insurmountable. The competition can’t catch up. And for the third year in a row, I’ll triumph. In second place will be the president of the United States. Our contest is not about sports or politics. It’s about books. It all started on New Year’s Eve in 2005. President Bush asked what my New Year’s resolutions were. I told him that as a regular reader who’d gotten out of the habit, my goal was to read a book a week in 2006. Three days later, we were in the Oval Office when he fixed me in his sights and said, “I’m on my second. Where are you?” Mr. Bush had turned my resolution into a contest. [...]At year’s end, I defeated the president, 110 books to 95. My trophy looks suspiciously like those given out at junior bowling finals. The president lamely insisted he’d lost because he’d been busy as Leader of the Free World. [...] A glutton for punishment, Mr. Bush insisted on another rematch in 2008. But it will be a three-peat for me: as of today, his total is 40 volumes to my 64.

So the suggestion is that the leader of the free world was reading almost 2 books a week in 2006.  I’m not commenting on Bush’s education in any way, that is not a question here, my question is merely this, should the President have enough time to be reading two books a week, in addition to spending time with his family, reading the paper (or whatever a president does to stay up to date) and, you know, running the country?  (To be clear, I would be more than a little bit concerned if Obama were claiming to have done the same thing so this has nothing to do with politics).

As a full time social media/brand writing professional who works for a book company I don’t have enough time to read two books a week and I’m a pretty quick reader… so how does GWB pull it off? Especially during a war? I don’t know, reader, I just don’t know.

eHarlequin.com issues 2008 100,000 Book Challenge
Year-long event will benefit NCFL programs

eHarlequin.com has challenged its community members to read an astounding 100,000 books in one year in the 2008 eHarlequin.com 100,000 Book Challenge.  At the end of the year, Harlequin will make an unprecedented donation of an equivalent number of books to the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). The estimated retail value of a 100,000 book donation to NCFL by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. is $700,000.

In addition to promoting literacy, the 2008 eHarlequin.com 100,000 Book Challenge encourages readers to discuss the titles they’ve read on the eHarlequin.com Web site in their own blogs.  Those participating in the challenge share their thoughts, reviews, opinions, recommendations and progress.  The 2008 eHarlequin.com 100,000 Book Challenge is taking place right now at eHarlequin.com. In one short week 350+ participants have accepted the 2008 100,000 Book Challenge and already read some 1,000+ books. Click here to find out more about the Book Challenge or how to participate.

Alright ladies, get reading!

With the holidays around the corner, I guess my Christmas wish list could include new running shoes or some sort of ab blaster but why torture myself when I can do something I really enjoy?  Did you know that you can burn Calories just by reading?  It’s true I read it online and I burned a calorie doing it too.  So I crunched the numbers and at my weight, I will only need to read for 2800 hours to offset this past Thanksgiving dinner!  Well I guess my Christmas list just got condensed to just BetterWorld.com and since it is open 24/7, there will be plenty of time for my family and friends to get my Christmas gifts.  Happy shopping!