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Never Too Busy for Books

How Motherhood Changes Reading Habits

By Catherine K. Enders Carlton

Hicks belonged to a book club in New York before she moved to Illinois. The group she belonged to would rotate the role of choosing a book and hosting the meetings at their home. "It was great, because it really became more like a support group than a literary thing," she says "It was a 'girls' night out.'"

Hicks says she tries to arrange her trips back to New York to coincide with a book club meeting, so she can visit with the other members. "It's really funny, but I do," she says.

Hicks, who preferred novels, says another benefit of book clubs was the diverse topics and styles of books she read. "I was pretty set in my ways," she says. "And then being in a book club expanded my horizons because someone else was choosing the book."

Schindler says that her friends will often share books, like an informal book club. "A lot of times we will trade books," she says. "If there is one book that one of us thinks is particularly good, we'll share. Nothing formalized, but if one book is fantastic, it goes around."

When Hicks first moved to the Chicago area, she commuted an hour to work. "I listened constantly to books on tape," she says. "I mostly do in the car, not so much in the house, unless I'm at a really good point, and when I get home, I put the tape in." When asked if she listens to books while she does household chores or while she performs other tasks, she says no, but "it's a pretty good idea." Hicks has yet to commit to starting a book club because "time is of the essence," (and her family will move again in a year).

Like Schindler, Hicks says she has a "different attention span," tends to be selective in her reading and leans toward "at-a-glance" articles or stories. "Things like Reader's Digest articles are really appealing, because it will be a chapter from a book that has come out, and you get a flavor if you want to read the book or not," she says. "It would be a lot more difficult to read a really meaty book right now. It would be hard to get into it. I think that's why I tend to read more articles and shorter books, because it just feels like I'll definitely be able to finish it. I don't like to drag out a book."

Want to see more?

• iParenting Book Club
• Bonding With Books: Creating a Parent/Child Bookclub
• You Deserve a Break Today: New Moms Need Nurturing, Too
• Talk about it!

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