Resolving to spend more time with printed word

A favorite book of mine surfaced this week at a perfect time for the annual half-hearted attempt at self-improvement that we all know as New Year’s resolutions.

I rarely break a New Year’s resolution, because I rarely make one. But this year, I am making a concerted effort to spend more time reading the written word printed in ink on paper, and less time peering at electronic screens of all sorts.

Nancy Pearl’s wonderful book about books called, most appropriately, “Book Lust,” is a fine way to start. (No worries. “Book Lust” is completely G-rated.)

Pearl is a Seattle librarian who has been a regular commentator on National Public Radio for years. Although there are certainly others deserving of the honor, as far as I know she is still the only librarian who has her own action figure.

Pearl won my heart — and the heart of many of her followers — with a reading guideline established in the introduction of “Book Lust.”

She calls it her “rule of fifty.”

This ingenious book-lover recognized right up front that even the most dedicated reader will never have time to crack open even a measurable fraction of all of the books available on this little planet of ours.

“One of my strongest held beliefs is that no one should ever finish a book that they’re not enjoying,” Pearl wrote, “no matter how popular or well-reviewed the book is. Believe me, nobody is going to get any points in heaven by slogging through a book which they aren’t enjoying but think they ought to read.”

Or, as she puts it more concisely, “Time is short and the world of books is immense.”

Pearl’s rule is this: If you are 50 years of age or younger, you should give a new book 50 pages of your time. If you’re not fully immersed by then, ditch it and reach for another.

Here’s the better part: If you’re over 50, subtract your age from 100. A new read has to captivate you in that number of pages, or you may — guilt-free — dismiss it and start a different one.

Pearl’s book was first published in 2003, and made its way to my house in 2004. My book-devouring father was 92 that year. Thanks to Pearl’s rule of fifty, my dad only had to endure eight pages of a book that wasn’t magical. It wasn’t that he needed permission, but it was liberating to have it.

With each birthday, books have one less page to ensnare me. I’m down to 43.

Need a reason to do more reading in 2019? I heartily recommend Nancy Pearl’s “rule of fifty.” And if you’re looking for a good read — or a thousand — “Book Lust” is a rich resource.

Happy reading and happy new year. Here’s hoping both will have a minimal number of cliff hangers and a healthy measure of happily ever afters.

Betty Williamson’s reading pile is teetering on the verge of dangerous. Reach her at:

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