Here's my second group of recommendations as we gear up for a New Year.  Dive in!

    1.  Recommend a book to a friend—and I'm willing to bet he or she will do the same with you. There's nothing more powerful than saying or hearing, "Hey, read this. It's wonderful." 

    2.  Pack an audiobook for any car trip you take—long or short. Think about it. Even on the shortest trip into town, listening to a five- or ten-minute snippet of a book can make a difference.  For reading on longer trips, bring juicy novels, fascinating bios or books of essays (and make sure your spouse, partner, friend or whoever is driving understands you'll need a bit of quiet time). 

    3.  Google your favorite authors.  Most have their own websites these days, and you almost always learn something new and interesting about what they're doing, working on, reading, teaching, or thinking.  This, in turn, can lead to more ideas about what to read.  For starters, check out what bestselling novelist and prolific author Jacquelyn Mitchard is up to by going to her website here.  

    4.  Vow to change your ways.  It's early January, with the notion of resolutions still on our minds.  While the going is good, why not commit to reading a little bit more each day, each week, each month?  Break it down into small chunks.  It IS achievable.  (I tend to bring books wherever I go -- the hair salon, the post office, the gym. Can't help it... )

   5.  Get back into the habit of going to the library.  I loved the library as a child and I love it to this day.  Every Saturday morning I have a little routine that includes stopping into the local library for at least half an hour (on a good day, an hour or more).  I poke around, browse, read, relax.  And I bring my children whenever possible, and they do the same.  (Sometimes we head right to the game table and kick off our visit with a game of chess or checkers. At least we're in the right place.)  When my stepsons were small, I took them to the bookmobile once a week when it pulled up in front of our apartment building.  It was fun and exciting for them, and to this day, as hip and savvy older guys now, they still remember that.  (You know what?  I'll take it.)