It’s been, for some reason, a tremendously slow reading year for me this year.

It’s not because I don’t have books to read. I have a sizable stack of books just waiting to be read, and they are inviting tomes.

I think its just been more that I’ve had a hard time making myself read.

Part of the reason for the drop-off has been trying to be faithful daily (and, well, mostly nightly, really) getting something on this blog. Writing anything takes time, and part of that time is always coming up with what you are going to write about.

Last year in goodreads.com’s Reading Challenge, I pledged I would read 25 books- and by year end, I think I finished 17 or 18 really. Coming into this year’s Reading Challenge, I decided I would dial my expectations back a little, and set my bar for books to complete at 20.

Heading into June 21st, I had finished 2.

At least I got to add one more to that total this evening.

And really, that that happened was just happenstance.

Last week, I walked with a colleague a few blocks over to the downtown branch of the city library, and while she was picking up a book on hold, I walked by a Featured Books table, and a book cover with an old pickup truck driving by a deep blonde field under a stormy sky caught my eye. I picked it up and read its first paragraph after perusing the back of the book, and I thought “Why not.”

The book, “As Good As Gone” by Larry Watson, was about small town Montana and a family in a week of turmoil. The outsider patriarch was asked by his son to watch his son and daughter while his wife underwent a surgery in Missoula. Reluctantly, the Eastwood-like old cowboy returns to his old town and old home to keep an eye on the kids when stuff happens he has to deal with. You know it had to happen, that stuff.

The book has a decent story arch. The characters are visible and believable. Watson paints pretty good imagery with words. The book rises and falls and the ending is not quite what you expect. The characters are likeable. Watson assembles some strong vision-provoking sentences. The story moves along and finishes well enough.

The book was a 3 out of 5 for me, but I definitely appreciated moments of Watson’s sentence and phrase constructions. When I read the phrase “shrugging river” used to describe a local river running high, I chewed on that phrase all day. Moments of poetry in the book stayed with me.

The book completed, it’s not on my list of top 10 all time favorites. It was good.

But it was good enough to get me to sit down and read, and I finished the 300+ page book in under a week, which is pretty unusual for me. Watson got me to start and finish a book.

Reading is a lot like pulling water out of a water pump. Once you get it started, its easier to keep it going.

Watson has another book called “Montana 1948” that sounds intriguing. Montana. 1948. A place and a time I am interested in. I’ll probably look for it when I take “Gone” back.

In the meantime, though, I think I am ready to read something else.