I posted this picture of a page from The Secret Miracle on my tumblr yesterday with a snarky caption: “You and me both, sister” she tweeted.

Once I posted it, I started thinking about whether it’s really true that the Internet is the reason I don’t read as much as I would like. The answer is a resounding maybe.

I read plenty. I keep my tumblr dashboard open pretty much all day. I check Google Reader each morning and each evening after work. I’m constantly looking at other blogs and websites for inspiration. Truthfully, I spend most of my days reading…I’m just not reading the things I feel I should be.

Novels, the news, articles of relevance to my career. These things are all being neglected, and I do think the Internet is a bit of a culprit there, if for no other crime than the damage it has done to my attention span.

I sat on the porch yesterday for about an hour, fully intending to read. As it turned out, I was too busy tweeting about our perfect porch morning and taking Instagram photos of my dog to absorb much of the book.

Let me be clear: I love Twitter. I love Instagram. I love social media and all the ways it connects us to each other. What I do not love is the fact that I’ve lost the ability to be completely absorbed in a book, oblivious to the distractions of technology. I almost have to lock my iPhone and laptop away in another room to get any actual reading done anymore, and that’s a crying shame.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying that I want to start a book club. Sort of.

I’m going to try to read a book a week through the end of the year, and I would love it if you would join me. I’ll be announcing the book each Sunday, then posting about it the following Sunday along with the next week’s announcement.

I just pulled the first book from the shelf: One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Now I’m going to hit publish, lock my laptop away, and get to reading.

How much time do you spend reading? Has the Internet cramped your style? Want to join my book club? Have suggestions for next week’s book? Leave me a comment with your name and a link to your blog (if you have one) and I’ll add you to the list.