So many books, so little time – is it possible to read for pleasure as a new parent?

I remember as a child my mum falling asleep on the sofa whilst trying to read a book and wondering how anyone could not be subsumed in a novel or fail to finish it.  Anyone who has been following my blog may have noticed that I there was a huge empty gap from June to September, this has been due to the arrival of my brilliant baby daughter in June.  I was definitely not prepared for how much disruption a baby causes to your ability to think, let alone read.  Combined with studying for my Masters in History I had been wondering if reading for pleasure was a thing of the past.

During the holiday I started and failed to finish Ahdaf  Soueif’s The Book of Love and Isabel Allende’s Island beneath the Sea.  The problem was that when anything came up involving tragic storylines with babies I could not carry on reading.  The good news is that now that she is a bit older, life is becoming a bit more manageable. I have finally managed to actually read something that isn’t a crime novel and I have  finished  John Guy’s biography of Mary, Queen of Scots, My Heart is my Own.

Still, I am wondering how it is possible to combine all my different roles and  if anyone else in my position has found  a solution to this.  A friend mentioned how he knew someone who started blogging about children’s books, but I am not sure I am ready to go down that route, especially as there isn’t much to say about  VR’s books being as they are normally about eight pages long and consist of pictures of animals.  I can see that my blog is definitely going to become even more history orientated than it is already as I carry on my research for the Masters – if I can manage to stay awake long enough.