Reading my vegetables

I wanted to explain my strange-sounding goal of listening through my backlog of 22(!) episodes—and the number grows every week—of Selected Shorts podcasts.

I’m hoping this will kill lots of birds with one stone.

First, my phone is getting choked with podcasts I want to hear but have not made time for. So there’s that straightforward bird.

Second, I’ve noticed that when I’m listening to a podcast, I’m usually doing something else productive, like cleaning a bathroom or walking on a treadmill. And I could use a lot more walking and clean bathrooms in my life.

But the final bird is that I’ve been in a terrible reading slump lately. I’ve started several books but can’t seem to find anything I enjoy, and I’ve been so busy that I’m barely making the effort. I think Selected Shorts might be just what I need to jump-start my reading, and it’s always good and enriching—the healthy vegetable of podcasts.

Which probably, come to think of it, is why I have a 22-week backlog.