What I'm not Reading

I don't do a lot of reading for pleasure anymore. I think it's a combination of time constraints + all the research reading I have to do for work + jaded attitude toward most of what's on the market at present.

The people at one of the major publishers who shall remain nameless keep e-mailing me recommendations from a newsletter I can't unsubscribe from no matter how I try; likely some sort of passive-aggressive punishment for working for them for so long. The suggested reads are all uniformly dismal literati-bent selections based on what appears to be various popular Twitter tirades. Alas, no sale to me. I'm still not a Twitter fan.

The indy bookseller in town -- lovely woman -- recommends titles to me every time I stop in there. She's very much literati-minded, so every book she recs tends to be horribly depressing in some way. Took me three purchases to figure this out. I still have the last novel she recommended, and I'm actually afraid to read it.

Since new print books have become even more expensive than ever, I've been picking up a few used editions here and there. Goodwill has plenty of cheap but dated paperbacks and hardcovers. I just keep finding them peppered with cigarette ash or bits of old food. Dog-earred I can handle, but that? Nope.

On the electronic side, I still have the Kindle. On the downside, I hate using the Kindle. It bothers my eyes and occasionally triggers a headache. I can't seem to touch it without jumping chapters. The reading experience is not the same as print. It's more like Hell with ads. Also, I can't seem to turn the damn thing off permanently. It just comes back on whenever it feels like it. I've let it run out of battery power in case it decides to set itself on fire.

I think what depresses me most is that books are no longer fun. This may be just my jaded POV, but everything out there looks political, tragic, dismal, depressing or vicious in some way. What happened to fun? Remember back when books were fun? Now I think you need therapy after plowing through the latest bestsellers.

I still have some trusted favorite authors I'll always run to for great writing: Mary Balogh, who manages to publish beautiful, well-written, unique historical romances every six months or so. And Barbara O'Neal every couple of years puts out a thoughtful, lovely novel that is never a repeat of her older work. I spend extra to get them both in print.

But honestly, I suspect great writers are going the way of the dinosaurs. And fun books.

So what aren't you reading?

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

nightsmusic said…

Hmmm...I recently read Peter May's Blackhouse trilogy. I loved it! It was very...human. I also found a new author, JD Kirk, who writes police thrillers but I found myself laughing several times out loud through each so that's a big plus. I still have my favorites (one or two of which are no longer in print! ) such as Anne Gracie. Her Perfect (Merridew) series is still a must read once a year at least for me and Gideon is my favorite Regency hero. It was also a laugh out loud at times story and hooked me.

I am trying to read a Joy Ellis right now, the first in the Nikki Galena series took me half the first book to not hate Nikki, but it finally got better. So far, I can't seem to get started on the second.

I really liked The Body Reader and the subsequent books by Anne Fraser. I'm not sure about her other series though.

I'll stop for now, but this year has been interesting for me as far as my reading goes. :/

Oh! And I have a paperwhite. It really is much closer to reading like a book.

October 16, 2019 at 10:18 AM

the author said…

Thanks for the recs, Theo. I'm dying for something good to read so I'll check them out.

I liked Anne Frasier's Dead series best, although she hasn't finished it yet. Four books so far, all set in Savannah. Dark but not quite as grim as the Body Reader books.

October 16, 2019 at 12:40 PM

I looked at the first one in the Dead series. Haven't bought it yet though. Yes, the Body Reader series was dark, but it was also encouraging because, while Jude is broken at the beginning, she still is at the end. She doesn't become perfect over three books. She's a lot better! But she still has a lot of baggage. I think Fraser handled it all in the best possible way. I'll take another look at the Dead series.

October 16, 2019 at 1:16 PM

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