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?

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to

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.

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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