It is no secret that piles of books surround me. But due to
life’s interruptions, the books have been piling up around here, each begging
for attention. An unread book is an exciting invitation for me, but when they
pile up, they feel like accusatory fingers pointing at my sloth.
This January has been
a repeated page from last January so far. Last year I had a few weeks of great
writing time, an exercise program in place, and was reading until death tipped
the scale forcing me to stop everything and deal with the real world. So far,
this January repeats the same path. I am determined to get back on my goals
somehow. I started off writing and have
several finished stories along with some unfinished pieces to show for my work.
Accomplishment is like success, it breeds more of itself.
Last week I finished the book for my February book club
which was Girls of Atomic City about
the women who worked and lived in Oak Ridge, Tennessee as the atom bomb was
being developed during W.W.II. It was a good read with lots of points to think
about. So this week I was to tackle the book piles. I jumped around reading a
little in each. I couldn’t settle because while reading each one the others in
the stack “called to me”. Here is my shortest stack:
Bullies, Bastards, and
Bitches: How to Write the Bad Guys of Fiction…decent material but nothing astounding
so far.
For All the Tea in
China…nonfiction about how the English smuggled tea plants out of China
years ago to break China’s monopoly on tea. Again decent material but rather dry
reading for long hours.
chasers of the light…a
light book of poetry by a very sharp-looking young man. It is love poetry I
would say and reminds me of the old Rod McKuen works of the 1960s…not critically
accepted but best sellers by popular demand. Tyler Knott Gregson’s poems are a
success because of a special hook built around a typewriter and his intensive
PR efforts on places like Tumblr and Twitter. (I confess to not knowing how to
use either of these!)
Indian Givers…nonfiction
about how the Native Americans changed the world. This is great read but it is
packed with info so is weighty reading.
Things We Loose: Stories…I
got this book at a Christmas party hosted by the author. He was an English prof
at SMS in Springfield 20 or so years ago. I have only read one of the stories,
but it was fantastically written! I am ready to read more.
So yesterday I made a pass by my office bookcase when yet
another title jumped out at me. Oh my gosh, there sat the Christmas book I
bought at PSU in September and had saved for Christmas reading. Well, life
intervened and I forgot. I decided not to wait another year to read it. I am
almost finished and I can say this is a very good read. Although the setting is
Christmas and there are trees, lights, and holiday foods, the real story is
about people, young, old, handicapped, who are on the brink of fresh starts in
their lives. I like the characters, flawed slightly, they aren’t evil or
dangerous. They are like the rest of us, trying to be the best of who they are
while they are here. Since Christmas is a story of birth, this Christmas book
fits as it tells of some rebirths…oh, and there is a baby’s birth involved in
this story too.
I’m a little late but I can recommend a carol dickens christmas by Thomas Fox Averill for next December…if
not sooner!
3 comments:
Thank you. It sounds right up my (very broad) reading alley.
My unread towers are teetering. I have started half a dozen different books and need to settle.
I always intend to read, and then life's demands insist on action not leisure.
I know exactly what you mean about not enough time to read books I want to read, Bookie.
There's always a pile a mile high on the table near my bed. The best I can do is read little snippets of each-----kind of like a reading smorgasbord.
I did just finish an entire book by Joel Osteen, though, titled "I Declare." Like his sermons, it was super. Susan
Post a Comment