I feel like I need a complete reboot to my life. Unfortunately I cannot wish myself back to a world before COVID19 as much as I wish it would disappear. It's as if someone decided to rewrite the rules but didn't bother to share that fact. So, no reboots, but maybe I can get a fresh start here and with my reading? Should May 1 be like January 1? The more I think about it the more I like that idea--in some form anyway. Maybe not throw out all my plans but not worry about what I have not been doing and just move forward with what I want to do?
So, I pull out a photo from the start of last year. I bought that fancy reading journal with the idea I would do the Read Harder Challenge, which fell by the wayside early on. No challenge this year, but I would like to give the journal another go. Curiously I feel like keeping some sort of record during this very strange year, even if it is just the books I am turning to and trying to read. It will all be pell mell and not in any order that matches how the books were read in the order I read them.
And, not judging here (well, trying not to) I am very behind in my GoodReads reading goal for this year. It is a little sad when I do log in and look at my reading to see how far behind I have fallen. My goal is to match last year's number, but maybe I will readjust at some point. I know I am not alone in not being able to concentrate on my reading--even those books that I picked up as comfort reads. My sidebar needs to be updated, as those books are sitting on my night table. I am actively reading some, some are just waiting and I have started others. Honestly that is my normal reading style, though it is just in slo-motion these days.
So a few notes going forward. I think I will easily surpass my plan to read 20 graphic novels/memoirs this year. I am currently reading, Soviet Daughter by Julia Alekseyeva, which is number nine this year. I think I will be reaching more for shorter books and graphic novels than longer choices--or at least reading them in a more timely manner.
That said I am more than 2/3 finished with Junichiro Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters, which I love! I try and read just a chapter each day and it is amazing how you can progress with a chunkier book with a little perseverance. I am up to letter Q (is for Quarry) by Sue Grafton. I have liked all the Kinsey Millhone books, though some stories are perhaps a little stronger than others and this one is especially good. I mentioned that Stefanie and I have been reading some books in tandem and we are currently reading Barbara Comyns' The Vet's Daughter, in which some unhappy things happen, but nonetheless I am finding the story totally engrossing. I forgot how much I like her and I think I want to read all her books and maybe more of them yet this year.
And I just, on a whim (because I love reading by whim as you maybe know) picked up Delphine de Vigan's Underground Time, because one of the book blurbs reads "...a great novel of solitude...superb" and I feel like I know all about that subject at the moment and it would be nice to see how others handle it. Plus, I want to read more books in translation.
Those are the books I am most turning to at the moment. I have several other stacks of books close by that I think about reading and want to read, but I am working on concentration and not being so easily distracted. I have started a new cross stitch project, which I want to share here but I need to get a little corner at least started so I have something to actually look at! If I am not reading as I like and I cannot borrow, well, I am making up in book purchases. I have a long list of books that are forthcoming and I want but am trying to wait patiently for when libraries do open again. And I need to choose a good nonfiction read as I am between books!
I think about reading all the time and make plans but sometimes something happens between the planning and the carrying out. So, I am working on patience. I have lots of things I want to share here, but if I feel overwhelmed, which lately I very much feel, I don't quite know how to start. I hope to at least check in once a week and May 1 is my new start (if only mentally).
How are you doing? I hope everyone is safe and well and staying at home if you can. I am thankful for having a situation where I can work from home and while the university is going to be facing some very difficult budget issues, I am keeping fingers crossed that we can get through them without too much pain. I appreciate, as always, the kind comments and that is next on my mental list to catch up on. Take care and now I am off to find that Read Harder journal, which I am sure I tucked away somewhere safely...