I have all of my Calvin and Hobbes and Dr Seuss books proudly displayed below the three shelves of books I Have Not Read Yet But Intend to This Summer (which is quickly sneaking by me). Included in that pile are the 10 or so books I bought from Amazon.com last month. These include about half a dozen of the Penguin’s Great Idea books - most of them by George Orwell. Favorite title? Books vs Cigarettes. I’ve only just started reading again after years of Parkinson’s and self-pity imposed non-reading. Its going to be a title of a chapter of my memoirs - The Decade I Didn’t Read. I blame computer games, self-denial and indecision. I digress. The book that brought me back into the fold of the reading masses, after a blip 2 years ago with Eat, Pray, Love, which I adored, though many did not, was Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad (oh why bother underlining? its not a term paper, right?). I saw Ms Egan on SkyArts The Book Show, which, if you haven’t seen it already, is absolutely the most fabulous book show I’ve ever seen, is on every week and is something only the Brits could pull off. (See it here : http://thebookshow.skyarts.co.uk/ ). Jennifer Egan, who I met briefly about 15 years ago at Mademoiselle, told the story of her book, which sounded structurally a lot like what I was thinking of writing. But then again, thinking about and doing are two entirely different things for me. I immediately got online and told Amazon to send me lots of things, but that book in particular. I read it in 2 1/2 days (what else do I have to do? AND it was sunny so I could sit in the garden and read. I used to like to read in bed on rainy days, now its outside in the sun - must be from lack of vitamin D.) So Ms Egan or her resources must be my age and have hung around the crowd that was around me but I wasn’t part of, because some of that book could have been taken from my journals. Its a really good read, too. Then I finished “Always Looking Up” by Michael J Fox. (Don’ t really need parentheses either, do I?) which is and isn’t about Parkinson’s. There were a few times when I did exclaim “ha! Its not just me!” and that made me feel good. He is an interesting guy and seems to be a pragmatic optimist, which at this stage is the best thing to be, plus he was rooting for both the Canucks and the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals. Now my sister, who is over 50 and shall remain nameless, my just-turned 16 year old niece and I (me? never figured that one out - I can hear Kathy and Anna now) are going to have a Skype reading group for at least one book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, which none of us has read and neice has to read for summer reading. I promised myself for every shelf of unread books I read, I can buy five more books. Sounds fair to me. Its just the confusion when a shelf gets to be half-read/half un-read, what distinguishes them - its not like my memory will help. I can pretty much remember if I’ve read a book and whether or not I liked it, but details? Unless it had a great affect on me (affect or effect? Lordy where has my grammer gone?) I usually just have a feel for it rather than know what its about. I think that is a hereditary condition, as some of my sisters and described themselves as having the same problem. I also read The Memorykeeper’s Daughter, which I liked very much and am now reading Great House by Nicole Kraus and having a slow time reading it, but, The Arrival of the Book Shelves took place just after I started reading it, so its already a libre interruptus, which take a lot of turning of the gears to get going again. But I will. Goal is about 40 books by the end of the year, to go with the 40 pounds I plan to lose - or maybe I’ll just read it while eating the chocolate cake I made yesterday. I love books.
Saturday, 16 July 2011
The arrival of the book shelves
I have all of my Calvin and Hobbes and Dr Seuss books proudly displayed below the three shelves of books I Have Not Read Yet But Intend to This Summer (which is quickly sneaking by me). Included in that pile are the 10 or so books I bought from Amazon.com last month. These include about half a dozen of the Penguin’s Great Idea books - most of them by George Orwell. Favorite title? Books vs Cigarettes. I’ve only just started reading again after years of Parkinson’s and self-pity imposed non-reading. Its going to be a title of a chapter of my memoirs - The Decade I Didn’t Read. I blame computer games, self-denial and indecision. I digress. The book that brought me back into the fold of the reading masses, after a blip 2 years ago with Eat, Pray, Love, which I adored, though many did not, was Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad (oh why bother underlining? its not a term paper, right?). I saw Ms Egan on SkyArts The Book Show, which, if you haven’t seen it already, is absolutely the most fabulous book show I’ve ever seen, is on every week and is something only the Brits could pull off. (See it here : http://thebookshow.skyarts.co.uk/ ). Jennifer Egan, who I met briefly about 15 years ago at Mademoiselle, told the story of her book, which sounded structurally a lot like what I was thinking of writing. But then again, thinking about and doing are two entirely different things for me. I immediately got online and told Amazon to send me lots of things, but that book in particular. I read it in 2 1/2 days (what else do I have to do? AND it was sunny so I could sit in the garden and read. I used to like to read in bed on rainy days, now its outside in the sun - must be from lack of vitamin D.) So Ms Egan or her resources must be my age and have hung around the crowd that was around me but I wasn’t part of, because some of that book could have been taken from my journals. Its a really good read, too. Then I finished “Always Looking Up” by Michael J Fox. (Don’ t really need parentheses either, do I?) which is and isn’t about Parkinson’s. There were a few times when I did exclaim “ha! Its not just me!” and that made me feel good. He is an interesting guy and seems to be a pragmatic optimist, which at this stage is the best thing to be, plus he was rooting for both the Canucks and the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals. Now my sister, who is over 50 and shall remain nameless, my just-turned 16 year old niece and I (me? never figured that one out - I can hear Kathy and Anna now) are going to have a Skype reading group for at least one book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, which none of us has read and neice has to read for summer reading. I promised myself for every shelf of unread books I read, I can buy five more books. Sounds fair to me. Its just the confusion when a shelf gets to be half-read/half un-read, what distinguishes them - its not like my memory will help. I can pretty much remember if I’ve read a book and whether or not I liked it, but details? Unless it had a great affect on me (affect or effect? Lordy where has my grammer gone?) I usually just have a feel for it rather than know what its about. I think that is a hereditary condition, as some of my sisters and described themselves as having the same problem. I also read The Memorykeeper’s Daughter, which I liked very much and am now reading Great House by Nicole Kraus and having a slow time reading it, but, The Arrival of the Book Shelves took place just after I started reading it, so its already a libre interruptus, which take a lot of turning of the gears to get going again. But I will. Goal is about 40 books by the end of the year, to go with the 40 pounds I plan to lose - or maybe I’ll just read it while eating the chocolate cake I made yesterday. I love books.
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