As a reader, I used to be a serial monogamist. If I started
a book, I stuck with it and didn't start reading anything else until I finished
it. Now I typically have four or five books going at the same time. Maybe it's
because I don't concentrate as well as I used to, and I get more read by
swapping around. Maybe it's just because I have many different book-delivery
devices, and I feel compelled to use all of them.
When I started adding up all the books I'm reading at the
moment, I scared myself a little.
1. One
of my current projects is re-reading all my books on writing. I like to read a
chapter as kind of a warm up to working on my "morning pages" (if you
don't know the term, think journal). I
don't manage every day; sometimes weeks go by. But when I can find some time to
linger over my morning coffee, that's what I like to do to help organize my
brain.
I've just started working my way through Ursula
LeGuin's book, "Steering the Craft." She has such amazing skill with
the English language. Once again I am awestruck when she shows how a conceptually
small change in verb tense or POV changes everything about a passage.
2. I
always have an audiobook going, mostly for when I'm driving. Listening to a
good story helps me overlook the stupidity of everyone else on the road. I'm
entertained, so I can be patient and gracious.
At the moment, I'm listening to "The
Plantagenets" by Dan Jones. It's a recent book and as part of my Plantagenets
project makes an interesting comparison to Thomas B. Costain's series.
3. On
my nightstand, I like to have a book going that is enjoyable, but not too
demanding to follow as I'm getting ready to go to sleep. My current nightstand
book is an old favorite: "The House on the Strand," by Daphne
DuMarier. Set in Cornwall, features time travel in the form of a mind-bending
drug, and told by an unreliable narrator – a checklist of things I like in a
book I'm reading for entertainment. Not to mention that the time travel is back
to the Plantagenet era, and so fits with my current reading theme too.
4. On
my Kindle, I'm working on "Vampires in the Lemon Grove," by Karen Russell. I tend to throw my
Kindle in my purse when I'm going somewhere I know I'll probably have time to
kill – commuting on BART, a doctor's office, or the hairdresser's. A volume of
short stories is perfect, because I can finish one and pick up another at a
later date without losing the thread of a novel.
5. On
my other Kindle, a Fire HD, I mostly keep books with pictures to take advantage
of the color capabilities. Travel books and cook books live there. I'm also
slowly slogging my way through Anne Somerset's biography of Britain's Queen Anne. While I'm interested in learning more
about the period, sadly Anne herself comes across as having been rather tedious
and peevish.
6. Last
but not least, I have both Kindle and Nook apps on my phone. I usually have
something downloaded there so I don't panic if I get caught
out somewhere with nothing to read. I'm just starting "Rabid," Bill
Wasik and Monica Murphy's book about the cultural history of rabies.
How about you? Done a "currently reading" inventory lately?
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