My Reading Life So Far This Year
The first third of the year is almost over. 4 months down, 8 months to go. My reading year has been a mixed bag so far. I started the year getting into audiobooks. I was excited. It made household chores feels less like drudgery. I really enjoyed my first one Pathogenesis by Jonathan Kennedy. At the same time I was slowly getting into podcasts. In the beginning that was just Vibe Check.
I was enjoying the audiobooks and podcast and then my brain just quit. It said, “nope.” Was I overstimulating my brain? I don’t know. But after a few audiobooks, I’ve stopped listening to them for awhile. I wasn’t enjoying them anymore. This is around the same time as when I got Apple TV and started watching shows more often. So maybe it was brain overload. But I’d like to think my brain isn’t that weak. I don’t know. It’s also happening at a time when the world seems to be going even more wildly bad and things weren’t great on a global or national scale before. Maybe it’s all too much? I don’t know. But my anxiety levels for awhile were really bad and I scaled down things a lot. No more audiobooks, unless it’s one I’ve really been wanting and there are long library hold lists for those few. I have gotten more into podcasts, though. I listen to a few NPR ones if the topic is of interest. I’m still very much listening to Vibe Check, but a close 2nd right now is Ologies. Oligies is a podcast where Alie Ward interviews specialists (or ologists) of different fields. The most recent ologist interview I’ve listened to is with an herpetologist. It’s one of the older episodes, but I’m liking listening from the older ones and then moving forward. Since it’s not involving current events (except the solar eclipse episodes that I listened to right away) there’s not a specific time frame that’s appropriate for listening.
My brain has not just rejected audiobooks, but most fiction. And it’s not always the particular novel’s fault. The Bird Hotel is a book I started and was really enjoying, but then I just couldn’t concentrate on the story when I’d pick it up. No fault of the book and I do plan to finish it at some point. I am having success with nonfiction. Success in that I’m finishing plenty of nonfiction books. I am finding myself bailing on quite a few nonfiction books, but it could be the books and not me. The publicist for the book The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson emailed me and asked if I wanted to review the book (through Netgalley) because I had reviewed Simonson’s previous novel and liked it. I haven’t reviewed books through Netgalley for a long time, but since I did genuinely like The Summer Before the War I got the book on my Kindle from Netgalley.
I tend to read nonfiction when I drink tea on weekday mornings. That set time is probably why I’ve had more success reading nonfiction. Once I finished my most recent nonfiction read, The Darkness Manifesto by Johan Eklöf, I decided to switch to fiction so I could review The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club in time (or close to the time) of its release on May 7th. I don’t know if this book is going to break my fiction reading slump or if I just need structured reading time that I stick to like tea time reading, but so far I am really enjoying it. The other structured reading time I have is reading to my son at night. We just finished reading The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key, which I believe I was first introduced to in a middle school ELA class. I didn’t remember anything about the novel other than that I loved it. I wouldn’t say I love it upon rereading it, but it is pretty good. (I’ve found that since I was a different person in a different world when I first loved the books, it’s natural that I wouldn’t feel the same way about them now. Still I’m going to keep introducing old favorites to my son because I like to share that with him.)
One thing that’s been exciting for me is that my son is currently a big reader. For quite awhile he would mostly only read when I made him for school reading (which is 20 minutes of any chapter book that he then has to write down the title of on a reading log for his teacher). He might read a bit more if he found a book he particularly liked, but not often. The Warriors cat series of chapter books he loves so much that it seems to have sparked a true love of reading and I’m so happy about it. I realize it may not last, but I’ll enjoy it while I can. He’s even choosing to read instead of play video games some days and he’s limited in screen time so that’s a big deal to me.
The list of books listened to and read so far this year have been (21 books, *highlight favorites):
A Wrinkle in Time
Wintering: The Power in Rest and Retreat During Difficult Times*
Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues*
Mystical Mushrooms: Discover the Magic and Folklore of Fantastic Fungi
The Storm Runner
Shinrin-Yoku: The Art and Science of Forest Bathing
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known
Mincraft: The Outsider*
The Gene: An Intimate History
The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth
Better Life Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World*
A Living Remedy: A Memoir
The House That Wasn’t There
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age
We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland*
The Last Olympian
Life in 5 Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World
How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir*
Wilderlore: The Night Compass*
The Darkness Manifesto: On Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms that Sustain Life
The Forgotten Door