I guess I don't read as much when I have a lot on my mind. Of course I always have a lot on my mind...stress, work, friends moving away. But these past few days I feel like reading and yes, thinking, has only made me more apprehensive. I tried to come home tonight after work, make a small dinner, then sit on the couch and read. Nothing more, nothing less. By seven o'clock, I had read about five pages of A History of Reading and no more. During lunch today I read about ten pages of Balzac's Eugenie Grandet and spent the rest of my hour watching the water bubbling in the Boston Public Library courtyard. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be the transition day to revive my reading state of mind. Does anyone else get discouraged because they haven't read too much? My god, sometimes writing these posts makes me think I'm a bigger geek than I really am.
On a side note, my father just got a new Mustang. Thirty-five years after he sold his old Mustang (for a 1969 GTO) he finally got another one. It's a gorgeous metallic red with the Mustang stencilling on the side panelling and sounds like a car should.
7 comments:
Those are beautiful cars!! Both today's and the ones from '69 :)
This sounds natural to me, to go through a stage when concentrating and reading are difficult. I'd say just go with it for a while -- don't read if you don't feel like it -- and the desire will come back. I think reading with pleasure takes a certain amount of calm in your life. I've gone through periods when I couldn't concentrate before. You've already accumulated quite a list of books for the year anyway :)
I always feel discouraged when I read all these blogs by people who seem to get through several books a week, every week. I'm finding that I don't read well unless it's totally quiet and so a lot of evenings reading just doesn't get done. Or, I'll try and not absorb anything and blame it on the book and then set it aside for a week.
By the way, I just finished A Death in the Family, thanks to your raves, and I LOVED it.
Well, I'm back in the game after my four day respite. I hope I don't have to go through that again. I feel like I've been through surgery.
Welcome Jen - It's rainy here in Boston, but on the first clear day, I'll take a pic of my father's mid-life crisis, I mean car, and post it.
Cheers
Sometimes I have hard time concentrating on a book, too. Some of my prime reading times are at lunch at work, or on the bus. If people are talking to loud--in either place (heaven forbid people talk during their lunch break--LOL--I know I am terrible), sometimes it is a waste for me to try and read three lousy pages!! And lately I feel like I am making no progress in any of my books, though I did finally finish something!
Danielle, whenever I finsih a book that I maybe had a hard time/long time finishing, I feel it's an accomplishment. My parents always said that I would feel a greater reward for something I worked for. Of course, they probably meant school work or physical labor, but I think the feeling's the same.
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