- Summer Reading
Sad to say, this might just end up being a one-book-summer for me, reading-wise that is. I’m not sure what the problem is, but I can’t seem to move forward in my current reading material. I’m trying to finish “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” by Stieg Larsson but it’s simply not happening. And now, with our monthly book club get-together looming on next Wednesday’s horizon, I’m feeling lots of pressure. Still, no forward movement to speak of.
This is the third and last in the Millennium Trilogy by the ill-fated Swedish journalist and writer who signed a publishing contract for his three books shortly before his untimely death from a heart attack. Nyel and I galloped through the first two books and then waited impatiently for the last one to come out on May 25th. So eager were we to read it, that I broke my usual wait-in-the-library-queue rule and bought it the minute it was available. In hard cover! I gave it to Nyel as a ‘recovery gift’ the day after his knee surgery. Soon, we both realized that he wouldn’t be up to concentrating on reading for awhile, so I began the book.
In six weeks, I’ve managed only 275 of the 563 pages. What is wrong with this picture? In the beginning, I was finishing up a writing project of my own and I blamed that. I can seldom read anything other than related research when I am writing. Once that project was done, however, I found that every time I carved out an hour to sit down to read, I fell sound asleep. For awhile, I blamed being tired. Then I realized that I was obviously having trouble getting into this book. Now, finally, I’m a bit interested in the plot and I am out of time – at least for book club purposes. It’s an unprecedented experience for me. I certainly hope I’m not entering some new non-reading phase…
My answer to this problem has enriched my life. I joined Audible Books and use my iPod to listen to many books, while still reading the print version of a lot of others. Listening to books takes getting used to, but it is worth persisting at. With my iPod I get much done, gardening, biking, walking, washing dishes, etc., etc. It is not like listening to music because with the spoken voice you can hear what people outside your iPod say. My trick when I ride my bike is to use only one earphone to give me top hearing. I listened to all of the Stieg Larsson trilogy on my iPod. I think it made the books even better than listening. Finally, it harkens back to my childhood when I loved hearing books or anything read to me.
That reminds me. I think it would be great if you yourself read some of your books for people to listen to, I would love to “read” them again that way. I imagine from your teaching career you have had lots of experience with that.
Thanks for that suggestion, MaryBeth! As a matter of fact, a year or so after “Dear Medora” came out, WSU Press asked if I would be interested in reading it as an ibook. I thought it was a great idea but found that the learning curve was steep for me and I didn’t really have the proper software to do a good job with it. Perhaps it is something I should revisit with them. Advances in some areas of technology have made things easier; maybe this is one of them.
Correction to my comment: “I think it made the books even better than [reading]. ;;;;sigh;;;; Don’t tell me I have to start proofreading twice.
Well, I think it would be a great addition to the book, to all your books. In fact, I think it would be great to have some photos online. The problem here is probably copyright and other issues.
My Dear Sydney: I have been experiencing similar thoughts: I have been holding (and it is heavy, in size, not content) The Lost Symbol for just about 6 months! The marker shows I am barely half way through. Other endeavors distract, such as sifting, sorting, packing, unpacking, Spanish homework, the garden, the cat. Ah, gratitude for the fact I have not joined a book club in my new hometown. Doris Lessing, it is said, advised her students to abandon books that would not allow themselves to be completed. Since I am not a Lessing fan, I ignore the idea and keep on reading, slowly.
Sydney, as you know I do a lot of driving between Ilwaco and Gig Harbor and listen to books on CD all the time. I am fortunate enough to have a four CD changer and it’s a four CD trip so I load it up and hit the road. I have always loved being read to. Generally at night it was my dad, but when he had to be away in the S. Pacific he left me a tape recorder borrowed from work with tapes he’d made of himself reading my favorite stories. I’d give a cookie to be able to track those down!
Also, have you read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society? I want to belong to a book club like that! The book is a book about a book club, but each member picked out and read their own book and then they all shared when they got together for potato peel pie. I like the idea of that sort of a club and enjoyed the book because it had a lot of WWII British history of the Channel Islands and it was written as letters so it was easy to pick up, read a letter or two, and then do whatever I needed to get done. If you haven’t already read it, I suggest it as a pick for your group!
Stephanie, thanks so much for the “Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society” suggestion. (I had wondered about your reference to it the other day.) I will definitely put it on my ‘list.’ Unfortunately, the book club I belong to confines itself to mysteries — and therein lies the problem, in my opinion. However, I knew that from the get-go, so ’nuff said.
I have had trouble with this one too, and like you and Nile – raced through the first two. I can’t verify, but Karla at the bookstore in Ilwaco told me the family of the author, after he died, fought w/ the publisher about who would finish the book – he died before it was fully finished. Rumor or truth…dunno.
Check out my FB page, and my tab for “GoodReads” when it links you to good reads I review a ton of books there with what I think of them. I cover my current reads along with some all-time faves. I love talking books with people Sydney, and GoodReads is a great way to share. Let me know if you finish this. I’m taking it on a long flight this week – hopefully trapped in plane I will have no other option but to finish!