Current Reading

     Like most of us, I read for all sorts of reasons.  When I’m working on a writing project, I do a lot of reading for information.  Research.  And, for my particular sort of writing interest – local history – that research usually involves dates and places and people.  Factual material.  If I’m lucky, I find descriptions, perhaps first-hand accounts, that fill in the color and feeling of the past, but mostly I’m chasing specifics.
     During those sorts of research endeavors, I seldom have time to read much else.  But, if I do, I usually choose a book that allows me to escape for awhile.  Something that amuses or entertains or amazes me, but not anything that makes me think too much.  ‘Mind Candy’ is the order of the day.  Light reading seems to leave my brain free to work on whatever my writing problems happen to be so that forward progress is not disrupted.
     Usually, my choice for light reading is a mystery – preferably one that is set in a time and place far from nineteenth or twentieth century Pacific County.  There are, of course, oodles to choose from – Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton.  And for a bit more engagement, Dick Francis or Tony Hillerman or… The list goes on.
     Recently, I’ve been on a Louise Penny rampage.  Her series about Chief Inspector Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec fits all my parameters for an entertaining get-away.   Her books do make me think, but in a non-interfering kind of way.  Usually, she leads me into unfamiliar territory – the world of art and artists, for instance, or a landscape impacted by bitter cold winters and sizzling summers.  She challenges my imagination but doesn’t disrupt my own endeavors.  Perfect!
     I am just coming to the end of Bury Your Dead, the sixth book in a (so far) seven book series. But, it is not following my “no thinking!” parameters.  It is making me ponder and prod big-time.  Like her thoughts on history.  Or at least, one of her character’s thoughts on history:  “Events are exaggerated, heroes fabricated, goals are rewritten to appear more noble than they actually were.  All to manipulate public opinion, to manufacture a common purpose or enemy…”
     Whew!  Somehow, that took me right out of the twentieth century Oysterville of my current project and put me plunk into twenty-first century Middle-Village Station Camp.  How did we get to the place where ten days of Lewis and Clark’s journey have segued into the expenditure of millions of dollars and the creation of a National Park site?  What truths has Louise Penny’s caused me to ponder?  Or are there any truths at all when it comes to history and its retelling?
     I highly recommend her series… if you have time to think about truth and history and other imponderables.