Reading goals for 2022: A deep dive

📚📚☕️☕️

As in all things, you have the reading goal folks and the reading by the seat of their pants, “I am a mood reader” they say. I am a mood reader too, but I still want to make some reading goals this year. After all, most of us are home, thanks to the Rona, we have loads of time to read, right? We can goal set, we can mood read or do both. Or not read. There is no cause to be dramatic about this debacle.

 

For two or three years I utilized the Goodreads challenge until last year. I felt that I was sick of the pressure, sick of the Rona because it makes me tired. I fall asleep all the time, I am home so it’s a place to sleep a place to nap a place to lie down. A lot. Every single damn time I picked up a book I would pin my eyelids to my eyebrows and STILL fall asleep. As 2021 which became a thing, (Jan 1^st) I jabbed my finger onto  the Goodreads app and set my goal at 25 and I was even hostile over that number.  I had had it.

 

By December when Goodreads tally up all your reading stats, I realized that I read some shit books on top of the pathetic but vile stance I took on giving up.

 

I mean, I did read some good books, but as a reader I was appalled over how they  collectively looked like a bunch of moldy books dying a slow death in a Free Little Library.

 

This year I slapped down 75 in the challenge, started doing my usual “have to read seven  books in January” rule to get a head start and choosing my books ever so wisely. More on that in another blog.

 

Tips to keep in mind.

• ·      Do not compare yourself to other readers. Voracious or plucky, you, my dear, are the best kind of reader ever. I totally believe in you.
• ·      The best way to avoid a bad year in reading, do whatever you want to do along  with a tiny goal (that doesn’t need to be announced on Goodreads) and make a tiny list of the books you really want to read. Go tiny. 
• ·      Sail on over to Youtube and put “booktubers top ten books in * year” in and a plethora of top ten vids will pop up.  Set aside a bit of time, make a pot of  coffee and watch. I listed eleven or twelve books as MUST read  in 2022 and if that’s ALL I read I am good.
• ·      I’ll list my favorites in a blog. I will try to cover most genres.
• ·      If a book sucks and you are cursing loudly by the second or third chapter ditch it. There is no psychological DSM diagnosis for hating a book. None. Chemistry is chemistry. This crap is personal!

 

And most of all? Love yourself- hug yourself and feel blessed that you are a reader. No matter what type, what genre, what type of year of goals or mood reading you favor, nothing is written in stone (well, some things are, stop it) you can do whatever you want. 

Just read.

 

Cheryl 

 

Are you having a hard time reading these days?

 I know I am!  I thought long and hard about the reason why reading can be impossible during stressful times. 

Money- face it- we need money to feed the read. 

Some suggestions- if you have a Kindle with Kindle Unlimited- there are many many books to read for free. The cost of joining premium is worth what you get. Plus, they offer First Reads at the beginning of the month- fresh new life books that just came out or are coming out - for free- you can pick one and if you want the others you can pre-order for around 4.99 each. If it’s audible- you have a nice catalog of books to listen to- for free. 

I used to frequent used book stores but now I order used books from them now- they will love you forever ❤️

Can’t focus- no matter how easy it is to read for us book nerds there are times where we cannot focus on anything. 

Ya-Manga-Comics-Middle Grade all genres have given me great joy and focus during a crisis- it’s not they are easy reads- they are not but there are different, one of these genres may pique your interest. Get you bank in the game. 

Anxiety- this aggravating factor contributes to not being able to focus as well. Here are two  options I currently use to defuse before I pick up a book- 

The Calm App- On their app I choose nice natural background with a light chime and follow their different options for deep breathing- learn how to breathe the right way and you will be ready to read. PS there are plenty of calming free apps btw. Breathing correctly corrects the blowing off of too much CO2 - too much O2 sticks around and completely diminishes your capacity to focus. 

Nature and Travel- go far and wide to inhale a deep earthy forest or go down under to feel the dry heat on your face as the Roos hop by. 

I will provide those types of books in my next post- books that help during bad times- 

You are a reader- you may need to go play Animal Crossing (is that what it’s called?) or read a celebrity mag or watch Case Files (all of them) to chill out before reading- 

You are not alone. 

Stay well stay healthy. 

Cheryl 

What's happening this month! TBRs, Grisham and Totes!

 The  TBR book pile is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. What to read next has become quite a chore. Almost finished The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz, which I have tons to write about when it comes to this book. Good and not so bad but not so good, well, really good and some meh stuff. 

But what to read next during the most busy time of the year??? 

I picked out Gray Mountain by John Grisham. It has been a long time since I have read one of his books, it's time.  Plus, no offense to Mr. Grisham, but he is a perfect read during a busy time. PLUS it's a drug store paperback! My favorite.

Shameless plugging of my friend's direct sales business. My friend R got into thirty-one which is totes and bags and purses and all kinds of really neat stuff. I was fortunate enough to book a party and had another friend book a party off of mine so I received lots of credits. One thing I adore is a bag I got for work but would happily use it as a book bag at any time. It has loads of pockets, fits iPads (probably a smallish laptop) and hardbacks, paperbacks and a couple of Kindles. Click the "thirty-one" link and it should take you right to the tote. Good quality and I am a FUSS over bags, though I collect tote bags like some collect Star Wars paraphernalia. Check them out, book a party! My friend R is truly one of the best consultants and gives one hell of a Facebook Event party. 

Link to my friend Robin, my hirty-one consultant:
http://www.mythirtyone.com/rwms70

So that is where I am in the book world. And in the book tote world as well (though the tote is going to be used for work too.) I fully intend to get more reviews out but with job hunting it's a bit hard to fit in time for blogging let alone getting a book finished!

Have the most happiest of Halloweens if I don't get back here any time soon! 

Teach your children well, as it goes, start them with books!

Amazon.com

These wonderful ABC books with contrast, are everywhere, but I found this image from Amazon. 

 Last night I spent the evening with my daughter and her father (we are divorced and our respective partners could not attend, sadly.) She was being awarded at her high school from Student Council for her kindness and willingness to help others. Her graduation is in two weeks and though a lot  went into my daughter's education and socialization she managed to pull this off, on her very own. She is her own feel good story.

She was born three months prematurely and had an intracranial bleed a day after she was born. We were told she would not be able to speak, hear, see or do much of anything. She almost left the world a few times however, amazingly, she made it. And she hasn't stopped talking (at home) since. Or hearing the tiniest chirp of a baby bird. Or seeing a little bit of cookie I may have left in my cupped palm. She is in a wheelchair but can also move around with a gait trainer and has a lot more control of her body than we ever dreamed of her having.

The award was a huge deal as Christa was not one to socialize much in school Every IEP meeting the teachers and therapists would say the same thing, "she just doesn't join in." After a long haul, she joined in, she raises her hand, she is kind to others, she talks to her friends and she has had a stellar last two years in her school. She is tired, she is ready to transition into adulthood but she hasn't lost her spark to show a lot of love and kindness to others.

What does this have to do with books? In the early nineties when she came home from the NICU, I would prop (a book as seen above) up on her little baby holder and she would stare at it for a long time. I would walk by every half an hour or so and turn the page. I went with the red, black and white for contrast, though I decorated her room in muted pastel Winnie the Pooh and Beatrix Potter, she needed vibrancy so I made sure she got the contrast she needed. I read stories to her, as did her father, step-father and grandparents, she always loved a good story. Her little chuckle or sad noises would always prove to me time and time again that a kid that can "get" the elements of good story, on any level, it's so important to start them off as babies. No matter what their condition is.

She can read on her own now, her favorite books have matured a bit since Okomi, but she still asks me to read to her often. Sometimes she whips out her pointer finger and reads it herself. It may never be Harry Potter or Little House on the Prairie or the wondrous The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe but this summer while she is off (for the first time in decades) I will start one of these series and read them to her. She deserves to be entertained as we all were as young adults, even if it takes someone to read them all to her. I may go audio, I am not sure, but I think it would be more personal reading them to her myself.

http://www.amazon.ca/Okomi-Plays-Leaves-HELEN-DORMAN/dp/158469047X

Congratulations to our tiny but tenacious two pounder who beat the odds, she wakes up every day with wide eyed wonderment, and always, always wanting a good story.

I love you, Apple, Kindle and Internet, but I need some alone time

Photo from Apple.com

I love my iPad dearly. I love my Kindle too but I have the older version of Kindle (you know, with the old keyboard at the bottom) and I spend half my time with fingers on the screen trying to enlarge the page to make the font larger (forgetting the font option), so I tend to fall back on the iPad.

Weak I know. 

Here's the big trouble. 

There are so many places to go! Distractions! Entertainment! Movies! Facebook! Twitter! Pinterest! Word Chums! Apps upon apps to read: the news, magazines or book sites, blogs,  Goodreads, a few music places and I am done. DONE. (I even have Optimum on there, yes I can sit on my front porch and watch the local news at five.) 

Is this really a good thing?

The other night our WiFi went out. The H, who is content anywhere doing anything or nothing at all but sipping from a cup of coffee was fine. "I will read my book," he announced.  I got a book out too, a real book. 

The quiet was incredibly LOUD. It confirmed that the Internet is rotting out our brains, I felt a bit off at first, kind of scared. Eventually, I settled in and read for a couple of hours. I felt like I was missing out but on the other hand, I was perfectly linked in to what  matters. Being real. living in the real world, disconnected from devices and people, connected to my book and my spouse. I read more in that one sitting that I have read in a long time. Lo and behold, my brain's attention span headquarters stayed on top of things and my mind never wandered off.

Though I would probably commit some kind of malfeasance if you took my iPad away, plus, I could hug the Apple people stupid for my iPad and iPhone, both truly necessary in my life, but I need the real world space and LOUD quiet to center me so I can dig deeper into what I am reading. 

Concentration is a beautiful thing. 

There's a time and place for both types of life, that's for sure, I love my reader, my Kindle, my books, and I surely love quiet and my husband, my family. It's all good, it all requires balance and discipline, not just for when my WiFi goes out.

* I realize I can read my iPad reader offline, and the Kindle I can read all the time. But somehow. When the WiFi is out I have an attitude first then the whole, "I am going to rough this, dammit" sulk fest for five minutes which is exactly what makes this work. Push it all aside and pick up a read book.  Sit next to your spouse or kids or the dog or cat (or fish, whatever) and "rough it." It really does feel good.

Sick Day #2

Two days of a wicked UTI  and a sinus infection left me in my chair or bed reading my book. And sleeping. A lot. No complaints here. I think a sick leave of absence from ADLs (activities of daily living) is required every now and then. No one wants to be sick but it sure gives you a chance to take are  of yourself. 

And a chance to read all your favorite book blogs. 

As well as fritter away the hours on Facebook with your friends. 

And read peacefully. 

Some illnesses. Forget it. 

If you are puking it is strictly survival. 

Colds/bronchitis. No. Too many interruptions between snot, sneezing,  and swigging NyQuil. 

Diarrhea? Come on now. 

But UTIs and the vague ridiculous world of infected sinuses lends a margin to read. 

And I have done just that besides drinking gallons of water 

Other Sunday notes: 

The books on my ottoman are all books I'm reading or looking at but I can't possibly write about here. (I hope the whole picture shows up as I'm blogging on my iPad for the first time.)

Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton was, by far, one of my favorite Christmas gifts. Ever. My H bought it for me and I flip through it daily. Check out Brandon's Facebook page. It's one of my favorite places on the web. 

Know the Night by Maria Mutch was given to me by my friend. Anne. During my daughter's emotional changes in the last year I voiced how stressed I was dealing with a child who could not express what was wrong. Special Needs parents have a lot of frustrations that they are unable to express themselves. My friend knew what I needed. This book is perfect. I will review it someday. 

Hotel Pastis is a book I keep nearby when I need something familiar to read. Peter Mayle is a favorite author of mine. I highly recommend his books. They take you to France, what could be any better? 

This Cold Heaven by Gretel Erhlich is a good read as well though it has taken fifth place behind others. I flip through books when I'm sick reading parts I love here and there satisfied with a touch of my favored books. 

It truly is the best medicine. 

Be well! 

PSA on my "Currently Reading" books

I know I know, I have been reading Unbroken and I just cannot get into it just yet. I find it to be well written and a wonderful story but I needed to put it down. Well, I did put it down, I left it to collect dust, felt so guilty that I had stop reading everything to mourn the loss...(the guilt is painful) . Some members in my book group are very honest with this as they are like me, start a book, put a book mark in at page ten  and whisper to the book, "I will be back soon, I promise." 

Sometimes you go back, sometimes you don't . But it's comforting to know that it's there.

For later.

Working a book group is one of the most rewarding, most fun and most wonderful things I have done. It takes a lot of work as everyone reads different genres and I feel it's important to keep up with all so I do a lot of book blog reading. I have became an ace on reading reviews and book news along with all the other book things one can come up with, even on Pinterest. I have so many book boards it's ridiculous. And they are mostly at the top of my Pin page so go take a peek (under Cheryl Poole-Musgrove.) Lots of good ideas, photos and memes.

So I want to shout out a  PSA. I am an insane reader now. I start a book and let go, I can't stress or feel guilty though I do, but I move on to the next one (after sorting out what I am going to read next which can take a whole evening.) I have decided I have gone from a very particular one book at a time reader to a very insane reader, I have to read a book that fits with what is going on or not going on in my life. 

So you will see me changing books around in my "Currently Reading" boxes, if I get through t hem I will be reviewing them (see Review box.) I am learning to accept my fate.

Thanks!

PS I am reading The Miniaturist by  Jessie Burton, so far so good, a bit on the The Girl with the Pearl Earring side but that was one of my favorite books so I am comfortably back in tune with a good book.

The Winter of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart

If there is one way to predict how bad Internet addiction is, just start by hanging out with a bunch of readers. We all bemoan our fate of too much "Facebook" etc. All the time.

And wouldn't you know.. 

FaceBOOK is like a book. With real characters that just happen to be the protagonists and antagonists in your own story. How could you go wrong?? Multiple settings, story arcs, my God it's a library right on your techno device. What's not to like?

We discussed the barriers to our reading and it always turns to this problem. The Net. And since then I have seen a few of my book friends turn to new goals, and they have been very good at keeping them. One makes sure she reads so many pages per night, one makes sure her entire Web sources are locked down and some just left and haven't returned. That's not true, they left and came back with three read books under their belt. 

I was insanely jealous. 

Focusing on time to read is hard for me, every day I wake up and say, I am going to read, end of story. What do I do? Check out the online world, news, favorite book blogs, regular blogs, Twitter, etc and then I log off and curl up with a book. Then I nod off immediately. My brain has had enough reading, time to tune out, and I do. Book falls to floor and I take a great nap. Unfortunately, I wake up to say out loud, "how the hell can I have a book blog to write for and not read??"

The book I posted, The Winter of our Disconnect, is a book I picked up a while back. Wait, no, I bought it so quickly when I found it in the book store I nearly killed myself trying to get home to read the whole thing in one sitting. It was one of those books that pushed me to clean out the superfluous crap of my online life. I set about to go online briefly and get off in one hour so I could read. It worked for awhile but it was too difficult for me to maintain. I wanted to be Susan Maushart. I really did. However, I think about this book every. single. day, does that count? No.

I want to be free from the hassles of logging on, if Susan Maushart can do this, so can I. Well. I can certainly try.

What the book is about:

An American, Susan Maushart, and her children live on the west coast of Australia.  I believe she is freshly divorced from her Aussie husband (that part is fuzzy) and going at it as a single mom. Situations pushed her into making a decision. No online life. For ONE year. One year. Can you imagine her kids and what they had to say? She pushed it to the nth degree, and the outcome was not only entertaining, well thought out and encouraging, but honest, an honest push to look at your own addictions. Even if one cannot commit the way she did, we can certainly have days where we think of her extraordinary efforts and cheer our own selves on to take a day off for a book, a game, a walk, time with family, friends, that place that's called, Real Life. That thing that seems to be boring compared to our online lives. 

I apologize for the crude review, but I think it speaks volumes. Get offline and live. Read. Find time to enjoy your life. Everyone will be online when you get back. I promise (I swear Internet people never leave, they simply cannot which, in turn, makes them the best of people who wait for you when you go on sabbaticals, my people are phenomenal with this, very forgiving..) Set goals, read eleven pages a night, throw your phones and tablets in another room and sit down with a nice cup of tea and read. 

The feeling I experience when I go off the Grid: overwhelmingly wonderful. It's work to make time for a book, it didn't used to be, but it is. That is how our lives are now, hard and very distracted while living most of the time on the Grid. So we must work around it. Not rage against it as most of us want to do, but to put all things in perspective and actually take time off. 

See how you do, I am going to do it myself, I need to catch up on many books that are silently, patiently waiting for me. And I can't wait to meet up with them.

Buy it and keep it by your side, and then go out and buy all your Interwebz friends the book and tell them to never ever lose it. 

Hello Fall, goodbye power reading

Fall is the busiest time, planning out the last quarter of the year with parties, appointments and the holidays. Most of my family happen to have  birthdays in October and November. This leaves reading time to a few stolen moments a day. I said goodbye to the long hours of summer reading...Hello Fall, goodbye power reading.

AND this is when all the Fall books arrive and they are usually the best books of the year.

So many books to read and my TBR list since 1985 or so seems to be taller than my house.

Unfortunately, I cannot finish my friend E's book, which she was so kind enough to let me borrow on my Kindle, I will return to it soon. And I have set the Zoo book down for a while. I need a blizzard to settle down with that book. I scramble my books around a lot and from what I hear of late, this is normal activity of most readers these days. 

So right now I am reading: 

Very interesting mystery chilly-thriller. The setting is Vermont and NYC in the 50's which makes one think, ho hum, what could be so great about that kind of a mystery-thriller back in the day?  But that is what makes this book work. When we think of the 50's  we think wholesome and goodness nary edginess or murder. This book has all that and more! ( I sound like one of those  old Channel 17 commercial)

It's very good and I won't even begin to compare it to Gone Girl  but...(said mumbling) it is a book where most of the characters are unlikeable ...which is to say there are many books where most of the characters are unlikeable but the plot is so compelling..so why do we always compare these books to Gone Girl? Don't answer, I already know the answer, it's a damn good book.) I will review Speak Softly, She Can Hear when I am finished which will be soon if the pumpkins don't get in the way.

Second book I am sort of plucking through: 

I want to review this for so many reasons. So I will leave it for now. So far, it's incredibly good. I see I put an audiobook up, I am sure it's wonderfully read by Susan Sarandon and Julia Ormond, I almost wish I did buy it in Audiobook.

Today I have some time to catch up on my reading while the H winterizes his garden. A perfectly great day to do such a thing with no sun and a mild chill.

Until we meet again.

Photo taken by me

Monkey mind and reading

We all know how crazy life is now that we are online. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email, Goodreads, and every other web nook and cranny we like to immerse ourselves into. And it has taken quite a toll on how people read books. Not a scientific source here (please do NOT quote me, ever) but most of my friends tell me that when they read they either fall asleep or tune into a thousand other places and give up on a book all together. Some manage all three things at the same time and they are Gods to me.

I understand and do the very same thing. In fact even this blog is taking away from precious reading time. But this is how we are now and I am trying to accept it, as well as figure out a way to read more while dealing with all my favorite online stops.

I miss reading a book. One book. Singular. For long periods of time.

In fact, I miss having that one book as my source of pleasure. Not that I am a hermit and sit in a corner but I did like the old days of actually sitting in the quiet of my home and reading A book. Now - electronically - we have thousands right at our finger tips. My Kindle is bulging, my eReader on my iPad was not even going to be USED until I figured out that there was another place where I could get cheap books rather quickly. I fear I will insanely pack it before I know it. And we will not discuss my real book hoarding issues. Maybe a pic when I trust all of you enough to allow a good chuckle.

So I am reading about five books at one time, though my right hand column says three.

I am digging The Hot Zone the most. It's fast paced and the writer weaves science into a huge story. I like that. And viruses.

I take turns reading the five books, but most often stick to one I find "the most" compelling.
My chief want is to read one book at a time, though I am not so sure the Interwebs will allow this.
Ever again.