Thursday, November 12, 2009

I do this, I do that & books

WARNING - you may find this post quite long and very boring!

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning, which is odd because I am reading the wrong book.

I devour books and can't live without them.
I read to send myself to sleep and I read to wake myself up, I can't imagine how people get through life without reading.

I often come across book lists on peoples blogs, you know the ones where you tick what you have read and put a cross for those you want to read (or something like that).
I normally find I have read about 2/3rds of them and the ones I haven't read I don't want to read.

I am very picky about what I read, it must be written before 1960 and it used to be that the older it is the better - Anglo Saxon chronicles, Snorri Sturluson, The History of the Franks (one of my favourites) etc etc
I think the reason is mythology which I have always loved, its difficult to comprehend what life was really like at the time these books were written and so has become mythology in my head.

But now my brain is too tired to concentrate and I stuggle to understand.
In fact the busier and bigger the business becomes the less my brain can cope.
I find this sad, but as I become less intellectual I find myself reading things I would have been too snotty to read several years ago.
Have worked my way through all the classic English novelists from Austen to Trollope and some of the French and Russian classics.
And am now in a early 20th century phase.

I need to read the whole of an author's work before I move onto the next, at the moment it is
E F Benson and he wrote over 100 books I have 6 and another 3 on the way, so I'm happy because I'm running out of authors and hate trying to find a new one.

So why am I reading the wrong book?
Because the 3 I have just read are half of a series, the 3 I am waiting for are the other half of the series and I can't possibly start a new story mid series so am reading his commentry on late victorian life.
Obvious isn't it!!!

Oh and forgot to mention that even though he is a modern author I am a huge Terry Prachett fan - astute social commentry in disguise as very creative comedy.
And also Tolkien - a man totally obsessed, his published books are a fraction of what he wrote, his son published 12 books of his notes and un-published work - I have read them all several times - :-))

1 comment:

Maisy Mae said...

why don't you try some of the greats? Cheever, Chekov, Hemingway?
I've started to read some Saki.
Didn't realise he was from Britian. He's bloody good though. Strong character voices.
A plot is easy, its when you get a character who is the plot, thats when you know you've found a brilliant writer and book.

oh and wrote a poem losely based on you on my blog - its called Hypercondriac
What do you think?