Reading in the Here and Now...

On December 16, 2005, I posted my very first post on The Written World. I was all ready starting to see my reading being influenced by the online world, that's why I read The Red Tent in 2005, but I was just reading books that looked and sounded good. My reading back then was way different than it is 10 years later, though. For example, in 2005 I read at least 7 books by Anita Shreve. That was the year I read The Pilot's Wife, loved it, and then ran out and got a bunch of her other books at the second hand bookstore. And, actually read a bunch of them!

That's how I used to read. I would find a new author, go on a buying spree at the second hand bookstore, and then proceed to read their backlist. In 2005 I probably had a TBR pile, but it was nothing like it would become as the years went on. I had a lot of books all ready, but I remember having a little tiny bookcase in my bedroom that contained my unread books and then all the rest of the shelves were read books. I only really blogged for one month in 2005, so in many ways 2006 was the first year... And, it is when things started to change for me as a reader...

In 2006 I commented on a blog and the blogger turned out to work for Random House Canada. A few quick emails back and forth and I entered my foray into review copies. And, it was a blessing. I was in university and review copies kept me in books until I graduated without doing bad things to my tiny bank account. But, between the review copies and the blogging, my reading was changing. In the early months of 2006 there are all ready posts about books I am hoping to get to soon and books that I haven't had a chance to read yet. And, I believe, 2006 is one of the last years of reading multiple books by the same authors. (In most recent years only really graphic novel series and Susanna Kearsley spring to mind.)

Blogging and getting review copies was a very fun experience. I loved hearing about new books and the constant parcels in the mail. In the beginning it was nothing like it would become... I actually was able to keep up! And then blogging and reviewing books for publishers became a lot bigger and I started to put more and more pressure on myself. It lead to reading more in the 'now' and less with exploring older books and backlists. I am sure there are many years where I mostly only read books published that year. It was fun always knowing what was going on and having read the 'big' books before they were really big. But, it started to get too overwhelming and lead to many long hiatuses from the blog and really spurred out of control last year when I hardly read at all.

Now it is 2015 and there is always that feeling that with a new year comes a fresh start. And, I have been trying to make that apply to my reading and blogging. I will likely always be tempted by the new and shiny books, but this year is also about all that backlist that I never got around to reading... Over the years I have posted big lists of books that I have bought. I bet I have hardly read any of them... Favourite authors come out with new books and they just gather dust on my shelves because often I haven't read the book before it.

So, 2015 is quickly becoming the year of 'no pressure'. I wander over to my shelves and just pick something... And, if it doesn't work for me, I put it aside and grab something else. I have probably started 30 books in 2015 so far and only actually finished 16. I am sure many of the others will call to me later, but they were not at the time. And, I am finally getting to books I just HAD to have and backlists from authors I have loved and never read again. For example, finally reading another book by Patricia McKillip like 2 years after I read her for the first time. Or, yesterday, I finished Shine by Lauren Myracle because it was one of those books I bought because I had to have it. I am hoping this mixture will finish for the rest of the year...

When you look back, how has your reading and blogging changed over the years?

A Letter... and Some Thoughtful Bloggers

Dear Mother Nature,

Last year we did not have a single thunderstorm, but this year you have decided that we are going to have one at least every week, sometimes for days in a row. Now, I am not one to go against nature, I think that thunderstorms are cool like everyone else, but the summer is waning and soon the snow will be flying. In order to survive 6 months of blasted cold weather, we need to have something known as a summer. What does a summer entail? You seem to think days and days of rain, as it rained most of May and June, we had some passable weather in July, and now we are back to rain. If you insist on raining and having thunderstorms, can you please pay a visit to the power station and find out why out of an entire TOWN, the exact same streets have lost power for hours during the last few storms. This includes my house, it means sitting in the dark even after the very cool storm has passed. (And, I will most heartily agree that last nights storm was very impressive.) It would be nice if the nice power people did their jobs during the 'looking like it is going to rain' periods and figured out why we keep losing power. They seem to need some help, nothing dangerous, just impressive would be most appreciated.

Sincerely,

Someone Who Misses When Summer Had Sun


On that note, Stephanie awarded me a "Thoughtful Blogger" Award and I have been lax in awarding it. Since I keep saying if I read your blog, there is obviously a reason for it, I am going to try and award people that have not been awarded yet.

Melrose Plant from A Fair Substitute for Heaven
Booklogged from A Reader's Journal
Clare from Confessions of a Book Addict
Deanna from My Tragic Right Hip
Zeek from The Way I See It

There we are, blogs that I have not seen nominated elsewhere.

I Have Discovered I Like Attention

I have to laugh at myself, I started this blog not really expecting any readers, but I love comments... And lately, I have had a fair amount of them, so it is really great! It's fun to get messages, anyways, because then you know someone has taken the time to either read your post or reach out to you. It is nice to have a little community of people all conversing with one another. I think anyways. And, when comments are dead on here, I post on Twisted Kingdom and different people comment over there, or Historical Tapestry (when I read historical fiction). So, I wanted to thank everyone for all their comments lately, it has been fun reading them and responding!

Speaking of TK, I actually did not read a Star Trek book today, so I do not have a review over there today. I did post, though, so you can click on over there if you are interested.

I actually read an interesting blog post today that I had to comment on. It is on an authors blog, David Anthony Durham. I have never read him before, and today was the first time I read his blog. I just found it by some link clicking earlier this morning. I was interested in this post by him. It was like 8 in the morning, I had been up since 5 something, I was starting to get tired because of lack of sleep, but I found myself considering what he had to say. I suppose I always considered myself 'color blind'. For the most part, I do not pay attention to the race or ethnicity of the books that I read. I just read them because of recommendations or because I have heard good things, various things like that. It did not cross my mind that bookstores pay attention to colour. He talks about the African American section, and I have seen that in bigger bookstores. The small bookstore does not have one, I imagine they just do not get those books in at all.

Reading his thoughts was very eye-opening to me. By not paying attention to what I was reading, I thought I was doing a good thing, but in actual fact I was only reading the 'popular' minority authors that are deemed worthy of moving to the mainstream shelves (fantasy is a bit different). I was paying attention to diversity in authors, and I always make sure I read both male and female authors. I pay attention to whether I support my fellow Canadian authors or not. I thought I was doing good, but in actual fact, I was not paying attention to whether I read a diverse selection of nationalities. Not just 'coloured' authors (I mean no offense by that), but I wonder how many Scottish authors I have read, or Irish (O.R. Melling is one). It just made me think that maybe I should try and put some diversity in what I read and try and support a diverse culture. I had been moving that way on my own, wanting to read books by, for example, a Mexican author, but it was nice of this article to offer a bit of insight. I hope you will take the time to read it.

Monday Evening Musings

I had planned to post a review of Born on a Blue Day tonight, but instead I finished another book and reviewed it on Twisted Kingdom. You can read the review by clicking here.

It is rather funny, I ran into some friends at the bookstore today and I was rather secretive in school, never admitted that I watched Star Trek or read the books. It wasn't like I wouldn't admit it if I was asked, but I just didn't volunteer the information. But, I went to the second hand store tonight to see if they had the first book in the New Frontier series (which they did, the first four in one book, acutally) because I was curious and wanted to give the series a read, and in walk my friends. I was a bit frazzled, I admit, because even though I am more forth-coming in my nerdiness nowadays, I still had never really went out of my way to tell any of my friends unless they asked or the subject was broached. It is interesting how I am not in high school anymore and I still find myself acting like I am when I run into people I knew then. I guess some things just never change... The bad thing is that these people are perfectly aware now that I watch them, but I don't know, I just like having my secrets I guess.

In other news, tomorrow (the 14th) is my brothers 18th birthday. It's hard to believe, but then I imagine like my sister, most people think he is older than me. I cannot help it I am short and people need to not judge height with ages. I'll like it when I am older though. Actually, I am not really that forth-coming on being the oldest much anymore anyways, they can think my sister is.

I have been thinking a lot about fantasy and movies lately. I have been trying to find someone to go see Stardust with me, but no one is really jumping at the opportunity. I do not know what it is about fantasy, but it seems to really bomb at the theatres. It is like adults forget how to be kids and have an imagination, they just think my interests are silly. So, I am stuck in my childhood, is there something wrong with that? I would hate to NOT have an imagination. My friends think they are too old for movies like Stardust it seems, and I think it is sad. Imagining, dreaming, believing does not have to end when you reach a certain age, there is no laws saying growing up means becoming a cynic. Carl, at Stainless Steel Droppings, talked about something similar the last few days. It is nice to know that I am not the only one thinking like I do. No offense to anyone, but people can go live in their boxes and I will keep on believing in the unbelivable, exploring the unexplained, and living in my dreamworld.