Getting Back Into Reading

This is something I have been trying to do for a while.

Why is it that I find it so hard to do blogging / reading / listening to music with others around? Am I wary of their criticism? Am I avoiding their input? Or is my mind just so cluttered that I need quiet around me in order to function? I put in my calendar a weekly Monday morning cafe visit, in order to dedicated some regular time to blogging. I have done it twice in six months or more. Not so successful. 

Anyway, I have been routinely downsizing my library over the last few years, and have only enough books to fill a single set of bookshelves now. Sticking out amongst these shelves is the one below, essentially filled with books I liked the look of, but have never read. Looking at these, there are some interesting sci-fi novels, a cricket book, a history of silver and something on mysteries. It's actually a pretty good microcosm of my tastes across my life actually. Interesting snapshot!

So these school holidays, which see me having some holidays and WFH days as well, I have set myself the goal of finishing off a couple of books. I have the following title sitting next to my easy chair, which is where I do all my reading these days. 

I am about 3/4 through the King book of short stories, and about 1/3 through the Singapore book. I will finish these two off and then likely donate them. As usual with the King shorts, some are awesome and others, not-so-much. On the back of getting this though, I also repurchased a second-hand copy of Night Shift and Skeleton Crew, his classic short story books from my childhood. I will reread these in due course too. The next interesting novel is the Crichton one. Interesting for two reasons - one, Michael Crichton died about 20 years ago, so I am not sure how he managed to write a new novel. Perhaps it's his son, or perhaps James Patterson has taken some notes of Crichton's and turned it into a finished product. I am interested also, because of the subject matter - I just love volcanoes! Plus, Crichton's work on Jurassic Park was magnificent, a simply superbly written and balanced novel. The movie did do it justice thankfully, but the book is still a better piece of work. I must grab another copy one of these days. Perhaps I can do it in my newly gifted Kindle - thanks wifey! - as I would rather be more of a minimalist regarding such things these days.

Lastly, we have the two self-help books. What The Fuck? I hear you exclaim! Yes, I know. But I have seen many shorts of Jorden Peterson on YT in the last few years, and his point of view resonates with me. So I am keen to read him. The other one was recommended, also on YT, and is a book on the roughly 4,000 weeks we have in our lives, and using that context to help plan and prioritise your life, work and goals. I look forward to getting stuck in !