Reading for Me

The time has come to return to my poor neglected blog. I haven’t written in a few weeks because there was actually very little to share. I never know if my lack of reading is because of the beginning of the school year or whether I am simply not enjoying my reading life at the moment. It is a feeling that I don’t particularly enjoy.

I have definitely been doing some reading, just not material for my pleasure. I have had my nose in all sort of piano pedagogy books and articles. I have continued to listen to audio recordings of the Harry Potter books — I’m currently listening to The Goblet of Fire — so I am getting some fiction into my life at the moment, but audio books alone don’t feel fulfilling.

I think what I am discovering is that because I am trying to read books that are in my TBR stack and easily available to me, the excitement of having a new book to read has disappeared. Most of the books in my TBR were purchased when I was in a very serious frame of mind. The plots are heavy and deep. That is not the type of reading that I want to do right now. COVID protocols are wearisome and when I come home at the end of the day, I am looking for escape. These two realizations combined led me to the decision that it is time to make a trip to the local library.

Why the library? Since I’m not investing money in books that I borrow from there, I have a bit more permission to pick up something that won’t have a lasting impact and that I don’t necessarily want to admit that I have read. In other words, my library selections are often fluff. Since I am just borrowing the book, it is perfectly fine if I don’t finish reading the novel. There is no guilt associated with putting down a book from the library that I’m not enjoying. There’s also the ability to bring home several selections, knowing that one of them is bound to scratch my reading itch at the moment. Hopefully, one of them will grab my attention and pull me out of my current reading drought.

So, I’m off to the public library for a small haul of books! Well, that was the plan at least. I was actually looking forward to sitting down and diving into a good book this afternoon. Apparently, the rest of the world still considers late August to be summer! How rude! So the library had closed before I made it downtown this afternoon. I suppose I’ll have to see if I can retain my reading excitement until Monday and sneak away for a bit to visit the local library then.

This week has not been the most productive reading week of my life, but somehow I have still managed to read daily. The week started with a nasty stomach bug that knocked me flat and had both me and my physician expecting a positive COVID test result. Thankfully, that was not the case, but I experienced extreme fatigue all week long as I tried to recuperate and navigate professional development meetings at week’s end.

I did manage to complete one audio book this week, finally bringing the story of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to its thrilling conclusion this morning. My plan was to listen to audio books while doing some crafting each day. It worked well before this week, but with the illness, I simply wanted to enjoy some silence when I could to stop the throbbing in my head.

I have several other books in progress at the moment. As part of the research for one of my lectures, I did some reading in Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. It presented some fascinating material, but I don’t anticipate that I will finish reading the work. During professional development, the keynote speaker was a C.S. Lewis specialist. I have always been fascinated by Lewis, so when the recommendation was made to read The Great Divorce, I grabbed a digital copy that evening and began reading. I haven’t made much progress, but I don’t think I was really in the right mood to tackle the fable.

The remaining book that has my attention at the moment is Sons of Fortune by Jeffrey Archer. As you may recall, I read the Clifton Chronicles over the past few years and really fell in love with Archer’s story telling. While I have not gotten very far in Sons of Fortune, this seems to be another marvelous story featuring twin brothers who were separated at birth. Currently, both boys are studying at boarding schools and have hopes of dating the same girl. Yep, that’s a sure formula for drama and sibling rivalry — although neither boy knows of the other’s existence. Sons of Fortune is right at 500 pages in length, so I expect to be living with this novel for a while. I’m hoping that my reading juju will return and I’ll begin to make some headway into the book in the week ahead.

The first week back has meant settling into a new routine. It has also meant some changes to my reading life, but I’m not complaining about them all. I am actually rather pleased with the results.

Since I got back to work a week before online classes began for the Fall term, I was obviously doing a lot of preparation for upcoming lectures. That has meant that I have been doing some reading! This week, I was challenged by The Recreational Music Making Handbook by Brenda Dillon. I am excited to continue exploring the concepts raised by this short work that I anticipate will make an impact on my own teaching. I have also begun reading Howard Gardner’s Intelligence Reframed. It is a fascinating look at learning styles that will probably dominate much of my reading this coming week.

My audio book time has slowed this week, but I am still progressing through Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. For those who have read the book, I have just passed the appearance of the warning on the wall that the Chamber has been opened. Harry and his friends are diligently searching through Hogwarts’ history to learn all they can about the urban legend. With lots of meetings coming up this week, I’m hoping that much of my evening reading can be devoted to the audio book.

I am almost done with Gods in Alabama as well. I thought I might get finished this afternoon as I was riding home from Belton, Texas. By the time I was able to keep my eyes open enough to actually read, the sun was setting too quickly and I couldn’t get to the end of the book. Maybe I’ll finish on Sunday afternoon? Keep your eyes open for an upcoming review on this intriguing novel that I’m really enjoying right up to the end.

Summer is finally coming to an end for me. I am writing tonight from a hotel in Oklahoma City as I slowly make the return trip to Plainview. Since it was time to start heading back, that meant that I had to do some packing….and that never agrees with my back. So I did plenty of sitting in Pop’s recliner and split my time between reading and watching the Tokyo Olympics.

What am I reading now? My main read is Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson. I’m less than 100 pages into the novel, but I am really enjoying it! The story centers around Arlene Fleet, a transplanted Alabamian now living in Chicago. When Arlene left her small home town, she swore that she would never return. Now, the past is rushing back at her with a vengeance and she fears that her role in the death of the star quarterback will be discovered. If you’ve followed my reading life for very long, you know that this is right up my alley!

With the drive came the need to start an audiobook as well. I decided to return to a favorite book and listen to the story this time. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone! It’s really fun to listen to a gifted narrator – Jim Dale – tell a fascinating story. It’s also neat to realize how brilliantly the entire saga was conceived from the beginning. I’m enjoying listening to comments in the descriptions that I know will have significance later. I think I’ll finish Sorcerer’s Stone on tomorrow’s drive. I am also considering keeping audio books in my reading rotation since I don’t watch a lot of television while I am in my apartment.

This week, my reading life took a different turn. I found myself needing to think a bit more academically since a due date was leering that required submission of syllabi for upcoming courses. Since I was thinking about music more than I have for the past few months, it seemed appropriate to do some reading in the field. My intention was to slowly read through the music book while I focused my attention on a new novel. My interest took a different approach and I have been reading A Soprano on Her Head by Eloise Ristad monogamously this week.

I became aware of A Soprano on Her Head in graduate school in a pedagogy course devoted to group piano instruction. I have long intended to read the book, but never took the plunge. When I found a copy in a secondhand bookstore earlier this year, I purchased the book and knew that I would read it soon. I expected to find something very similar to the more familiar The Inner Game of Music. While there are certainly similarities, I find Ristad’s work much more witty and applicable as a performer and teacher. I would have liked to have read more this week, but I found myself pausing frequently as I read to consider concepts and reflect on the implications Ristad’s words could have on my own playing as well as that of my students. It has also influenced an upcoming lecture that I am preparing for piano teachers.

I am just nearing the mid-point of the book. I hope to finish my reading of A Soprano on Her Head this week before moving to a contemporary novel that should be arriving in the mail in the coming days.

Hello, my dear readers. It has been a little while since I have last posted. Truthfully, reading has been a challenge this summer. As soon as the school year was completed, I did not want to pick up another book. I wanted to do nothing but sit around and mindlessly think about absolutely nothing. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on my emotions seem to have found their full expression in my reading life.

I managed to read a book immediately after the semester ended as I waited to leave west Texas for the summer. Since returning to my parents’ home, I have read nothing else. I have tried numerous books, but nothing captured my imagination. I have shifted from fiction to self-help and humor.

Last week, after nearly a month without picking up a book, I finally found something in my TBR that I could imagine reading. What was the genre to rescue me from my reading drought? Biography….a huge departure from my normal reading fare. I’m reading William Sounder’s Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck. I have found the combination of historical events and literary analysis fascinating. (I suppose my love for American literature of the early 20th century is healing my reading life.)

Sadly, I cannot say that reading is a natural occurrence again. I am not finding myself longing to pick up my book throughout the day. Instead, I am setting daily reading goals and treating the reading as an appointment to keep. So I’m progressing slower than I had hoped, but I am thrilled with the fact that I am resuming my reading. As I continue to keep my daily “appointment,” I’m finding that I am looking forward to the mental stimulation that is ahead. Since I know there is a reasonable goal, the work of reading doesn’t seem as demanding. I suppose I need to subconsciously give myself permission to read at a slower pace than normal.

Despite the slower pace, I’m hoping to finish reading the Steinbeck biography this week. Hopefully by then, I will have found something new to grab my attention and continue my return to the love of reading.