Reading for Me

I wish I had better news to report. There’s not been a lot of reading in my world this week. Lighting in the Geriatric Ward is causing me lots of problems. After spending a couple of months here, I am noticing significant changes in my eyesight. Because of COVID-19, I am finding it difficult to get an appointment with my optometrist. So, I’m not doing much reading at the moment. Eye problems lead to less time doing the things I love. And that results in a poor mental space to live in at the moment.

This week has been a bit of a roller coaster. Things started out quite nicely, but a midweek allergy attack brought on by freshly cut summer grass joined forces with the changing atmospheric pressures of an approaching storm. The resulting migraine completely knocked me off of my feet for 24 hours and chased the thought of reading from my mind for most of the end of the week. I’m thankful that I’m feeling considerably better this evening and slowly getting my nose back into a book.

The week began with a completed read. Book 17 of 2020 was The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. It was an excellent young adult novel that addressed race relations and police brutality. While the language was at times too mature for a YA novel in my opinion, I found the plot mesmerizing and an outstanding introduction to these contemporary issues for a white audience. I strongly recommend reading this wonderful novel by a promising author.

As the week progressed, I continued my journey with Harry Clifton and began the third volume of the Clifton Chronicles, The Best Kept Secret. I’ve only read the first 80 pages of the novel, but Harry has already returned to NYC and established his first novel as a best-seller. Upon his return to the UK, he and Emma have successfully adopted a young girl, Jessica, who they believe to be Emma’s half-sister. In typical Jeffrey Archer fashion, The Best Kept Secret is already proving to move rapidly with lots of twists and turns along the way. My hope is that I will finish this installment of the saga this week.

My reading life became a little more normal this week. I found myself wanting to dive back into the world of story. That has been a welcome relief. It took so long after graduate school to really fall in love with reading again. I have always feared that the passion would leave if I did not nurture it on a regular basis. When I begin to see a prolonged drought in my reading life, I get nervous.

This week, I finished Jeffrey Archer’s The Sins of the Father, the second volume of the Clifton Chronicles. You can check out my thoughts on the book here as well as get some quick reviews of my two previous reads. In addition to reading the Archer novel, I also continued making my way through The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I have been surprised that this YA novel has not been a quicker read for me. As I have reflected on it, I think I have begun to understand why.

Don’t get me wrong, The Hate U Give is an outstanding book that should be read by every American interested in race relations from the perspective of our teens. I am mesmerized by the story and am determined to know what happens next in Thomas’ writing. So what’s the problem? I really think it is the fact that I am reading an ebook. I consider myself a modern reader and hated to come to this realization, so I took some time to see if I could unpack why reading electronically has never been a successful or highly pleasurable experience for me.

First things first. When I am at work, my tablet is always in my hand. It is how I check my email and send text messages throughout the day. All of my musical scores are housed there. There is an expectation that I constantly be plugged in and able to be contacted. Therein lies the first problem. When I read a novel, I want to be unplugged, detached from the stress of the day. Even though the content is very different, I think I feel a connection with work and the many easy interruptions that come with reading on my device.

I think there is another element that I had not noticed before that became evident this week. While reading both books, I found myself more engaged with Thomas’ YA novel. But I found myself consistently returning to Archer’s novel that I was reading in paperback. What was the difference? I was always able to see my physical progress through The Sins of the Father with each passing page. As I neared the end of the book, I felt the shifting weight of the plot in both my hands and my emotions. I am motivated to press on through every project — whether work or leisure — when I see visible signs of progress. Sure, I can go to the table of contents of my ebook and see how many chapters remain, but somehow that is not as satisfying for me. After working with a Nook reader when they first appeared on the market, I knew that I maintained my preference for physical books, but could not clearly state why. I enjoy the convenience of digital books. I love having a massive library available at my fingertips. But that convenience still does not trump the joy of feeling the pages against my skin and the tome’s heft in my hands. There’s just nothing that can replace that feeling…and it is not something I am willing to sacrifice at this time in my life.

So this week I plan to intentionally try to make my way through The Hate U Give. I’m also going to start the third book in the Clifton Chronicles. Even now as I look at both “books,” I am drawn to spending time with my paperback, but I feel the “need” to devote time to the work housed in my iPad. The struggle is real.

Reading has been slow this week again. I am finding a lot of relaxation in other activities. Plus, reading pulls me into my thoughts. With the unrest that has settled in our nation this week as well as saying goodbye to a high school colleague, spending time with my imagination was not a healthy place to be. So I’ve made limited progress in my reading. I’m hoping that will change in the new week.

I have continued to work through Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer. I have about 200 pages left to go as the adventure continues to center around mistaken identities in New York City and British POWs in Nazi Germany. It’s a fun read despite the settings and the era. I’m anxious to see how things are going to turn out for Harry Clifton and his friends.

I finally admitted to myself this week that reading The Grapes of Wrath was just not a good idea right now. There’s too much sadness and depression in society at the moment that I don’t need to contemplate more hopelessness in Steinbeck’s writing. Perhaps I’ll revisit it later, but for now it is going back on the shelf. When I finally made that decision, I knew I needed to add something else to my reading schedule.

Since I don’t have a large selection available at the moment, I decided to check out some YA novels as ebooks. That’s when I settled on The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I first, I was afraid that this novel would also be too heavy for the moment. I’ve read the first four chapters and I am totally engrossed. You will see why it is an important read for this day. It is the story of Starr Carter, a young African-American girl. While she and her friend, Khalil, are driving home from a local party in the ghetto, they are stopped by a white policeman. The officer becomes upset and forces the male driver from the car. The officer returns to his car to check Khalil’s license and registration but first tells the young black man not to move. Khalil opens the driver’s side door to check on Starr. Shots are fired and Khalil is dead on the pavement. The incident appears to have been unprovoked, but there are rumors that Khalil was selling drugs and may have been under suspicion of possession. Starr must now deal with the trauma of seeing her friend die and decide if she can trust the very ones who have sworn to protect and serve her community. As you can see, it is a riveting read in our current climate. I anticipate that this book will be a quick read because I am so eager to see what happens next. However, I also want to make sure that I maintain a pace where I can contemplate the ideas that Ms. Thomas is raising.

Keep a watch out on the blog this week. In addition to updating on my last two reads (still!), I hope to finish both books before the end of the week. We’ll see how that works out…

Reading on a regular basis is proving to be more challenging than I had anticipated. When the Geriatrics are at work, I have piano lessons to teach. When they come home for the day, there IS NO WAY to get any reading done! The concept of having silence in the house is completely lost on them. Right now as I am writing this post, the television is murmuring some 25 feet away while they carry on a conversation over the volume of the boob tube! Needless to say, I am fed up and just want to get some reading done!!!!!

So….I’ve gotten about 90 minutes of reading done this week in The Sins of the Fathers. I think my time working my way through The Grapes of Wrath has sadly come to an end. Without prolonged times of quiet available to me, I just can’t get through the book. I’m finding other things to occupy my time since I can’t devote myself to reading, but I am fearful that I will get out of the habit of daily reading in the process. I worked so hard to train myself to spend some time every day with my nose in a book. But I’ve also learned that I can only successfully do that without distraction. I’m not a reader who can make significant progress if there is the slightest bit of noise going on in my environment. So….my updates for the next few weeks may just be “same song, second verse.” I’m trying to find another solution to get back into a reading routine, but I’m not having much success in that area so far.

I have been a neglectful blogger and reader recently. Last weekend, I struggled with a cough, congestion, and body aches. In our current climate, you know that I feared the worst diagnosis. Thankfully, when I was able to get into the doctor on Tuesday, it was only a sinus infection.

Needless to say, while sick, I didn’t feel like doing much reading. I am continuing to work my way through The Grapes of Wrath and began reading Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer, the second volume of the Clifton Chronicles.

Yesterday, I made the long drive to eastern Arkansas to spend the summer with my parents. While driving home, I made my way through Tan France’s audio book Naturally Tan. It was an entertaining read that addressed his life as a gay man and his experiences as a Pakistani man facing discrimination based upon the color of his skin. His discussion of life after 9/11 from the “brown perspective” (his terminology) was incredibly insightful and eloquent.

After reading the memoirs by both Jonathan Van Ness and Karamo Brown, I had a certain expectation in mind. Naturally Tan was a different kind of memoir — not that I expected all of the boys’ writings to be the same — and I found myself laughing and crying with Tan throughout the long drive. The added features with his close friend and fellow cast mate, Antoni Porowski, were charming celebrations of the joy of friendship.