Do you read multiple books at once?
Following on from last week’s post and a conversation I had this week, I thought I’d share with you what I’m reading.
I have drafts of posts that I'm choosing not to share right now. While I understand you don't seek news from me, I want to recognise the global conflicts, natural disasters, and economic state that are on my mind. Life is extremely hard for many people.
Joy is an act of resistance and with that in mind, here’s what I’m reading. I hope you can find escape in a book too.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. This is the read-along I mentioned last week. It’s the last instalment tomorrow! I’ve loved joining in with this.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. A first time read for me and I’ve stalled part way through. I plan to finish before the end of the year.
Night Shift by Stephen King. Another read-along (mentioned last week too) and a second time read for me, but again, I’m enjoying the conversations around the stories.
The Second Body by Daisy Hildyard. Someone suggested this to me and I love it. The book collects nonfiction essays on climate change, by Hildyard, and how that relates to our own individual bodies and us as a body en masse. Micro and Macro.
Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott. This is a collection of nonfiction essays on writing and life. I’m almost at the end of this too, and I feel like I might just start it all over again. I’ve loved it.
The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide by Jen Gale. I’m reading this for a local book club, its got some great tips, without the guilt delivery I often feel for not being able to do it all to save the planet.
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo. I'm reading this on audiobook and it so evocative and powerful I'm taking it bit by bit. I don't get much time to listen to audiobooks so they have to hold my attention between long breaks. This one does that.
The Elephant to Hollywood by Michael Caine. Another audiobook, on CD so just in my car. He narrates it and it's honestly so good. I've laughed and cried whilst driving.
Here’s another pocket of joy, this beautiful rose I snapped earlier this week.
Take care of each other.
The Haunting of Hill House and Frankenstein are two of my most favourite books ever. The latter from when I read it for A-Level and suddenly understood how fiction can work, and the former because it got into my bones and I couldn't shake it. Much like all of Jackson.
I got into a real head-spin with my TBR pile a few years ago so I took action: I stopped actively buying books. Which I know sounds sacrilegious but it meant i started treating my bookshelves as my personal library (while also saving a fair chunk of money!). I'm slowly working my way through everything I've acquired and never read. I organise piles of 4 or 5 book reading lists based on whimsical themes or connections in titles. Currently its 'the elements': Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge, Dark River by Rym Kechacha, Nothing on Earth by Conor O'Callaghan and The Wind's Twelve Quarters by Ursula Le Guin. It's fun!
At any given time I tend to have a fiction book on the go (currently working through the Wheel of Time series) and audiobook I’m listening to (currently Nation by Terry Pratchett) and a non fiction ‘work book’ (now Brene Browns Atlas of the Heqrt). I like being able to flit between them depending on my mood.