Reading as necessary escape...




I've been reading vociferously, finishing a novel in a week (unusual for me, at least these last several years). I have a huge TBR stack of books, so I won't be running out anytime soon. And I have two poetry collections --wait, three-- that are waiting for my attention, that I have promised to write reviews for. When I was a young person, and especially in high school, I read as escape. It was not for classes, it was not to improve my mind, it was, in the simplest sense, placing myself where I was not. 

Given the chaotic dumpster fire on wheels that confronts us every single day in our waking moments, I'm pleased I have a "place" to go. I've also binge-watched some fairly entertaining programs on Netflix and Amazon Prime. I'm filling my time and my brain with characters who are leading other lives than mine, who are confronting silly things like meddling dads who want you to reconsider renovating a villa in Italy or serious things like suppressed murders. What I'm finding, though, and I believe it's entirely coincidental, is that the protagonists in each of these things I'm watching or reading is a strong female. I bought the books months ago, and I stumbled across the television shows by accident (O hey, that looks promising---). And I don't tend to purchase or watch things with that sort of agenda-- but here they are, and I'm engrossed in the stories. 

Why am I not writing? Good question. It'll come. Right now, I'm too internally fraught to put pencil to paper, or to type out the angst that is burbling out of my pores. I'll fill my brain with good writing, passably decent television, and see what each day brings. 

In the meantime, I'll do my best to keep from spinning out of control, and hope that things settle down. It's a slim hope, but I have my books, I have my family, and I have faith that somehow, we'll manage.

C

Book recommendation: I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

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