There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity.
Do not suppose, however, that I intend to urge a diet of classics on anybody. I have seen such diets at work. I have known people who have actually read all, or almost all, the guaranteed Hundred Best Books. God save us from reading nothing but the best.
May I make a suggestion, hoping it is not an impertinence? Write it down: write down what you feel. It is sometimes a wonderful help in misery.
Each of these is a quote from Robertson Davies, he of my most favourite sidebar quote on happiness.
I have never read any Robertson Davies. Much of that was a lack of exposure but it also was because of a deep and very strong prairie person's dislike of Toronto pomposity. In the 50s, 60s and 70s hating Toronto was the hallmark of western Canadian life. It remains and pops it's head up occasionally, particularly in relation to news on our national broadcaster. Those early almost unconcious biases are the hardest to overcome, but they out to be looked at. Perhaps it is time I do read him. A man with so many good quotes can't be all popmpous, can he?
I have been thinking of him because yesterday was the day my next Audible credit fell. I think of him because I keep feeling I ought to read him, that I ought to break the bias and see what there is to see but I don't. When I buy, it has to be something I would reread or relisten to. That has always been the case. Library perhaps, so later.
I have been watching a lot of movies and series during this time of quarantine, but I have also been reading a lot. I don't talk much about what I am reading because there is always something knitting to talk about, but right now, in this current phase of 'project monogamy' writing about what I am knitting is rather boring. Particularly because everything I have been knitting the last while is pretty straightforward stockinette. This latest and final top or the upcoming season, is at least different yarns and is knit in two pieces, which mean rows which are not overly long. But it still looks the same as it did yesterday. I needed to write about something else.
So reading.
There were several years after Brian died that I found it really difficult to focus on words on the page. It was a stress reaction no doubt about it, but it is also part of getting older. I can't physically focus on small lines on a page as long as I used to. So keep in mind that all the books I speak of are going to be audio books. Only rarely will I read a whole book from my library.
I did the NaJuReMoNoMo challenge in January which is always a lovely way to start a year. New to you novels. The big plus from this is finding new authors or new books by authors you may have read before. When I participate, I always come out of January feeling so alive to the magic of reading. It doesn't always carry through. This year it has.
What Audible does tell me is that I have an established pattern to my regular reading. One month heavy reading, the next month, lighter. I have been reading between 30 and 85 hours per month over the last 6 months. FYI, January has not been my heaviest reading month.
So far this year I have read Murder on the Orient Express, several of Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache novels, the newest novel by Ann Cleeves, and four of her Shetland series. I have also read Tracy Chevalier's A Single Thread and an Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor. The most moving book I have read so far though is one I bought last year, A Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. We think we have it hard, having to stay at home, but oh, who would we be if we had to live through all that.
I have also read things over again as I am wont to do. The Labours of Hercules, Sense and Sensibility, Curtain, The ABC Murders, A Caribbean Mystery. You will note many of these are Agatha Christie. I still love the resolution of a good mystery.
So that brings me to what I am reading starting yesterday. Dorothy Sayers has been recommended over the years by several reading friends, but I just never got around to it. Well I did once. I have a collection of radio dramatisations of Lord Peter Wimsey that were not really my cup of tea. After all this time, I know well that the person reading the book can make a huge difference to how much I enjoy it. Yesterday I picked the Second of the Lord Peter books with a very pleasing to my ear narrator and it is lovely. Crisp and well written and a voice that lets me see the characters in my own way.
I am also about an hour into another Shetland novel by Ann Cleeves. Listening to these is like traveling to Shetland and meeting her people. I know it is only in my imagination, but the place comes alive through her words and the readers voices. Reading Cleeves makes me want to knit more.
So that is what is on my plate today. Some reading. Some knitting. Some very good stuff.
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