My Reading Life

I’ve been reading much more than usual, since we started our quarantine.  As it is, in 2019, I made more time for reading than in previous years. I managed to complete a book a week last year and already in the first half of 2020, I have completed more books than last year’s total.  I stress books completed, because I start many that I don’t finish. So with the unfinished books, my reading has drastically increased and I am not a fast reader - in most situations, I’m more of a word for word reader. 

I have tried to vary my reading palate. Prior to the past few years, I was mostly interested in non-fiction.  In my young adult years, I felt that reading fiction was a luxury I could not afford myself. Not that I haven’t appreciated certain works of fiction, from time to time.  The Magus, Peace Like a River, The Handmaid’s Tale, and March, each left an impression on me. In addition, I have always loved Jane Austen, the Brontës, Gone with the Wind and Anna Karenina, which have been on my read and re-read comfort list for the past 45 years.

What’s interesting is that I became more interested in fiction during law school, which I attended in my late 30’s.  In my final year, I took a law and literature course.  This required reading a book or short story each week and submitting a 3 page opinion essay, examining the legal aspects of what we read. Among the literature covered was To Kill a Mocking Bird, Native Son, and A Doll’s House.  This class was the beginning of my deeper appreciation for fiction, as well as the impetus for my embracing personal essays as a medium for writing, even though I wasn’t aware of this at the time.  

My nonfiction tastes are all over the place and they have been grounded in my need to learn things. Reading, in that sense, has been a vehicle for continuing my education and with the internet becoming home base for the past 25 years, books have not provided the majority of my reading material, until recently.  

In the past two years I have continued to appreciate non-fiction, but more in the form of memoir and self-help, such as Educated, Becoming, Untamed, The Artist’s Way, Inheritance and the books of Brené Brown and Eckhardt Tolle.  Aso, I can honestly say that I have now embraced fiction.  This has been especially true during the past several months, as I limit my time spent on social media and watching news.  My favorite genre is historical and/or culturally diverse fiction.  So, I’ve maintained my predeliction for learning through my reading, but it is enhanced by good writing and good storytelling.  

I’ve learned that I have strong visual images associated with my reading and I often can remember details in these images, rather than in the names of characters or places. A sampling of some of my favorites from this year are A Gentleman in Moscow, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Water Dancer, The Henna Artist, and The Book of Longings.  Each of these novels evoked strong imagery through their vividly descriptive narratives.

In the past few weeks, I have intentionally focused on and appreciated the works of additional African-American authors, with Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God and Britt Bennett’s The Vanishing Half, as well as anti-racist literature starting with I’m Still Here, Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown and Between the World and Me by Ta Nahisi Coates.

I’ve been keeping a log of the books I’ve read for the past few years and have recently begun to journal about the books. My TBR list is evergrowing and is inspired by so many sources.  I’m always making notes of authors and titles. So much to read and even with more time for reading, still never enough. 

I hope to dedicate upcoming blog posts and highlight on Instagram  @intermezzo_reflections #bookstagram more about the books in my life.