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| Bear Despair |
So, lots of people like books and lots of people like reading, but where is one to find good books and where does one find good recommendations?
I have found that the best place is other peoples blogs, the recommendation sytem on Amazon is so monetised and maniptate/manipulated its almost offputting to read. And slowly and surely I fell out of love with reading. I happened so gradually I didn't even really feel it happening. I replaced the book with projects I told myself I would work on, I replaced the adventures that I could go on in my mind with short antedotes from reddit and twitter. I left tons of things undone so I would never be able to unbusy myself enough to get around to figuring out why I felt so bored and restless most of the time. I even tried to make myself listen to podcasts and the newsmore often.
Sometimes I outright forced myself to pick up a book and read it but then I would put it off and put if off, until finally the threat of late charges would force me to return it, back to the public library I had got it from, unread.
So I dig through old blogs instead.
My most favourite one is Seven Impossible Things. The blogs' author Jules certainly know how to write up a book, taking the time to get a full page spread and speaking to the author where he can, I have spent many a Sunday afternoon or days when I am in need to cheering up on that blog.
Second favourite is Vintage Books My Kid Loves , it also happens to be about kids books and is a great place to reminise on some of those books you read as a kid or catch up on the ones you missed.
Strangely enough, none of these sites actually lead to me reading books, I just didnt seem to have the same level of concentration that I normally had before, my mind kept wandering. So I thought maybe I could combine my love of music with that of books. intead of podcasts on topics I did not want to learn more about, even though I should... I found podcasts about books instead.
The gothic book was introduced to me through the Guardian Books Podcasts I also finally heard Marlon James in his own voice. His conviction and the releif he took from getting his words written down and giving characters a voice really started to pull me in the way books used to and I was determined to make sure I would get some reading done. Also, their podcast on ghost stories introduced me to the Edwardian writer Saki who I would definitely like to read further.
I long to fall so hard for a book that I would not want to read another.
