What are you reading?
If someone asked you how manybooks you read in the last year, could you answer? And if they pushed further andasked which three were your favorites, could you answer? I found myselfanswering those questions recently—and because I read Kindle digital editionsalmost exclusively, I had a fairly handy answer in my Kindle account.
I know some people scorndigital editions and wax eloquent about the feel of the book in their hands,the smell of a newly opened book. I understand all that, but I usually read atmy desk—for goodness sake, I eat at my desk, phone there, practically live atmy desk when I’m awake, so it’s not unusual that I read there, especially lateat night. But I find putting a book on my desk and bending my neck to read isawkward and gives me a stiff neck. (No, I don’t know what I did all those yearsbefore Kindle). I also find the type is too small in some books and too crowdedtogether. On my oversize monitor, text is straight in front of me and clearly legible.
As for reading in bed, forgetit. I have never been comfortable doing that. When I go to bed, I go to sleep.Reading in bed would really give me a stiff neck.
Some people keep a readingjournal, listing books by date, author, plot, and personal reaction. I thinkthat’s a great idea, and some days I think I’ll start that. But I haven’t.
Back to the questions I answered.Shepherd.com is a website founded by avid reader Ben Fox to help people findthe books they want to read. Fox solicited memberships from authors and readersand began listing books by favorite topics. We were asked, for instance, todream up categories and list our favorite three books, so I listed my favoriteOutrageous Cozy Mysteries.
When a call came to list my favorite threereads in the last year, I simply went to my Kindle directory and scrolledthrough what I’d read. Here are the three I picked: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/judy-alter.It interested me that none of my favorites made the list of books most oftencited. Here’s that list: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023.I think I’m a bit proud that my books weren’t on the popular list. To me, itmeans I’m following my own personal tastes and not being swayed by what’s popular.You won’t be surprised that my list is heavily into food-related books. You’llalso find I read forty books last year—that was an estimate, and I expect it’son the low side.
Several people in an online authors’group also submitted to this list, and a bit of correspondence with themconvinces me that I need to go back and give a second chance to a couple ofauthors I’ve previously decided against. One is Richard Osmond’s retirementcenter series where a group of four meet to discuss murder—and find themselvesin the midst of real murder investigations. There are four books in the series,starting with The Thursday Murder Club. I started that once, guess Ididn’t give it enough of a chance. So I will go back to it.
The other author I’m told I’denjoy is Janet Evanovitch. I have real reservations about that, but it’s beenso long since I read about Stephanie Plum that I’m not sure why. My memorytells me I thought it was over the top crude, but I do know that thegrandmother in that series has lots of loyal followers. So I’ll try.
My one Janet Evanovich story: shespoke to a capacity crowd at TCU one night quite a few years ago, and myassigned job was to stand by the door of the ladies’ room so that she couldhave a moment of privacy between her talk and book signing. So there I stood,barring the door, when a woman came up to me and said, “I know who you are.”Well, yes, I preened a bit and thought, “She’s read my books.” No such case:she said, “You run the cash register at the Star Café.” She’d apparently caughtme at what was then my Saturday night gig in a café owned by good friends. Somuch for fame.
So, to wrap this up, right now I’mreading, Guilt Strikes at Granger’s Store, the ninth Samuel Craddockmystery by Terry Shames. I really recommend this series. It will probably go onmy favorites list next year.
In all that is so sad in ourworld these days, this struck me as particularly sad: I saw where a teenagegirl had finally brought down the “magnificent’ buck she’d been stalking for years.She talked about what an honor it was for her to kill this buck. I know peoplewho hunt for meat, but hunting for honor and glory strikes me as so wrong—and fora teenage girl. Besides, if she’s been stalking him for years, the meat willprobably be tough and stringy. Why couldn’t she have let him live his life insplendor. Color me a soft heart.
