What to read when you get old
At my age, I read for fun. Don't talk to me about books that will make me smarter. I was already as smart as I'll ever be a few decades ago. And, reading retirement financial books is the best way to nod off quickly.
Give me a good mystery book. For me, I prefer a different era like the Nate Heller books by Max Allan Collins or James Ellroy books.
I don't give any book a big chance. If it isn't interesting from the get-go, I let go. Sure I paid for the book, but I don't have to pay more in my time to read a book that bores me. If I don't enjoy reading it, why read it? For my original investment in the book? That's silly.
Stats show that most men in their 20s and 30s don't read novels like we Boomers or Geezers used to. What a shame. There's very few things as good as settling down and reading a good book.
Jon Spoelstra
BoomerLit.com
Give me a good mystery book. For me, I prefer a different era like the Nate Heller books by Max Allan Collins or James Ellroy books.
I don't give any book a big chance. If it isn't interesting from the get-go, I let go. Sure I paid for the book, but I don't have to pay more in my time to read a book that bores me. If I don't enjoy reading it, why read it? For my original investment in the book? That's silly.
Stats show that most men in their 20s and 30s don't read novels like we Boomers or Geezers used to. What a shame. There's very few things as good as settling down and reading a good book.
Jon Spoelstra
BoomerLit.com
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Jeanie
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Mar 11, 2010 06:52AM
Enjoyed looking at your website. If you like mysteries, try Michael Connelly. Not a different era, but a great mystery writer!
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I love this post, which perfectly explains my reading tastes. I tend to feel a bit guilty for not reading more to make myself smarter and if you don't mind I'll steal your line that "I was already as smart as I'll ever be a few decades ago." Makes perfect sense and frees me from the guilt of reading mostly mysteries and thrillers. I'm looking forward to checking out your blog.
Thanks, Jon. I, too, am an Ellroy fan. If I had to list my top favorites in the mystery genre - a difficult task - I would include James Lee Burke, Jeffery Deaver, Harlan Coben, Robert B. Parker, Ed McBain, (most) Stephen King, Carl Hiaasen. . . and so forth. This is too difficult, there are so many wonderful writers. My former husband told shorly after our wedding that "reading fiction is for fools." Since he had a PhD in philosophy and since I was 22 years old, I believed him. Now I realize that NOT reading fiction is for fools.
Have you read Ian Rankin? I read him not so much for the mystery but for his character, John Rebus. I would like to have him (Rebus) as a friend, even though he would be most exasperating.
If you like books from other times, try Charles Todd. Start at the beginning, with A Test of Wills.
I think you learn a lot from reading fiction whether you intend to or not. This week I learned that cats also smell through the roofs of their mouths from a kids book my granddaughters were reading. When I want to know more about a subject, I often look for a story set in the place or era that I am interested in. Alexander McCall Smith has taught me a lot about Edinburgh and Botswana through his series and the same with Ian Rankin. I learned as much about Africa from Chinua Achebe, Alan Paton and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie as I did in African History in college.
Other books let me know how people very different from me think and feel. Fiction, and great literature, is like archaeology of the mind. When someone tells me that they never read fiction, I feel sorry for them because they are missing so much. That is why readers are lifelong learners!
Why I wrote about old guys
“If you write about old guys, it proves you’re an idiot,” a publisher friend told me, “Old guys don’t buy fiction books, only old women do.”
So, what did I do? Yup, I wrote a novel about old guys solvi ...more
So, what did I do? Yup, I wrote a novel about old guys solvi ...more
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