I spent a couple of hours on Kindle today trying to find a book to read.
My son says I’ve caught his circadian rhythm; I make French press at 7pm and salads at 8pm, then at 6am I make another pot of coffee and nap from two in the afternoon til sometime after 4. He’s been living and working like this for a year, since he started working afternoons and evenings at a restaurant near our house. But I used to have a regular 9 to 5 mentality. It seems to have flown out the window with last weekend’s holiday or maybe some shift in the time-space continuum.
Perhaps our house is really built on a burial ground after all.
In any event, I couldn’t find anything to read despite trying all sorts of concocted searches. All the next books in my favorite couple of Scandinavian crime fiction series don’t come out in e-book until the fall. I considered something mildly educational, but I might have had to make an extra pot of dark roast to get through that. I browsed the non-violent communication texts that follow the ones which I’ve already read but nothing appealed to me. I don’t need to know how to raise children to function in a world that can’t communicate nonviolently because my kid is raised and anyway, he’s the one who has been teaching me about nonviolent communication.
I paused briefly on “The Surprising Purpose of Anger”, but really, I’m trying to stay calm so, I’d rather not have an excuse to lose my cool. Nothing! Yet I still crave the written word, on paper pages turned slowly or digital ones which glide by with the swipe of a finger.
I’ve got a couple of choices upstairs — an Anne Perry that spills goodness and patriotism in formulaic fashion; an inspirational volume called, “I Never Met My Mother” which my friend Cindy loaned me, and “House of Leaves”, which my son has been after me to try. I got a chapter into that last book a couple of months ago and stalled.
I closed down my electronic device after munching my way through a pretty darn good salad, and folded a couple of loads of laundry. I paced around the porch, checking for aphids, and then made my way back into the dining room. To the air, but for my son’s benefit, I exclaimed, “Well, I’m pretty desperate, I might just have to read ‘House of Leaves’.” Came his reply, two rooms away: “I think that’s the perfect time to read ‘House of Leaves’, when you’ve reach the point of desperation.”
He’s got an answer for everything, that one.
(For anyone interested, here are a couple of links. Check out my choices — you decide!) http://www.inevermetmymother.com/INEVERMETMYMOTHER.COM/Front_Page.html
Funny, I wouldn’t have guessed you to be a kindle reader. Interesting the assumptions we hold about others~ not that this one is of any consequence~just interesting.
I have stacks of books on my bedside table, most partially read. Frequently, I go through the titles and forgive myself, and they remain in the pile since I tell myself I’ll get back to them!
Currently, my browse through reading is the “I Am’ Discourses~so profound I cannot describe it. 🙂
In fact, I keep re-reading Chapter One, knowing I haven’t learned its’ lesson yet….
Cindy, I was dragged kicking and screaming to the e-reader generation after my eyesight started failing. My old Macbook finally started dying and I got a 10-inch droid tablet to use as a portable computing device. When I realized that I could make the print as large as I needed it at any given moment, I reluctantly admitted that an e-reader could be useful. i still prefer “real” books — the feel of them comforts me and I can take them in the bathtub!!!
It is such a great comfort to know that in spite of any mistakes we might have made in raising our child(ren). they turn out great. Your Patrick is a shining example.
Linda, given the negativity I’ve heard from some about the failure of my parenting, perhaps I should just say that Patrick turned out wonderfully in spite of me! One thing I like about him is that his values are sound. He is not materialistic. He is not mercenary. He is kind and considerate. There have been times when he’s felt under attack that he’s defended himself with a flippant attitude, but he also has owned that proclivity and has worked to change his views of other people’s criticisms of him so that he can respond nonviolently. To be honest with you, Linda, he taught himself a lot of his ways of viewing the world and his ways of behaving that arise from that view of the world. I can’t really take much credit for that! For example, I listened to him talk about retributive versus restorative justice and thought, “Wow! How did I manage to end up with such a smart and compassionate child!” You can probably guess he favors restorative justice!