Reading Several Novels at Once and Missing Coffee

I'll make this brief: I wish coffee loved me like I love it. Okay, I'm done. I'll just cry about it later on.

in color this cover is stunning

Do you ever go through periods where you realize that there are so many good books to read and you want to read them all? That's where I am right now.

I have 9 books going.. really going. I read from each of them each day if even for a page or two (my goal is a chapter per day.)

I don't care about finishing novels as quickly as possible. I want to live between the pages of the book. To have the characters follow me around all day and night.

All else filling up my literary plate these days...

Let nothing stop you from reading. Make time. Even if you can only spare one chapter each morning and each night.

Cut the boring conversation short. Leave the party just a bit early. Carve out that time. You'll meet your truest self between the pages.

Happy reading. 

Last Coffees, Books and Nature Walks

one of my last coffees

The truth is that I hate talking about the inflammatory response from coffee because I love it so much. Truth is LOOK at the title of this blog! I may have to change it from Coffee and Copyrights over to something else because it won't feel authentic anymore.

The truth is that I've been loving coffee since my first sip in 1st grade. I honestly know that I would have to give it up entirely before thinking I could just have it on the weekends or special occasions (tried this and is anyone else sensing the addiction vibes here?)

Anyway... this last hot cup this morning is made with single origin organic beans from Peru (direct trade) and I am going to enjoy it to the last sip and let go... I'll report back.. either with an entirely new name or an entire blogspot full of tear face emojis. It doesn't matter... no one really reads this any way.

On to the books

I bought quite a few books this week and had a few shipped from the UK. Last week was a slow reading week for me, but I'm hoping to turn that around this week. 

it came sooner than I thought, but I have another due late this week or next

I also went to the library one day and choose a seat by the window and read for an hour. I realize that I want to go back to doing this more. 

I had such a relaxing time and it was so nice to only see out of the window and not glance up and every passing person and child.

This week I just scrolled through my kindle fire and chose a title for fiction reading. Nothing drew me to it really, but I wanted something light and easy to get me to shift from classics (still reading Daniel Deronda and Persuasion) and away from all the non fiction I've been reading.

So far, it was a good choice only one chapter into it. I wanted a no pressure book, and I got one. 

reading by the window at the library

Off to organize this week and include lots of time for relaxation and reading. I truly need it. 

Wishing you a slow living, coffee free week 

 

Finally Beginning My Next George Eliot

I absolutely loved Middlemarch. It is on my definite must re-read list. 

I anticipate (after reading just 2 chapters), that Daniel Deronda is going to be much more light in terms of subject matter and content. I am here for it.

Ms Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) as such a way with writing characters, that I am entranced at the start of the novel.

So for the "The Spoiled Child" is proving herself to be exactly that. Spoiled and exacting. 

These are early days, but I am in love with it so far.

Look at this cover! Yes I pick my Kindle books by cover as well

In truth, I have Adam Bede on my TBR as well, and if all goes to plan, I'll get to it before 2023 is out.

Happy classic reading my slow living friends.

Coffee and The City

New York City is my favorite place on earth. I spent the past few days walking the city, going to Broadway, drinking coffee and reading on the train.

As I browsed a physical bookstore in Rockefeller Plaza, I felt so warm inside. The feeling of being surrounded by a ton of gorgeous books cannot be replicated.

As much as I love and adore my kindle- I read 95% of my books digitally- I am a sucker for a beautiful bookstore.

I browsed around on a briskly cool day, just thinking about what it means to be a reader. 

I never tire of spending time between the pages of amazing books.

I added so many books to my TBR while walking around. Just the energy from beautiful books is sustaining.

As I boarded the train on my way back home, I took a deep breath while remembering just how special being a reader is to my essential existence.

I toy around with creating BookTube videos again, but in truth what I miss is that feeling of being able to express just how much reading does for my mental health and for my well-being.

I'm not sure video making or blogging will ever truly convey what it means to sink deeply down into a well written literary work for helping maintain my sanity.

My wish is that every reader is able to touch this sublime feeling that great literature provides.

Happy reading slow living friends. 

Catching Up and Reading Slower in 2023

I go back and forth on if I"ll make reading vlogs again.

Sometimes it feels like that would be the easiest way to get my content back out there, but I remember the time commitment- so I'm playing around with a few ideas and concepts.

It doesn't bother me to start my channel over. I always desired a small viewership, so that will be just fine. I'll keep you posted.

Lately, I've been very busy helping my loved me adjust to life after illness- while maintaining emotional health and all other appointments, and I have been very conscious to slow down my reading.

My reading life has felt cozy and consistently fun. I've been reading loads of non-fiction and doing my zillionith re-read of Anna Karenina. My favorite novel. 

This week I'm reading:

I'm also reading a host of informative non-fiction reads and wellness books.

As I get ready to head to New York, I'm so happy that I don't ever have to decide what book to bring with me because my kindle holds them all.

Off to enjoy this cozy peaceful Sunday.

Happy reading. 

Private Book Blog and Thoughts This Week

I've decided finally to make this reading blog private in the future. I'd like my daughter (if she chooses to) and myself to have a space where I catalog what I'm reading and how I'm feeling about it.

This incessant need to turn every single thought and action into a productivity march is exhausting and I quit. I may even quit this blog. I am unsure. 

In the meantime, I've cleaned up my kindle and I am now keeping just a currently reading folder open and that has helped to organize my thoughts. My reading has slowed down tremendously and I really enjoy that. 

I've discovered Jill Mansell- who I am sure I read a million years ago, but I have a host of her books on hold at my library and I am excited beyond measure to get to them. I thought I might go out to the library later, but there is truly no need so I will stay in and read what I have in between some business.

This week and month are almost rounding down and I quite interested in the process of reading less and reading so much slower.

My current re-read of Anna Karenina is going so so so slowly and I just love it. I could honestly read this novel in a week or two, but my goal is about 3 months or a little less.

I love that.

The less BookTube I watch (or the more specific BookTubers I watch), the more my own reading tastes naturally come back.

I know the order of the world is all social internet connections, but I have to admit, it doesn't gel with me. I'm going to keep forging my own path- even if it leaves me on the edge alone.

Happy reading. 

I'm Not Forcing Myself Anymore

Force is a strong word, but I won't be trying to make myself read as many romance novels anymore.

I continue to struggle to finish them. 

I can read a 815 page classic with no problem, but a 215 page romance novel often leaves me bored.

THIS is NOT some crusade against romance novels. The world is ready to vilify any woman who doesn't stand on the mount of "Romances are Better Than Anything", but there has to be enough room for everything women like to read- and shocker that isn't JUST romance.

I enjoy the idea of romance novels. There was a time I could read like 4 back to to back. 

Those days are gone. 

I've always been a classics lover. Literary fiction is a close second, but the depressing theme and nature of most literary fiction (as if the only way to tell a beautifully written story is to lace it with tragedy) wears thin, and translated fiction comes in right at the same level.

But, there are times I want something light. Something that I can sit with at night and really enjoy.

I tried cozy mysteries. Over and over. Sometimes I land on a gem, but most times I care about the cozy and NOT the mystery. Well, some would say THAT is a romance novel... well, it isn't.

The cozy part of cozy mystery has our central female protagonist, but she is in a community and has other things going on (her bakery, candle shop, etc.) and the guy part is secondary.

It all leads me to this point:

When I was in college and a young mom shortly thereafter, I found solace between my graduate studies and a failing marriage in UK based chick lit. Before you send pitchforks for the term chick lit, that's how it was classified (and sometimes still is)- and I don't find any problem here.

The novels were SO far from anything that seemed realistic, that like a Harlequin Presents novel it felt hysterically unlikely for anything my life could imagine.

I began to escape into the Cotswolds or somewhere in England. The novels are women's fiction with a slight romance and very little steam. It's truly a story of the woman's journey, mixed with friends, families, etc.

There is usually a serious element found within (divorce, infertility, loss of a parent, etc.) and lots of other things that plague women. 

Sure you can go with the Shopaholics lighter side of things, or you can venture to other authors who provide a more robust view of women's experiences- although I ADORE the Shopaholic books.

I'm saying all this to say, after Nora Roberts scared the skin off of me, I realized that I can'r deny how my reading becomes influenced by BookTube, how I am NOT reading for a degree when I'm reading fiction, and I should only EVER read novels that I think will be 5 star ⭐️ books, or 5 star ⭐️ experiences.

I miss the lightness of having a coffee and being lost in a fun and breezy story.

My classics will remain. I will continue to read and re-read them for as long as I'm alive. Right now I"m on my umpteenth re-read of Anna Karenina (and I discover new things every time) and I added a cute Jill Mansell story late at night as I tried to scrub my brain free of the beginning of The Obsession. 

Do We Need to "Finish" Every Book?

Short answer: No

Long answer: No you do not. Only read what calls to your soul or entertains you greatly. 

The Benefits of Constantly Re-Reading The Same Novels

I know I know. It seems tedious, unnecessary and boring.

I assure you, it is not.

if anna were alive today...

Let me start by telling you which novels I constantly re-read:

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Jane Eyre by Charolette Brontë
3. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
4. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
6. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Now that you can see what I always re-read, can you sense a theme? 

If you didn't notice it, the theme is: GREAT moving literature. Sweeping stories of love, loss, family, duty, morality, and so much more.

There are amazing books NOT on this list that I have re-read, but I am only mentioning those that I re-read frequently and often.

I simply cannot get enough of the novels above. I just keep squeezing, and squeezing the life out of these characters. I feel like I know (were they alive in real life) what each of them would do in certain situations.

They feel wholly real and authentic to me. Endlessly affecting. 

I've been known to

Ignore contemporarily published literature that bookish friends recommend, in order to curl up with Anna Karenina for the umpteenth time.

Have audio, physical, and ebook editions of my favorite novels to pull parts from at all times.

Let library books be due back before reading them in favor of picking up a frequent re-read

What pleasure do I derive from this behavior?

I get to meet old friends on the page. I get to hang out again with Levin. I get to go back with Kitty to the party where she prays that Vronsky will FINALLY ask for her hand in marriage.

I allow myself to be transported back to the dinner table with the Bennets as Mr. Collins compliments the "excellent boiled potatoes".

I get to gasp as Bathsheba Everdene does the wildly feminist thing of turning down Gabriel Oak at first take as she proclaims that she is her own person with her own wishes and being a wife isn't at the top of that list.

A challenge:

I dare you to ignore the "recently published" shelf in favor of a comforting re-read.

I dare you to curl up with a favorite book for a quiet afternoon and I dare you not to be moved by it.

I'll be over here doing my zillionth re-read of Anna Karenina after just finishing my millionth re-read of Jane Eyre.

Sure it's a new year and new shiny titles are the shelves. I read more than one book at a time, so I'll able to read new to me books (though rarely newly published books), AND stay in the company of my beloved classics.

Happy re-reading

Physical When Proven 5 Star ⭐️

my used bookshelf

I will not buy a physical book that I won't endlessly re-read.

I will not purchase a physical book that I do not consider a 5 star ⭐️ read.

I will not purchase a physical book that is not beautiful.

As a result

My physical books shelf has ONLY books I deem to be exceptional literature that has changed my life. It only contains books that I have read and re-read or will re-read in the near future.

I put up and thumb through the titles all the times.

There are a myriad of ways to keep and read books, this is just how I do it and I love it. 

Happy book collecting. ☕️