Day 1223: Light reading plans
Jul. 27th, 2023 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeThis evening I was extra-tired, emotionally spent, and unable to find something satisfying to read, because I was being much too particular. I also wondered why I was so tired. I'd slept rather poorly last night, and I'd gone to the university today to get another library book, and I'd done a bunch of cleaning at J's house, but that didn't seem to account for it. Then I remembered that I'd gone on a walk with the birdsong app earlier in the day, in full sunshine, and had gotten tired and sweaty. (It wasn't all that hot, 82, but I usually walk in the evening so I'm not used to it. But birds are pretty quiet at my usual walking times.)
So... this afternoon the app and I heard towhees, crows, chickadees, "lesser goldfinches," and a song sparrow; it also heard a starling that I didn't see. Meanwhile I saw multiple crows, a big dragonfly, a swallowtail butterfly, and a whole family of silent wild turkeys - mama and eight chicks, I think. A couple hours later, at the university, the app and I heard only a house finch, though I did see a chickadee.
Anyway - reading! Before I go to sleep, I usually want to read something fairly light, and that ideally I've already read before. I wanted something like that for earlier this evening too, since I was so tired; I didn't have the energy to continue with either of the two new books I've been reading. I looked at lots of my books and concluded that I wanted something... happy, ideally also humorous, with minimal action or other excitement or sadness. And of course familiar, yet not so familiar that I'd just read it in the past year or two. The best I was coming up with was one of those Jane Austen fan fiction novels, or possibly the first book in the Temeraire series, though that might have too much action and it's a nine-book series.
So then I went through my "books completed" list for the last several years, and that led me to think of other possibilities, and now I have a pretty good list, which I'm going to keep here for reference. It is: Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw, Megan Whelan Turner's series that starts with The Thief (which I want to reread before I read the new story collection), the Mercedes Lackey fairy tale mash-up series that I read every few years, maybe the Sophie Kinsella books I've already read, maybe the Angela Thirkell books I like to reread, maybe P.J. Wodehouse, and finally the series I eventually settled on, the E.F. Benson series about Mapp and Lucia. I have a paperback omnibus of the first three books but I think it's packed up in a box, so I downloaded the first from Project Gutenberg. Now I get to spend some time in Riseholme, England - the only thing I really remember from this one is that Lucia arranges for all her friends to pose in tableaux.
So... this afternoon the app and I heard towhees, crows, chickadees, "lesser goldfinches," and a song sparrow; it also heard a starling that I didn't see. Meanwhile I saw multiple crows, a big dragonfly, a swallowtail butterfly, and a whole family of silent wild turkeys - mama and eight chicks, I think. A couple hours later, at the university, the app and I heard only a house finch, though I did see a chickadee.
Anyway - reading! Before I go to sleep, I usually want to read something fairly light, and that ideally I've already read before. I wanted something like that for earlier this evening too, since I was so tired; I didn't have the energy to continue with either of the two new books I've been reading. I looked at lots of my books and concluded that I wanted something... happy, ideally also humorous, with minimal action or other excitement or sadness. And of course familiar, yet not so familiar that I'd just read it in the past year or two. The best I was coming up with was one of those Jane Austen fan fiction novels, or possibly the first book in the Temeraire series, though that might have too much action and it's a nine-book series.
So then I went through my "books completed" list for the last several years, and that led me to think of other possibilities, and now I have a pretty good list, which I'm going to keep here for reference. It is: Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw, Megan Whelan Turner's series that starts with The Thief (which I want to reread before I read the new story collection), the Mercedes Lackey fairy tale mash-up series that I read every few years, maybe the Sophie Kinsella books I've already read, maybe the Angela Thirkell books I like to reread, maybe P.J. Wodehouse, and finally the series I eventually settled on, the E.F. Benson series about Mapp and Lucia. I have a paperback omnibus of the first three books but I think it's packed up in a box, so I downloaded the first from Project Gutenberg. Now I get to spend some time in Riseholme, England - the only thing I really remember from this one is that Lucia arranges for all her friends to pose in tableaux.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-28 11:58 pm (UTC)"Lucia arranges for all her friends to pose in tableaux."
That is what I often also do before sleep, read something familiar. Btw that Emma book by A.Mc.Smith had me laughing, that was a great read, thank you for telling me about it.
Or I read mystery short stories.
That Merlin app really sounds amazing! I wonder how my phone battery would hold up, ha hah. (It is old with issues).
no subject
Date: 2023-07-29 07:14 pm (UTC)I do have to recharge my phone battery a bit more often now, but that's because I keep forgetting that the Merlin app is running, instead of turning it off when I come in. The phone goes black when I'm not using it, so it's hard to remember that I've still got it doing something.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-30 11:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-31 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-08-01 01:16 am (UTC)