Well, I'm sure you're all utterly deflated that this blog has seen less action than Milli Vanilli in recent (and not so recent) months. I'm sorry. I don't really know what's happened. I must be going through some sort of quarter-life crisis in which reading does not appear to play nearly so prominent a role as it used to.
The last book I finished was The Fatal Shore, almost a month ago. Since then, I have started The Secret River, by Kate Grenville (after somehow not being in the mood for A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson). I'm around page 20. I have not read more than twenty pages of a book for nearly a month. Before that, I read ONE book in the five months between April and September.
This is not normal. This is borderline appalling. I read more books in two weeks in March than I have read in the past six months. I have a whole wall (which, granted, is less than most people reading this blog probably have) full of books which I bought and have not yet read. It's not like I couldn't find a book to interest me, if I really tried.
So what's going on?
Well, I have no idea, really. For some reason, I get home from work and... it just doesn't occur to me to pick up a book. I get up on the weekends, and the thought of sitting down for hours on end with a novel doesn't sound like that much fun.
I don't even know what I'm doing instead. Cooking? Cleaning? Drinking? Exercising? (Definitely not that last one.) But whatever it is I'm doing, I'm actually having a lot of fun doing it.
I miss reading. A lot. I especially miss the many people I met through books and through book discussion. I miss the free books I always would sign up for, and I miss looking forward to monthly book newsletters. I miss this blog.
But I'm not depressed by it. I'm not going to blame my lack of reading on my time spent in New Zealand... but really, I think that is absolutely what led to my current situation.
I like being active. Doing things- it doesn't matter what, really. Going out on the town. Walking outside. Cooking. Cleaning. I think while I was in New Zealand, I realized that I am twenty-four years old, I live in an amazing, gorgeous, wonderful city, I am surrounded by friends I love and by people that could BECOME friends I love, if I just got to know them. And so... reading has taken a bit of a backseat.
I don't know if this is a permanent change. I would have to honestly say that when winter comes, it seem pretty likely that my enthusiasm for leaving the house will diminish. But I don't think I'll ever go back to reading at the pace I used to. I do hope that I will start reading more regularly again- I'm sure I will, as it is a huge part of my personality and one of my favorite parts of the day. But it's very possible this blog won't have nearly so many updates as it used to have.
But it's ok- because right now, most aspects of my life are really pretty good :-)
You know, I would say that I was about your age when I stopped reading. I think life just starts to happen to you and your interests change a little (or a lot). There is more to life than reading - and you should enjoy it!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Daphne- I think I've sort of come to terms with it, except I sometimes I get freaked out that my entire personality is changing!
ReplyDeleteAt any rate... it's supposed to drop 20 degrees overnight, so winter may be coming soon enough for me to get a lot more reading in by the end of the year!