Hello 2023, I can see you lurking there.

     I’ve gone off book reading again recently.  It’s not a conscious decision but when I find myself with a few minutes to spare its rarely a paperback that jumps to the front of my thoughts.  Time isn’t squandered. There are magazine articles and graphic novels to be read, podcasts and audible to be listened to and any number of TV platforms from which some fantastically entertaining and very well written TV shows, documentaries and films queue to be viewed.

None of this stops me loving a good book still or spending happy hours beach-combing the second-hand bookstores or the shelves of charity shops for something special to add to the collection.  The collection expands independently of my reading moods….  because books aren’t just for reading you know!

That said, it is time to dig back into the collection with a greater enthusiasm and to rekindle the passion because when the words flow in, there just isn’t anything quite like getting lost in a good book.

So, with this in mind, I’m going to do what I did last time this happened, which is go for teenage and children’s books from the 60s 70s and 80s.  The reasons for this are practical in as much that they tend to be around the 150 page size so no single book is too great a commitment in its self. They aren’t as a rule; verbose or flabby in their telling or carrying extra word count just to look like better value for money on the supermarket shelves. Kids’ books from back then strike me as quite adult in the ground they cover and in the way they talk to their readers.  And finally, some of the best books I’ve read in recent years, and some of the most interesting authors, have been found under the Lion, Puffin and Puffin Plus imprints from back in those decades.

Hopefully these won’t be the only kinds of books I read through the year because my collection covers quite a mix of authors, genres, and recommended reading ages, but it should, at the very least, get the reading muscles pumping again and get the concentration back into shape for the months to come.

I also intend to keep a count of my progress and write a little word or two by way of a review of each read.  More often than not, these reviews will be of my thoughts rather than the books themselves because it’s all subjective really and who am I to put you off something you fancy.  Reading old books is a bit like having a conversation with someone from a different time so unless it’s particularly substandard and moronic, it would be crass to pick on just one of the participants if it doesn’t go well.

Which should all tie in to blogging and something else I want to do more of this year which is writing.  Writing these blog posts and book thoughts but also various other avenues down which to send thought and word in combination. More on those as the year progresses and ideas take shape but let’s at least set off into 2023 with good intentions and a vague direction of where we would like to end up.  As ever though, it’s the journey as much as the destination that makes the trip worthwhile.

Steve