`

Sunday, June 23, 2013

{ 28 } Reading Writers

Hey there, blog readers. This is the first thing I've written about anything since my letter to Uncle Gary in post 27. It's not that I haven't wanted to write, it's just that I've been in a funk. A "life sickness", if you will. I've been on a constant cycle of work-sleep-repeat with the occasional lost weekend or video game binge to break up the monotony.

I have a few points to hit, so let's jump right in, shall we?

First, my hometown of Black Forest has burned to the ground. Not all of it, mind you, but the vast majority. The house my family lovely constructed still stands. But the house we lived in before that, the one in which I met my then-best friend, where my bedroom had cloud wall paper and I wrote "I hate this place" on the inside of my closet door, the house my step-dad almost burned down himself by putting hot ashes in a plastic garbage can in the garage by the hay bale for my bunnies, where my brother and I buried our only time capsule, where I watched the first Gulf War play out on a 13 inch t.v., where I practiced singing "More Than Words" to get on Star Search, where my mom's best friends move in after we moved out is gone. The whole neighborhood. Gone.

I only bring this up because one, I'm sad about it and two, Mom would always remind us "It's not if, but when" in regards to the whole place going up in flames. Assuming the family was safe, what would we take? What would we save? I'm thankful my family and most of my friend's families no longer live there. Looking at all the things I own, I wouldn't be sad if most of it was lost. But my books! My writings! My pictures! Too much. What would I save now? What would you save?

Second, I finally have someone else to act as a sounding board for my ideas. His name is Ross and he's published. Boding = well. I'll keep you posted. Maybe my mush-brain can pump out something in totality for once.

Third, I have a friend named Marcus. He likes reading but doesn't like to read. Hell, if he made it this far, big-ups. I'm thinking about doing audio recordings of at least my writings so Marcus can enjoy them. Maybe I'll audio-tise all my blogs. Thoughts?

Finally, and to the point: I read a lot. If there's not a book in my hand, there's one on my iPod. When I read print, it's 100% true crime, usually Ann Rule. I can't help it: I love murder. And Ann Rule, being a former police woman, is my hero. A quick count of my true crime library has 13 titles, 11 of which are Ms. Rule. My audiobooks are mostly made up of fiction, usually zombie or apocalyptic. Currently I'm listening to A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.. (Interesting side note: a lot of my favorite titles, Wuthering Heights, To Kill A Mocking Bird were the only novels published by those authors. Same with A Canticle for Leibowitz. Will I love it?)

Anyway, I went to grab a new paperback to read and, to my surprise, I have no more true crime on my shelf!!! I only buy books at ARC and they have been devoid of true crime recently, so what do I read? I grabbed the closest thing: The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth. Why? No clue. It's the first fiction book (even though there are real elements) I've held in my hot little hands in quite awhile. I'm eating the book like cake. But here is my question to you: what the hell do I read next? Any suggestions from Reader Land?

I'll try to be more productive. Don't hold your breath.

1 comment:

  1. Sorry to hear about your childhood home. Oddly enough, whenever we go through this time of year, you know, the time of year when the forests catch on fire, I find myself contemplating what I'd really want to save, if it came down to it. If I had the chance. And my answer is the same as yours. I mean, yeah, I have a lot of crap, but the only stuff that's really important to me? the only stuff that can't be replaced? It's my writing. I'd grab my laptop.

    ReplyDelete