I have to admit these days I feel a little anxious when asked what I am reading. Earlier in life I could have answered in a flash. Take 13 for example. That was the year decided to forgo lunchtime talk of Duran Duran, perms and leg warmers for a quiet read of Dicken's Pickwick Papers. Nerdy introvert? You bet. But I loved reading. It carried through to university where I did a literature major.
But now? Insert sound of crickets chirping. Show tumbleweed drifting past.
I'm afraid the closest I get to fiction is something that comes out of a preschooler's mouth. And cover-to-cover is more likely to relate to changing bed linen than reading a bestseller. I can tell you now, that signing up to booklovers' website GoodReads was probaby a mistake. Talk about harbouring an inferiority complex. As other people add vast quantities of read books to their online list, I simply rearrange a minuscule collection of books (including ones being read by my children) on my virtual bookshelves.
I still adore books and in reality have an extensive, ever expanding collection. These days its mostly non-fiction and hobby-related. Which brings me to my recommendation for this theme (and I apologise if sewing isn't your thing):
I'm pretty sure I have mentioned this title before (I purchased it not long after I started sewing and its a firm favourite), but it happens to be the book that I am referring to most frequently. Its a wonderful reference for making all manner of alterations for women's clothes. The explanations. directions and diagrams are very clear and realistic body shapes are used throughout. (It has helped me understand why some off-the-rack clothes just don't look right on me.) Palmer and Alto have also written two excellent texts specific to fitting jackets and trousers.Fit For Real People
Sew great clothes using any pattern
By Pati Palmer and Marta Alto
Published in 2006 by Palmer/Pletch
256 pages
Thank you to Cindy for hosting Eye Spy and to Monique for the fun theme. To discover more good reads, head over here.
I have the exact same problem. Worse probably because I don't seem to be capable of reading anything without skimming mindlessly anymore. Maybe I should invest in some sewing books!
ReplyDeleteThank you. That's a really good recommendation. I have a similar book on pattern cutting but it doesn't go into different body shapes much.
ReplyDeleteAnd on the fiction reading, there seems to be a natural "break" in your thirties when a lot of people swich to non-fiction. I shifted to biographies and autobiographies then and after that to other types of non-fiction (and this type of "useful" reading). Don't fight it. Roll with it. It doesn't mean you never read fiction again.
sounds like a really good book to have :D another sewing book to try to find :)
ReplyDeleteit never matters what a person reads, as long as they read something :) which is why I have no problems with kids reading pretty much anything as long as its explained to them :) thats what mom did for us and both me and my sister love reading
That does look like a good book. Perhaps we should just tie up our children together and get some reading done
ReplyDeleteI am reading my first fiction book at the moment since I can't remember when. I am loving it but it is making me go to bed later than I would like! It is The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. It is set in Melbourne, so you really feel part of it.
ReplyDeleteI had that book. Over here. In storage. I was really looking forward to getting it back. But it didn't survive the floods, mold and termites. Argh.
ReplyDeleteAnd I STILL rarely read, even though I was known for reading up to ninety full size novels in a weeks span when I was a kid. Not a lie. Now look at me, though. If I read anything, it's a magazine, or the last half of a book I have read about twenty times already. Tragic.