Why, hello there. Feels rather awkward to just pick up where I left off because it’s been a while. A long while. So long, in fact, that I don’t know if I have any readers/visitors left.
Confession: Since the last time I posted (October 2009) I have not read. Anything. At all. I have been reading piles and piles of books for my research essays, but you know what I’m referring to. The leisurely, voluntary type of reading. While I don’t want to force myself into anything, I think I need to be more deliberate about my (currently non-existent) reading habits, or I might just find myself in a perpetual bookless rut for eternity.
I want to rediscover the magic of reading.
Writing a blog entry isn’t really going to solve anything, I know. But it’s a step forward. At least this will sort of keep me accountable right? Hopefully, the next time I post, I’ll have something more book-ish to write about. But until then, au revoir, and happy reading :)
tuesdays in silhouette 
Hey, good to hear from you! I hope you find more time to read something more satisfying than research material!
Hi there!! Yes, I hope so too :) :)
I see you’ve made a lot of changes to your blog~ It looks great! I like the new name too – ‘book clutter’… I really, really want to see more book clutter in my life :(
Hi Tuesday, glad to see you at your blog again! Best of luck overcoming your reading slump.
Hi Sarah :)
thank you for the encouragement!
Tuesday, we all know how school goes. As an undergrad, I had no time for leisure reading, so I went four years reading, maybe 10 books for pleasure! I think the magical thing about reading is that whenever you feel ready to devour books again, they’ll be there waiting for you!
Steph!! :)
Ugh, uni is crazy right now. I can’t wait until the end of this semester; it’s an absolute nightmare. I feel putting in more effort than previous semesters but my grades……… HMM.
But I really did miss books and blogging! Reading your blogs! And discussing books with you guys! Its good to be backkkkk :)
Tuesday, I didn’t read anything for leisure during school either. Of course, I was an English major, so I did get some novels in there for classes. But there was also a class. I do hope, though, that you get a chance during some vacation, some break, or some long weekend to read SOMETHING. It’s nice to hear from you again! Hang in there!
Hi Rebecca!
I missed you guys a lot hahaha. It’s nice to hear from you again too! Thanks for the encouraging words :) :)
Tuesday, so glad you popped in! Yes, rediscovering the magic of reading. I will quote a very long passage from The Thirteenth Tale: “I have always been a reader; I have read at every stage of my life and there has never been a time when reading was not my greatest joy. And yet I cannot pretend that the reading I have done in my adult years matches in its impact on my soul the reading I did as a child. I still believe in stories. I still forget myself when I am in the middle of a good book. Yet it is not the same. Books are for me, it must be said, the most important thing; what I cannot forget is that there was a time when they were at once more banal and more essential than that. When I was a child books were everything. And so there is in me, always, a nostalgic yearning for the lost pleasure of books.”
Claire! Yay, you finally moved to WordPress!!! Is it better than Blogspot? Thanks muchly for the quote; it’s a beautiful quote. In a sad sort of way. Forgive me my ignorance, but what is The Thirteenth Tale? I’m so lazy, I should probably just Wikipedia it…
Lol. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, a sort of gothic mystery novel in the vein of DuMaurier and (sort of) the Brontës.. of course, contemporary style.
I know, it is sad, but sometimes we find an author who brings us back to that state, you know. So that’s what we should be aiming for. To get back the feeling.
I love WordPress! As you say, the dashboard is super. The only thing is, I can’t seem to find the perfect theme. Must’ve changed themes a hundred times. The current one I love but there isn’t a sidebar. This one you have is new and I tried it, and loved it except the font is too big. If only there was an option to change font size, WordPress would be more than perfect.
Yes, the theme thing bugs me too. I think we must have discussed this MANY times before, but a lot of the themes would be great if they were tweakable/more flexible. Theres always one thing that’s not quite right.
Oh! By the way, this is referring to your post now… I don’t think I really liked Kristin Lavransdatter, but I really really liked the whole group readalong thing. And I’m majorly bummed that I missed out on the Virginia Woolf one. But yeah I was looking over your group reading plans post and the list looks really good! Do you reckon I could join in every now and then?? I really could do with some readalong-ing to motivate me :)
I’m being stubborn, and forcing myself to finish KL, just because I want to be able to say I’ve finished it. And also so I can post some sort of concluding remark on my blog. But I want to read Kenzaburo Oe and more Marquez, and Tobias Wolff. Weee~
I’d loooooove for you to join in any of the shared reads!!! How far along are you in KL now? It was so funny reading about all the things we hated about Kristin. You could finish it, just to give yourself the satisfaction! I was so happy to cross of Undset’s name in my Nobel Project list! :D
Chapter 6 of the final book, so not long to go! It’s actually not so bad now that I’m gritting my teeth and pushing myself through it. Sometimes, I think I need more discipline as a reader – I need to learn to grit myself and read things I don’t love instead of being overly picky/selective about my reading choices.
Same here, same here. Hope you are encouraged to continue. Of the whole book, the ending I liked. (And I don’t mean that in a nasty way.) :D