{"id":318,"date":"2016-07-11T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/07\/11\/book-expectations\/"},"modified":"2020-10-28T02:43:56","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T02:43:56","slug":"book-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/07\/11\/book-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\"woodland<\/a><\/div>\n

This week has been a bit iffy. \u00a0One sick child, two broken lawnmowers (rider and push mower) three trips to the grocery store, or was it four? \u00a0It did have a few bright spots. A trip to visit my grandmother that turned into an impromptu family reunion because so many family members had the same idea. \u00a0A dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant. \u00a0Too many ice cream sundaes.<\/p>\n

I did finally have some time to read. \u00a0I read less in the summer. \u00a0The kids are off school which makes life strangely busier and the weather is nicer so we do more in the evenings. \u00a0In the winter I just curl up with a blanket and a book. \u00a0In the summer I am much more likely to be outside instead. \u00a0 This week I managed to finish the fourth book in the Lymond Chronicles. \u00a0Is everyone sick of hearing about my progress through these books? \u00a0I am sorry but they are almost all I have been reading lately. \u00a0I did have to take a break after finishing Pawn in Frankincense<\/i>\u00a0though. \u00a0It was just so traumatic. \u00a0I read something a bit easier with a bit less death. \u00a0I also abandoned a mystery when I was halfway through. \u00a0There was nothing wrong with it, I just didn’t care who did it and that isn’t good when you are reading a mystery.<\/p>\n

I find, in recent years, I expect more out of a book. \u00a0I used to read pretty indiscriminately. \u00a0It wasn’t that I couldn’t tell the difference between a wonderful book and an okay one, it was more that I was willing to devour any and all books. \u00a0Lately, I don’t have the patience for the just okay books. \u00a0I don’t mean I always read deep and heavy books, after all, I love Georgette Heyer and she is pure fluff. \u00a0But she is well-written, captivating fluff and I think that is the difference. \u00a0If the book doesn’t pull me in completely I don’t have a desire to continue it.<\/p>\n

I think that possibly reading blogs and blogging has something to do with that. \u00a0I have encountered so many fantastic authors that I would have never heard of otherwise. \u00a0Before, I mainly found new authors by stumbling across them in the library. \u00a0That is a bit hit or miss and, since the library in the town I currently live in is pretty abysmal, it had been a while since I had come across a new author that I really loved. \u00a0Most of my old favorites, Angela Thirkell, Dorothy Sayers, Mary Stewart, were from years ago when the library I went to was much more comprehensive. \u00a0I had gotten used to reading whatever I could find, whether it was great or not, because that was all there was. \u00a0Then I discovered book blogs and became a bit obsessed with tracking down all the books I was reading about. \u00a0I fell in love with Persephone books and authors like Mollie Panter-Downes and I rediscovered some I had read years ago and forgotten about like Barbara Pym. \u00a0I recaptured that old feeling of loving a book.<\/p>\n

It can be compared to someone who eats a lot of fast food. \u00a0Maybe they get used to those burgers and even kind of like them. \u00a0They are quick, and convenient and fill a need. \u00a0But then they start eating home-cooked food and suddenly those fast food burgers don’t taste as good anymore. \u00a0Some books are just fast food books and that can be okay but sometimes, once you have started them, you find yourself pushing them aside like that unfinished fast-food burger that tasted good for the first few bites but is then unappealing.<\/p>\n

I am not sure I am explaining myself very well but I am finding it interesting that books I might have basically enjoyed years ago are not capturing my interest lately. \u00a0Do you find something similar that has happened to your reading interests?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 This week has been a bit iffy. \u00a0One sick child, two broken lawnmowers (rider and push mower) three trips to the grocery store, or was it four? \u00a0It did have a few bright spots. A trip to visit my grandmother that turned into an impromptu family reunion because so many family members had the same idea. \u00a0A dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant. \u00a0Too many ice cream sundaes. I did finally have some time to read. \u00a0I read less in the summer. \u00a0The kids are off school which makes life strangely busier and the weather is nicer so we do more in the evenings. \u00a0In the winter I just curl up with a blanket and a book. \u00a0In the summer I am much more likely to be outside instead. \u00a0 This week I managed to finish the fourth book in the Lymond Chronicles. \u00a0Is everyone sick of hearing about my progress through these books? \u00a0I am sorry but they are almost all I have been reading lately. \u00a0I did have to take a break after finishing Pawn in Frankincense\u00a0though. \u00a0It was just so traumatic. \u00a0I read something a bit easier with a bit less death. \u00a0I also abandoned a mystery when I was halfway through. \u00a0There was nothing wrong with it, I just didn’t care who did it and that isn’t good when you are reading a mystery. I find, in recent years, I expect more out of a book. \u00a0I used to read pretty indiscriminately. \u00a0It wasn’t that I couldn’t tell the difference between a wonderful book and an okay one, it was more that I was willing to devour any and all books. \u00a0Lately, I don’t have the patience for the just okay books. \u00a0I don’t mean I always read deep and heavy books, after all, I love Georgette Heyer and she is pure fluff. \u00a0But she is well-written, captivating fluff and I think that is the difference. \u00a0If the book doesn’t pull me in completely I don’t have a desire to continue it. I think that possibly reading blogs and blogging has something to do with that. \u00a0I have encountered so many fantastic authors that I would have never heard of otherwise. \u00a0Before, I mainly found new authors by stumbling across them in the library. \u00a0That is a bit hit or miss and, since the library in the town I currently live in is pretty abysmal, it had been a while since I had come across a new author that I really loved. \u00a0Most of my old favorites, Angela Thirkell, Dorothy Sayers, Mary Stewart, were from years ago when the library I went to was much more comprehensive. \u00a0I had gotten used to reading whatever I could find, whether it was great or not, because that was all there was. \u00a0Then I discovered book blogs and became a bit obsessed with tracking down all the books I was reading about. \u00a0I fell in love with Persephone books and authors like Mollie Panter-Downes and I rediscovered some I had read years ago and forgotten about like Barbara Pym. \u00a0I recaptured that old feeling of loving a book. It can be compared to someone who eats a lot of fast food. \u00a0Maybe they get used to those burgers and even kind of like them. \u00a0They are quick, and convenient and fill a need. \u00a0But then they start eating home-cooked food and suddenly those fast food burgers don’t taste as good anymore. \u00a0Some books are just fast food books and that can be okay but sometimes, once you have started them, you find yourself pushing them aside like that unfinished fast-food burger that tasted good for the first few bites but is then unappealing. I am not sure I am explaining myself very well but I am finding it interesting that books I might have basically enjoyed years ago are not capturing my interest lately. \u00a0Do you find something similar that has happened to your reading interests?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thoughts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2816,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318\/revisions\/2816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}