By the end of the year I had a stack of fourteen books on my
bedside table all crying out for me to continue reading them. In the living
room there were another twelve books and one or two books in the car. I tried
to read them. I really did. Books have always been my escape but there was no
escaping COVID-19 and the horrific stories of sickness and death. It didn’t
help that my two eldest sons, John and Mike are both General Medicine
Internists working in hospitals on the frontlines. Or, that my husband is
working with Toronto Public Health.
Fear took over. I gathered the books I’d started and put
them all downstairs on my read-one-day
shelf. I decided I’d wait until the New Year, starting fresh with whatever
books I’d received for Christmas. The pandemic still haunts us, but I must have
shaken some cobwebs from my brain. Since January 1 I’ve been able to focus on
books again, although not for the long stretches I used to manage pre-COVID-19.
What happened? I got tough on myself. Now I put a timer on
for one-hour and force myself to sit and read until the timer rings. I’ve also used
this trick with writing on days when the words seem nowhere to be found. Sit
for one hour, just one hour, I force myself. Somehow the words manage to
flow and sometimes I’ll end up writing for two or three hours. Pure magic!
It’s so delicious to
enjoy reading again. I’m loving the eclectic collection I received from family
and friends that includes memoirs, one children’s book, one young-adult and one
fiction. I’ve read three of them to date and look forward to diving into the
rest of them. I’m aiming for a book a week.
Today I ordered two new books for someone recuperating in
hospital. I wasn’t searching for home-grown talent, but after ordering I
realize both are written by Canadians. Bonus! I ordered Our Darkest Night: A
Novel of Italy and the Second World War by Jennifer Robson and Push by Ashley
Audrain. I was astonished to read in The Globe and Mail that Audrain, a
fist-time author, inked a multimillion-dollar deal and has sold the film rights
to a major producer. Congratulations! For a writer, it doesn’t get sweeter than
that.
What are you reading?
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