Yesterday, when I was horrified by a movie plot twist At and Nu shared with me, I was informed that I had reacted the same way when they'd told me before. "Sorry to retraumatize you, I thought you already knew" At said. Every time I remembered that bit of the conversation today, it made me laugh.
Also: I was so relieved to get back into reading today. I was stalled on a book for over a week in a terrible self-perpetuating cycle--I wasn't enjoying it, so I wasn't making time to finish it, and I couldn't start another book while that one was unfinished (plus I had that deadline, so I didn't have much free time). I finally finished it yesterday and got to read a whole book today. (Rachel Hawkins's The Villa. I particularly enjoyed the allusion/shoutout to Mary Godwin Shelley writing Frankenstein at the Villa Diodati.) It was a relief to know it wasn't me or the genre--that other book was just bad.
Pic: Big A, Huck, and Max. They're all leaping in the air because of their proximity to the treat jar :).
8 comments:
Thank you for naming this problem! I have it, too!
I am so curious as to the book and the movie? What were they?
For the longest time after I left academia I would think, oh, I'll do that when I have more time in the summer, and then I'd remember, I don't have more time in the summer. In fact, for at least the first 15 years of so of parenthood, I had LESS because the kids were home or there were complicated day camp transportation logistics.
And now I'm kind of nostalgic for all that because I am missing my youngest.
Nice photo.
Your nail color!! It's so lovely!!
I used to be the Reverend Dimmesdale of bad books--I'd flagellate myself with that bad book by making myself finish it, no matter how bad it was and how much it made me slog and hate it. I just felt like a book was a commitment, and I worried that I'd miss The Good Part. (Like Faulkner, who is so maddening to read, but when you get to the end, you always say, "Wow! That was incredible! What a book!")
Finally, I gave myself permission to simply give up on a Bad Book and for whatever reason: maybe it just couldn't hold my attention; maybe it wasn't the right book at the right time; maybe it just wasn't my kind of book; maybe it really is kind of a lousy book. At any rate I give up and go back to it much later (sometimes years!) and try it again.
(I have a lot more invested because I buy books and don't use the library. I really do hate to give up on a book.)
Sarah--Summer brain!
Nicole--would you believe I've forgotten the movie again!? The book was _The It Girl_; it should have been called _The Interminable Girl_.
Steph--Do you know that joke about the three best reasons to be a teacher? (Ans: June, July, August). I hope the camp buses bring North back frequently!
Gillian--Thanks!
NGS--Do you mean in the Pride post below? That's my nibling friend B's hand!
Nance--The Reverend Dimmesdale of bad books! LOL
I can see how buying a book would make me more determined to finish it. We have that in common too... I've just (like this year) started to borrow digital copies from the library after hearing people rave about it for years.
Living in Florida, I guess I don't have to worry about this problem. We basically have two seasons, Summer and Super-Summer. I don't forget what it's like to be hot!
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