It’s been a long, long, LONG time since I wrote up a Poly-Reader Notes, and honestly, I miss them! They keep me honest about how many books I’m *really* reading at the same time, and often helps me highlight when I’m taking on (i.e. starting) too many books to make meaningful progress.
Last year, I read a lot, but it was mostly long things that took up a lot of time, so the numbers aren’t high, but the books were great! I finally finished Middlemarch and I tackled War & Peace at the same time as my husband–which was super fun! So far this year, I’ve finished two books: Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke and How to Write Funny by Scott Dickers (the latter is a re-read for me as I ramp up to practice writing nonsense stories again and to prep for the book I just started, How to Write Funnier, also by Dickers). I also finished a tiny book by Biblioasis, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Captain of the Polestar,” which was so cute! I love their tiny story books!
So what (and how many) am I reading RIGHT NOW?
CURRENTLY READING
How to Write Funnier – Scott Dikkers – NF – Long-time editor of the Onion on how to write humorous short work. A followup to How to Write Funny. – Just started this one, so I’m not far, but I *just* finished rereading the first book, so it’s fresh on the mind and I’m excited to dig in. I felt like after the first one, I could see the moving parts of Key & Peele and Monty Python sketches much more clearly, and that actually just made them more impressive! So I’m excited to get into this one and learn more of the nuts-and-bolts of comedy writing.
Your Utopia – Bora Chung – SSC – Short story collection with a lean towards the weird/odd. – I started this one just after finishing War & Peace as a palate cleanser, and am so far enjoying it. Highly recommended by a fellow odd fiction fan, so I’m looking forward to where it goes!
Digital Souls – NF – What happens to our online presence when we die? – If this list has shown me nothing else, it’s that I’m currently reading a LOT of nonfiction. This one I started in the fall and it’s kind of fallen off my radar, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read so far, so I’d like to finish it. I’m probably about 2/5ths into it at this point. Maybe a bit more.
Writing Down the Bones – Natalie Goldberg – NF – An alternative to the dominant Three/Morning Pages of The Artist’s Way, Goldberg–a poet–gives gentle suggestions on how to mine your past, present, and future for creative material. – I’ve read this book before, so it’s a re-read, but I’ve always really appreciated Goldberg’s take on notebooks and digging into one’s subconscious. It’s a little more guided, I’ve found, than the Morning Pages, and since I can spin my brainwheels endlessly on dumb, unimportant things and never get much deeper, I find it a helpful resource for digging into myself a bit more. I’ve had some wonderful breakthroughs and thought processes from this one in the past, so I wanted to revisit it to revamp my writing practice process. I feel like that’s something I’m missing in my day-to-day work, the training part of the running a marathon. More of that, please!
Searching for Dragons – Patricia C. Wrede – F – Reading this with the boys! It’s a re-read for me (multiple times) and Thing 1, but Thing 2 hasn’t ever heard it (or was so young he can’t remember), and they’re both loving it. Pretty sure my boys are both Telemain and Gypsy Jack, in that order.
Catching the Big Fish – David Lynch – NF – Director David Lynch talks about his creative process and transcendental meditation. – Started this one in December, but didn’t get a chance to finish it yet. But it’s fascinating. Definitely will be finishing this one shortly.
Control Unleashed – Leslie McDevitt – NF – Can you train a dog to learn how to better regulate their own emotions in stressful situations? Maybe! – This is required reading for training Mando with his reactivity. Mostly, it’s about pattern games, but I’m looking forward to finishing it and practicing some of these exercises. About 3/5 of the way through.
Niobe – Sebastian Jones & Amandla Stenberg – C/G – Comic from Stranger Comics: Elves and magic and prophetic Queen-to-Be Niobe is on the run from a vampire queen and her own father. – Just started reading this one a bit ago, but have probably hit the inciting event. Great art, interesting story, I’m looking forward to more of it!
Island Book – Evan Dahm – C/G – Graphic Novel: A young girl branded by the attentions of a sea monster that has wrecked havoc on her island runs away to find a solution that will allow her to be accepted by her clan. – I picked this one up (and it’s two companions) because of Dahm’s art style. Checking it out for appropriateness with the kiddos, but so far, it’s cute and sweet and thoughtful. Just started, probably 1/10 of the way in.
House Rules – Myquillyn Smith – NF – 100 Rules for Interior Design – or – How I Learned to Love a Styled Shelf – I’m almost done with this one (about 75%), and I’ve really enjoyed it so far. I’ve read a number of interior design books because for some reason my creative streak does NOT extend to well-designed interior spaces, no matter how much I’d like it to. That said, this is the clearest, most succinct book on the subject I’ve read yet, and I feel like I’m actually starting to understand how to THINK about designing a space. Although the sight of “rules” could be off-putting, even Smith regularly introduces contrasting rules that break previous rules, all with a smile and a wink to remind us that there are really no “rules” per se, but there are good techniques and thought processes that will help make decorating a shelf or redesigning a living space less daunting.
We Are All the Same in the Dark – Julia Haeberlin – Dark mysteries, mysterious deaths and ghost converge on the lonely Texas highway. – T – This thriller is honestly blowing my socks off. It’s a little exhausting to listen to on a day when I’m tired or freaked out by the daily news report, but for cleaning my bathroom, it’s a great energy pick-me-up. Haeberlin has some of the most in-character/unique metaphors and descriptions I’ve ever witnessed, and it’s an honest pleasure to experience her work.
See, this is why I like doing these posts! They make me take a serious look at what all I’m reading and where there might be conflicts slowing me down. I’m also aware that I’m now clocking in at eleven books, which is one shy of my absolute max before I force myself to put books down and focus on fewer. Good to know! I’ve got a lot of comics/graphic novels (C/G) going, so I need to pick one and focus (probably Niobe first, because it’s shorter). I’m also reading a LOT of non-fiction (NF). I often read a lot of different non-fiction at the same time, but I’m noticing a few (3) all fall under the CREATIVITY/WRITING header, so I may be overloading that subject. They’re all quite different, and WDtB is a retread, so I may not go all the way through that one so much as dip in and out as needed, so we’ll keep the list AS IS for now.
Check back in next month to see what (if anything!) I’ve finished, and what else I’ve picked up and added to the Currently-Reading Pile.