Reading books is good. Dressed of sea.
because we’re forced to inhabit the perspective of another human being. We should do that all the time. Dedicate a part of the day to that. I’ve never understood lack of curiosity. I’m permanently afraid of missing something. Ever since I can remember I take notes. What I must read, listen to, learn. There’s at least a full page every day, and I’m never able to keep up with all of it. In the past few days I went back to Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Delmira Agustini and La Caracola (Alfonsina Storni.) There’s a song about La Caracola, here it is:
My Mazamet 
Lately my curiosity is at odds with me not wanting to read the horrible shit going on these days in the world. I sometimes envy the willfully ignorant.
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Ditto.
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Dive into some sci fi. Robert Reed is wonderful.
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Judging by the rest of your comments that seemed like a good recommendation.
🙂
Oddly enough, I have never read anything else by the man.
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The Great Shoip books are superb, thanks for introducing me to him. He’s just put out a series of really odd books (not sci fi). I dived into the first but wasn’t taken by it. Still, I chat with him via email and he’s promised he’s nearing the end of the next Great Ship book.
He better be. I need my Reed Fix.
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I don’t know about the perspective of another person. I do know that none of us sees ourselves how we really are. I have a lot of trouble seeing myself as others see me. Sometimes I wish I did, and sometimes I am glad I can not. 🙂 I understand your curiosity, I also have that wish to learn and desire to know. I don’t make lists though, I tend to flow into people and ideas that lead to me learning more and finding interesting people to talk with. Hugs
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Me too, Scottie. I think that’s one reason I love the internet so much. I can get lost in time, following one promising link to the next, taking detours, building pictures in my head. It’s such an adventure.
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🙂 yes it is an adventure. I love looking at it that way. Thanks. Hugs
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-hugs back-
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Marvellous post Mr Pink, I can’t fathom life without consuming books – stuffing oneself silly or serious with them. It’s so important to read and such an incredible joy too. As you say, you can inhabit other people, and you can also disappear from the present. It’s actual magic. Incredible. And that’s how you know the best writers apart from the rubbish sort – only the best can take you somewhere else.
(Beautiful music too)
– esme loving his post from upon the Cloud
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How are things on the cloud? I often think of you and even write to you in my mind- but then I don’t in reality as to not interfere with cloudlife.
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You can write any time at all (don’t tell everyone there’ll be a rush on) — but seriously you can. How fast I’d manage to get back to you is the question, but that’s just energy, not for want of doing so.
I’m floating along, up and down, down and up, but still smiling away.
– esme hugging Mr Pink, planting a big kiss on his cheek, then spitting on a hankie and wiping the lipstick off his face upon the Cloud
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I knew of Sor Juana Inez – but not the other two.
Thank you for the links which will, I know, be leading me beyond those two ladies into the world in which they lived and worked.
I keep a notebook handy for things which I want to pursue, but sometimes feel depressed when looking back at what i have not managed to follow up.
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Notebooks are my whole life. First the black and white composition versions; then legal pads. Now I just use A4 sheets. And I manage less and less each and every day.
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I have to have a book..loose sheets have a way of becoming my husband’s shopping lists.
There are some weeks when there seems to be something new to look into – or something old to reconsider – every day and the pages fill up: other weeks, I suspect when I am preoccupied and not receptive to stimulus, when an open page might gather dust.
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Always have a book going. Right now, a collection of Greg Egan’s short stories. Fabulous.
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Oh! Greg Egan the sci-fi writer? His writing is dense but very good. If you like him, have you tried Peter Watts? I’ve only read Firefall, but I loved it. Definitely not a casual read.
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Watts has been circling, but I haven’t dived in yet. I’m a little intimidated by the sheer volume of his works.
Egan is tremendous. I’ve devoured all his books while I wait for Reed’s new Great Ship installment.
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I’ll do you a swap. I haven’t tried Reed yet so… 🙂
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So I should start are Firefall?
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Yes. It’s actually two books in like an omnibus or something. I think you’ll enjoy it/them. Oh and I started reading The GreatShip. Haven’t had much time to get into it yet but I’m intrigued by the Walker. Thanks so much for the recommendation.
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p.s. Just bought The Great Ship on Kindle. Any good?
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Awesome. It’s a collection of short stories all about the Great Ship, but it’s not the first book in the series. That is Marrow. But, but, but, you can certainly start at The Great Ship. In fact, it’s a great place to start, then read Marrow. Alone, the first story, is superb and gives you a great feel for Reeds writing.
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I keep seeing blog posts and articles about book clubs and reading challenges – read 10 books a year! – as if reading is some kind of painful chore, like cleaning the skirting boards. 😦 Do it because you’ll feel good afterwards. How about, do it because you’ll feel SENSATIONAL while you do it?
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Ten a YEAR?! By the Gods and medium sized frogs one should aim higher! At least one a month. Or 4. Depends upon how fast one reads mind you (esme is a fast reader, sometimes too fast, getting over excited about books so she then has to go back and read some again to find out what she’s sure she has missed). SENSATIONAL! Yes! Hahahahaha. I couldn’t agree more.
– esme swimming through a pool of books reading every one on her way with meeka upon the Cloud
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I know. I get panic attacks when I run out of books. Hmm…maybe a bit of an addiction happening there. Too bad. I don’t care! 😀
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Those should be commended. Esme, there are those who don’t even open a book in a whole year.
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I don’t know how some people manage to get through life without reading. I know so many people who the last thing they read was a text message.
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That’s the rub mak; digital distractions keep people away from paper. Once upon a time folks would go to bed and read a few pages before sleep happily, now they check their phones and get side-tracked with click after click. Easily done, but worth actively fighting against I’d tell them.
Of course you can read books in digital form, and I do when I can’t hold a big one in my hands – *shoots Hariod and Mr Pink warning glances* – but real books add a certain something to the experience that makes it all so much more enjoyable, and, there’s no battery to run out in a paper tome.
– esme agreeing with mak upon the Cloud
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They can get books on their phones or buy an e-reader. The digital distractions abound but people should make an effort to at least read a book or a journal.
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Absolutely. It’s like a drug in many ways. Humans are adapting to a barrage of new information and the capability to have an actual oracle at their fingertips is a huge draw. Any question answered.
And that’s just Google.
But 3d books will never die. I shall see to that.
– esme waving at mak upon the Cloud
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It is a drug and it comes either in 140 characters or a meme. Requires no thought to process it. A full length book becomes an obligation
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Mak sends greetings to to esme
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And that’s why progress is so slow…
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How can they be made to read? Books with pictures?
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How’s about an autobiography of Mr. Pink?
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That is a very lovely song you have posted Mr. M. Thank you for this and the intro to so many fascinating women. I read all the time (writing only seems to happen in the margins). Best read lately: Jean Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea and her various collections of short stories. She was an extraordinary woman too.
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Sargasso sea
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Ooops, sorry! My battery went as I began typing 😀 I just loved that book. She perfectly captured the feeling of foreignness some of us feel/felt in the colonial and postcolonial world. I’ve spent my entire life with that sensation.
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I agree. Jean Rhys also seemed to have lived in the shadows of many worlds herself. I also find Wide Sargasso Sea quite haunting: to think it grew out of a much earlier Bronte work, and she wrote something so perfect in itself; opened all the windows and doors on Jane Eyre, and showed Rochester for the kind of man he was, stripped of the gothic romance. Must go and read it again. Happy Sunday!
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Do you use a pad or phone to do comments? Some people can blog with them. I just bought a keyboard for my Ipad so I can do email and comments when I am not at my two big desktops. Hugs
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loved the cartoon, if only for that quote.
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OMG! Did you just imply I’m The Tick?
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Your post reminded me of Handy’s admonition to always read a book. That said, you’re not silly enough to be the Tick. And you don’t shout out silly slogans about justice. But you are nigh invulnerable, so there is that.
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How’s about an autobiography of Mr. Pink? [Sorry, that first went in the wrong place, above.]
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Too sad. And the concept has already been played out in Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events.
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Too sad to write, or too sad to read? A bit of the lachrymal would be fine as long as there’s plenty of sex and drugs in it.
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I say it in jest- but of course, also not. It’s not entirely excellent to be born for pecuniary purposes, and to be named after someone who will one day detest you.
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You got great genes — amazing looks, intellect, and morals too — so it seems there was an upside? Only you can judge, but from here I’d say you won.
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Reading is essential especially if you’re a writer or just a lover of stories. My 21 month old daughter is the same exact way, she loves books and can’t get enough of them. Morning, noon, and night…at all hours of the day she wants me to read to her. I hope her love of books continues as she begins reading on her own. All I can do is encourage her and set a good example for her.
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I did the same and my Offspring turned into a voracious reader. The sins of the Mothers…. 😀
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That’s fantastic!
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Can’t take all the credit but reading to a small child does one huge thing – it teaches them about the power of their own imaginations. No movie can ever match that. 🙂
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I can’t agree with you more. When we visit the book store, gosh, it’s like Disneyland for her. Seriously. She says “books, books, books” and rushes off to grab books. I have to watch her because she’ll take a bunch off the shelf. She’s already super smart and I’m just so glad I can do this one good thing.
Reading to a child really sets them up for life, in my opinion. It helps with their brain growth, vocabulary, learning potential in school and academia. It’s simple to do, to read to your child, but many parents simply need to take the time.
Reading in general requires taking your time. Lots of people don’t read anymore because we’ve gotten impatient. YouTube and searching Google all day and plugged in to social media has taken the place of reading a good book. 🙂
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Time…yes, you are so right. Reading is time consuming, but why have kids if we’re not prepared to spend time on them? And on ourselves too, I think. Solitary reading is like recharging a battery. 🙂
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@ Mak. I need glasses for reading so I now read only on the Kindle, but I still curl up with my ‘book’ every night before sleep. Also in the loo, at the supermarket while waiting in the queue, on the train, in the big comfy chair with the dog and a couple of cats… Sadly it’s not waterproof so there are a few places where I can’t read. 😀
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Acflory I agree. I go with Ron sometimes when he shops, and I take my Ipad and read while he shops. I can look stuff up if he needs me to. I like you take my pad anywhere in the house where I don’t have my computers. I just got done washing the dishes and I had my Ipad on the counter playing a netflix show while I did my chores. Today I had a doctors appointment and both Ron and I took our pads. We played games and traded news stories with each other. I wonder some times what it was like before I was constantly plugged in? However I still create stories in my head and tell myself tale when I don’t have the outside world knocking to come in. 🙂 Hugs
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lol – our eyesight was probably a whole lot better! And less cricks in the back from hunching over the pc too. 😀 I’m kidding though. Like you, I can’t imagine being cut off any more. Horrible thought.
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