Midlife Musings

I will get to the Booking Through Thursday question in just bit, but I wanted to review a book for you first. I sat down this weekend with 10 Minute Organizing by Sara Lavieri Hunter. I was really hoping to get some good hints, and I did read the entire book, cover to cover. Those tips never materialized, I am sad to say. First, the woman must live in a house with two closets in every room, and I think her kitchen is the size of Miami. The only things she said to discard were old makeup and old computer files. I don’t know about the rest of you, but that’s not what I am drowning in over here. Everything else goes in it’s own cabinet or shelf. I can tell you from my own experience that there comes an end to the amount of stuff one can organize, and eventually the trash bags must come out.

Also, there were three chapters on parties: holidays, child and adult. The tips were pretty much the same, and I truly think these could be consolidated. When I got to the end of the book, I flipped it over and read the blurb about the author. She’s a mother of one. When I had one child, my home was spotless, too. And I had time to organize everything. Now, things are different, and I am all about the simplify.

The one tip I did pick up was that small notebooks were handy for planning things, and I had read that before, and it’s something I do now, and it truly does help. I even use notebooks to hold my to-do lists, as you know. It is a very rare thing for me to say that a book is a waste of trees, but truly, this one could have been condensed into a couple of magazine articles with no loss of information.

I told you I went to the library for books. I told you I bought magazines. I told you I had a bunch of stuff on my to-do list. So, to prove that this was true, and also because I thought it ought to be recorded for posterity, I took this picture. The camera was on my shoulder, so this is what I see on my left as I sit here at my desk. No wonder I have a headache at the end of the day, LOL!

While acknowledging that we can’t judge books by their covers, how much does the design of a book affect your reading enjoyment? Hardcover vs. softcover? Trade paperback vs. mass market paperback? Font? Illustrations? Etc.?

In generel, I prefer hardbacks to paperbacks and the large paperbacks (I guess those are called trade paperbacks) to the regular (mass market?) ones. There are a couple of reasons for this, all of which are related. First, I can read while knitting if the pattern is easy, but I can’t hold books open and knit. Hardbacks and the trade paperbacks will hold themselves open given the tiniest bit of help. Mass market paperbacks won’t do this. Second, there are more words per page in the larger format books, so I have to reach down less often to turn the page. Third, the fonts are larger so that I can comfortably read with the book sitting beside me on the couch as opposed to held in my hands.

The fonts don’t usually affect my reading decisions, though I prefer bookman on the computer. Illustrations likewise.

BTW, if you are coming through on the BTT wagon, I finally finished Matrimony, and you can find my review in the post under this one.

First, a thank you to acne treatment for sponsoring this post.

So, I finally finished Matrimony by Joshua Henkin last night. I enjoyed this book without enjoying it, if that makes any sense at all. The author’s style is not my favorite, and I read it because I was supposed to participate in a message board discussion of it. I never did participate in the discussion, because I had trouble registering for the boards, but duty compelled me to finish the book. And in the weighing, I am glad I did.

The book follows the three main characters over almost 20 years of their lives. It’s fleshed out by their memories of childhood and their encounters with other people, so there’s plenty going on. Nothing stellar happens to any of them, they are just normal folks living normal lives, making normal mistakes, facing normal losses and happinesses. In truth, I did not identify with any of them. It’s just the story of their lives, and their lives are both like mine and different: mostly boring with occasional roller coaster moments.

It’s a thinnish book, really: just under 300 pages. I could have read it in a couple of days had I actually been able to sit down with it. I think I am glad I couldn’t do that though, because the book deserves more. It deals with weighty matters that truly deserve some time and thought. How can I say that, when I’ve said I read it out of duty and even used “boring” to describe it? Well, I just can. Perhaps because there are more similarities than I was willing to admit? Perhaps because in a world stuffed with books in which the characters are larger than life and well beyond the reach of mere mortals, a book that is essentially real is a refreshing change?

There is inherent value in a book that causes us to consider life and birth, death and dying, separation and coming together, anger and love and loss and moving on. In the end, that is the point I took from the book: life goes on, it continues in it’s familiar everydayness and in that very sameness is comfort and joy. The last sentence of the book reads “… with the lights still out, everything dark, the house blanketed in shadows, he follows the sound [of his wife speaking to his infant son], his dog dutifully trailing him, and heads upstairs to see what’s going on.” Life is just sameness punctuated by mere moments of exhilaration, and that is okay.

I should totally make a button for this series. I am just liking the buttons lately. A lot. First what we aren’t going to discuss: Matrimony. I had hoped to finish it, but NO! Instead I have spent my time knitting and ripping, knitting and ripping. So, only one magazine got finished to report on this week, but I hope to tell you about the book next week.

Do many of you watch Dexter? My friend Colleen told a group of us about it, and I blew it off since I don’t sub to Showtime. Due to the writer’s strike, though, it’s airing on network tv, and I am enjoying it. It’s the story of a serial killer who is also a police officer. Dexter’s running dialogue with himself is … eerily similar to my own. Well, minus the murder parts, but I do talk in my own head a lot.

There is one thing that I have been chewing on for a bit now: in the second episode, Dexter’s dad explains that when you kill a person you aren’t just killing them, but you are killing everything they would have done or achieved in their lifetime. The context was that Dexter should think carefully about what he was doing, and not just be killing people willy-nilly. I’ve been chewing this, and trying to take the long view of my actions. It’s not just murder, not just bad things, that have a lasting effect. When you build someone up, it also effects them–and the people they will affect throughout their lifetime.

I picked up the latest Woman’s Day at the store this weekend. Nothing jumped out at me as far as this issue went. There was a little blurb on how vitamin D helps prevent heart issues and such, but I knew that already, and there were some tips on how to save time cleaning, but I didn’t find them very practical. Since this was why I purchased the mag, I was a little disappointed. You might like them, though, so…

And this week, I have listened to a SLEW of podcasts. I am subbed to several knitting and history podcasts, and I am enjoying the freedom of listening away from the computer. I’m looking to add a cooking show, and maybe some free audiobooks.

OH! One more thing! Carla had recommended A Thousand Splendid Suns to me and I am pleased to say it came yesterday. It’s next on the TBR pile. Perhaps I will sit on my patio furniture to read it. If you can call a lawn chair on the back stoop “patio furniture”.

You’ve just reached the end of a book . . . what do you do now? Savor and muse over the book? Dive right into the next one? Go take the dog for a walk, the kids to the park, before even thinking about the next book you’re going to read? What?

(Obviously, there can be more than one answer, here–a book with a cliff-hanger is going to engender different reactions than a serene, stand-alone, but you get the idea!)

It really does depend on the book and my reaction to it. If it’s one that has grabbed me and I have sped through it, then I don’t want to read another right away. I have to finish reading the one I just put down. That sounds weird. I mean I have the words, but my mind and heart have not processed the story yet. It was like that with TTW that I talked about last week. I finished it and went to sleep, and over the next two days, my heart finished it. It was the same way with the Gabaldon books.

And I think I have mentioned that I no longer read books that aren’t good, although I am learning to be more patient again, because I have broken my own rule a couple of times and ended up with a good read. Like now. I am still reading Matrimony and I didn’t think it was a great book when I was just a little way in, but now I am over half way, and I am so drawn in. There is something so poignant about reading this particular book in bed at night as dh and I make strained conversation.

Today’s question is:

How about a chance to play editor-in-chief? Fill in the blanks:

__________ would have been a much better book if ______________________.

Hmmm, this one is a bit difficult for me. I haven’t been reading much in recent years, which is a bad thing. Because I don’t get to read very much, I am fairly strict with books: if I am not engaged within the first tenth of the book, I close it and move on. I do have an answer though, even though it may seem like a cheat.

I think The Time Traveler’s Wife would have been a much better book if it had gone on longer after I understood. There came a point probably halfway through the book that I finally understood with my heart what was going on, and I just cried. Can I just say, and you not think me weird, that this book is sooo good, even more than a year later? And Henry and Clare are totally real, in that Velveteen Rabbit sort of realness. I still flash back on them from nowhere.

Hmm, I should totally read this again.

Today, however, I am still reading Matrimony. One of the injustices of life is that it now takes me a month to read a one day book.

Having done some major thinking and re-organization of my blog-dom, I am ready to participate in some memes again!! Yay! Today’s booking through Thursday question is:
Who is your favorite Male lead character? And why?

Today’s Picture
My favorite male leader character is Jamie from the Diana Gabaldon novels. And when I say he’s my favorite, I am going to back it up with this photo of all my Gabaldon books. And I will also tell you that I used to be a member in proud standing of the Ladies of Lallybrock Forum. Now, as for why he’s my favorite…. he’s so Jamie. He’s gallant and rough, and fierce and gentle, and timid and ruthless, and inexperienced and wise. He is…….every man. All the good qualities a man could have are wrapped up in this fictional person. In fact, I feel a little sorry for actual flesh and blood men, attempting to live up to this standard.

And also, back in the day, my dh had red hair. Just sayin’

As for what I am currently reading, it’s Matrimony by Joshua Henkin. There’s a book club I want to participate in once I get a few more pages into it. Eventually. When I can snatch more than 15 late night minutes for reading.