Tag: reading for fun

A little night reading

Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

I know, I know…I really should be catching up with my To Be Read pile at night. It’s not even that big at the moment. Instead, I’ve been turning on my e-reader and reading a bunch of comics and manga on the Hoopla app. Yay for the SF Public Library for carrying a considerably large collection! And on top of all that, I’m working through all twenty-six volumes of Charles Schulz’s The Complete Peanuts (I’m currently on volume 11, the 1971-72 comics).

I figure what I’m doing here is not actually avoiding the TBR pile, but just allowing myself to purely enjoy reading, which I sometimes forget to do. I think part of this is due to having gone through a phase some years back where I just felt burnt out by reading only genre, or only music bio, or whatever, added to the fact that I was trying to reach a goal I’d set on GoodReads.

During all this pleasure reading, it occurred to me that this was what I did back in the Belfry days. I’d been hooked on comic books at the time and simply had to follow the monthly adventures of whatever titles I’d bought (including slogging through the last third of Dave Sim’s Cerebus, and you really need the fortitude and patience to slog through everything past the Flight trade, and especially after Rick’s Story). A lot of it I enjoyed, and a lot of it helped shape the kind of storytelling I enjoy writing. But I was also pushing myself to read comics and books that I wasn’t entirely enjoying. I bought a lot that I simply never got around to reading.

So I’m not too worried about those few titles gathering dust next to the bed, because I’ll get to them eventually. In the meantime I’m checking out things that capture my interest and are an easy and relaxing read. I’m trying out different genres and styles and soaking in the storytelling and the worldbuilding. Sometimes the comic’s a silly slice of life, sometimes it’s a quirky oddball fantasy, sometimes it’s a romance.

And in the end, I’m hoping some of this light night reading will inspire some new ideas!

Catching up on reading

Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

Over the last couple of years, I’ve given up partway through GoodReads’ reading challenge. Not because I wasn’t even close to making the goal I’d set for myself, however. I think I just kind of grew out of doing it every year. I know I can do it, but sometimes extenuating circumstances (draft rereading for my novel projects, reading a ridiculously long book, etc.) put me behind. But more to the point, my heart just wasn’t in it. I’d set a goal at the start of the year, but after a while I just decided I didn’t want that to be my primary goal for reading.

Anyway, I have been continuing my end of year habit of catching up on various books. I’ve been powering through some of the books next to my bed. Some of them have been quite enjoyable while others sadly fell into the did-not-finish pile. I do this partly to catch up, but also to weed out some of the books I no longer want. [My rules still hold: 1) If I’ve owned it over a year and never read it, either start it or give it away; 2) If I’ve read it but don’t think I’ll reread it, give it away, and 3) If reading it feels like a chore, give it away.]

I think at the start of the year, instead of participating in the reading challenge, I will just continue updating my GoodReads list (and start using StoryGraph as well, having just signed onto it). That way I won’t be worried about falling behind or feeling like I’m not getting anything done at all, and I can just enjoy the act of immersing myself in my reading. After all, that’s one of the reasons I got into this writing gig, didn’t I?

Reading and Rereading (Not My Own Work This Time)

Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

I’ve been going through a bit of a spell where I’m having trouble sticking with some of the books I’m reading. They haven’t been terrible or anything (although there have been a few that were enjoyable but glacial). Maybe I’m just going through a phase where nothing is all that inspiring to me lately. It could also be that I’ve been doing a TON of rereading my own stuff for revision/revisit purposes; I would not be surprised if that might indeed be the case.

So it occurred to me that, even though I have my TBR pile under reasonable control, perhaps it’s time for me to finally reread older favorites? It’s been ages since I’ve reread anything, actually…I honestly can’t remember the last time I did that. Maybe the Harry Potter books three or four years ago? Either way, maybe it’s time for me to return to the Spare Oom Library and pick out a few titles.

Which is what I did the other day…with the Jack McKinney Robotech series! Yes, I know, odd choice but why the hell not? The last time I read the first couple of books in that series was back in 1995, and I never got past the third book! I’m sure there’s going to be all kinds of bonkers things going on that I’ve forgotten about…and some I do, such as Minmei singing for human troop morale (and Zentraedi pain…?) during a massive space battle:

…yeah, that’s one of those moments you don’t forget. Absolutely brilliant plot twist and completely wuuuuuut at the same time.

ANYWAY! I figure, why not? Let’s have some fun reading some light entertainment and old favorites for a bit. I don’t need to read the latest and greatest right this second. (I’ll still buy them close to the release because that helps the author’s numbers, sure! They’ll just be added to the TBR pile.)

And besides, it’ll be kind of fun to revisit some of these titles and remember why I enjoyed them so much. Like the Robotech series being good pulpy SF fun. Like the Carlucci books by Richard Paul Russo being great hard-boiled cyberpunk. Like Akira being so visually amazing it made me rethink my own writing style. I’m sure some of it may not have aged well, but on the other hand, I’m not too worried about that…right now it’s just about reading for the fun of it.