Finding the Time (and the quiet) to Read

Reading a book should be simple. Pick it up, open it then read. Sounds simple, right? I have gotten my hands on some good books lately from the library. I decided I needed to get back to the basics of horror and tales of the supernatural so I checked out Arthur Machen, H.P. Lovecraft (the story collections I don’t already own), and Algernon Blackwood. I got them home and stacked them neatly on my nightstand and debated on which to start with. I picked one up, read a single short story, like a 6 page story, and put it back down. I wasn’t in the mood for the flowery language or for discovering what lay at the bottom of the stygian chasm. I wasn’t in the mood for anything. My kid was yelling and the dog was chewing on something he shouldn’t have been and I could feel a headache coming on so I decided an easier book would be best – or tv. I think I may have just stared at the wall for a little while instead. I had those books for ONE MONTH and did not make it through a one of them. Granted they were all short story collections and I can always check them out again but I felt so lousy. I had been all excited about reading them, especially the Machen collection, and I failed. I can’t even say that I tried very hard. Please tell me I’m not the only one who has to be in the mood to get through a book?! I got great classic horror and suddenly wasn’t in the mood for the feeling or the language. Honestly, I didn’t want to think by the time I had even opened the cover.

I find lately that I lose interest in books rather quickly when I am at home with my toddler and the dog. I think my I.Q. is dropping. I have always liked cartoons and I never thought that they had much effect on me but now it feels like I can’t enjoy anything that doesn’t have easy reader language and doesn’t wrap up nicely at the close. I want to call it mom brain but I’m not so sure that’s what it is.

For now I’m sticking with some light reading. Hopefully my brain will wake up soon so I can check those books out again and enjoy some classic horror for Halloween! If you see something missing from my list that I should read let me know. (Heads up – know now that if you suggest a Stephen King or Clive Barker novel, odds are I’ve read it and loved it. Of course I’m never against reading a novel a second or third or fiftieth time.) I can always use recommendations on ya novels. There are so many it gets hard to pick the good from the maybe not so good and it’s easy to miss great authors whose books may not be getting the attention they deserve.

My Fall Reading List:

Johannes Cabal  The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard (I love the first two books in this series and I’m actually rereading them before I dive headfirst into this third installment. Not exactly light reading but they are too good to put down once you’ve started.)

Best-Loved Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson (what’s darker than a fairy tale?)

The Monstrumologist and The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey

The Screaming Stairs by Jonathan Stroud

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

A Midsummer Night’s Scream by R.L. Stine

Let me know what’s on your fall reading list. Happy reading!