Revisiting Reading for Pleasure

Crap Mariner has a nice blog, I like his writing style. I like what he tends to write about. He has a great sense of humor. I’ve met him once in world I think and no he isn’t paying me to say any of this although, if he wanted to I do have a paypal account for easy transfer of funds. hahahhahaha I’m teasing.

Here is a bit from his website:

Crap Mariner

An experiment in windup clockwork servants gone horribly wrong, Edloe and Nowhereville Idiot-In-Chief Crap Mariner lives in a massive brass and copper clocktower in the center of Edloe Island of Second Life.
Any rumors about a “Windup Army” bent on obliterating all organic life on the grid is just Martian Industries propaganda, nothing more. Robots are your friends. We’re not trying to kill you at all.

Crap inspired me today with a blog entry, Out out,damned spot… as I went to reply and that reply turned into multiple paragraphs I realized I had a blog post here not a mere comment and now here we all are.

Thank you, Crap.

Recently, say the past 3-4 months I’ve taken reading up again, books with no pictures even. I do love a good picture book but I mean books with text stories.

I used to be a pretty big reader of books but then I got away from it.  Work, the Internet, TV, watching, and maybe book reading burn out was in there too contributed to my loss of book reading focus.

The first one was hard, I really had to struggle to focus. I had to re-read the beginning of the book a handful of times. I thought to myself, wow I can’t even read a book anymore!! Books must suck but  I kept trying. I was really interested in the story from the back panel and I like to challenge myself too.

I like so many different kinds of stories but I’m a sucker for a good fantasy. No, not XxX although those have there place, wait stop don’t get me going on well written erotica. I really can’t speak to it other than to say that along with many other people I did enjoy the Anne Rice series on Beauty. Side note digression, I tried to read that again this year but the spark was gone for it for me, it lives best in my memory when I had originally read it in my late teens.

Okay back on track here, so I picked up a book at a thrift shop that had a good cover and an interesting back panel, it also had a map layout of the land right up front.  This book had a lot going for it, including a hand drawn map of the world laid out in the front.

• Warrior with cool sword - check
• Sorceress with a beautiful cloak and good hair - check
• Magical riding beast- check
• Image of a castle or spires in the distance- check

All the elements were here and I couldn’t get traction, I was disappointed in myself. First it was a bit hard to let go, just relax, and allow myself to get lost into the story. It’s the kind of book you need to pay a bit attention to names and the description of where the author puts you, and she uses a lot of adjectives. I get thinking in the back of my head..

• I should dust that spot on the baseboard I can see from my lounging point
• I should check on Torley see if he needs anything
• I should be building something in Second Life
• I should be going over things in my inventory that people have given me so graciously
• I should read something that teaches me not be so frivolous into a childish fantasy story

All this mind junk, why do I talk to myself this way? I do keep up with all of those things and sometimes it’s okay to just read a book.

Then magic happened and I finally got into the story, and I was so excited. There was a hero warrior, seven feet tall with a massive magical sword, a Female Seeress with powerful magic, and a talking, white, cat named Felabba.

Voices in my head, “Oh Ravenelle, that is so lame, you are an adult, why don’t you read more x, y, and z? Get your head out of the clouds, come back to earth, earth to Ravenelle!!!”

Yes, I feel kind of weird sharing that I love these kind of stories but I do, and I am sure many other do to and I don’t read to be trendy or for another’s approval, heck I wasn’t even really reading much at all save technical stuff or short website blurbs here and there, which I do count as reading but not the same kind of reading.

My point is that my Second Life is pretty packed full and extremely stimulating, my offline life is pretty packed full and extremely stimulating and sometimes it can be hard to focus on one thing like a book.

Since I have taken up with reading again I find it’s helped with my Second Life and my offline life. I think of bringing part of my book to life in Second Life, reading feeds my imagination a tasty treat. Offline, it makes mundane tasks like cleaning the kitchen more enjoyable because I drift to thinking about the story and less on scrubbing dried rice off a plate.

It’s nice when I am tired but not tired enough to go to sleep. I curl up in a pile of pillows with my book. My husband is very encouraging and checks on me to see if I need anything when he see’s I am afk or not in my usual places in the house, it’s nice and I appreciate it, it makes me feel very special. Now we have a cat who snuggles up with me too while I read.

I’m enjoying getting immersed in this really good story. I am scared when I finish the series that I won’t find another book and I’ll lose my special reading time again. I am going to consciously try to not let that happen. Torley can devour a book in about a day, for me it takes longer but I also think I am getting faster again.  It’s not about speed anyway. I can’t help but look at the 30 pages I read while he finished 1/2 of his book, okay I am exaggerating but it’s not a race, although I do admire how much he reads and while I’ve tried to read some of his books, they tend to lack the fantasy. I may feel stronger later and want to read some of what he reads but for now I am happy with where I am.

It’s nice to sit and talk and share about what we read.

A book and a half to go and I am done with this series, Sword & Circlet by Carole Nelson Douglas. It’s been interesting to watch the progression of book cover at, I’m not sure I am very crazy about the latest cover art which seems to have happened with her new publisher, I don’t know if that has anything to do with the other. I liked the first few covers best.

What do you like to read? Do you have any suggestions for my next set of books to dive into?

I thank you in advance for the help.