Reading Styles

I’m a solid mix of fantasy, thrillers, and HEA–so basically, escapism is my MO right now. And thank you for the term “moody, fancy fiction”–this is such a perfect description for the type of book I feel like I’m “supposed” to read as a former English major, and guiltily just don’t enjoy much anymore.

I’m “read historical non-fiction because so many people throughout history have done hard things and so can we.” Recently read “The Worst Hard Time” about life in the Dustbowl which was so desperate and bleak. I hd no idea Americans lived with dust storms of that magnitude (millions of tons of dust would be dumped from big storms, sweeping dust from Oklahoma and Texas out to ships 300 miles off the east coast in the Atlantic ocean! People couldn’t leave their homes and would die, sealed inside, from dust pneumonia. This went on for years during and even after the Great Depression since many of them couldn’t afford to resettle anywhere. Currently reading “The Splendid and the Vile,” by Erik Larson about 1940-41 in England as the country was under constant attack by Germany, waiting on the US to get involved in the war. Also (for fans of Rebecca Mekkai’s The Great Believers), “How to Survive a Plague,” and “And the Band Played On,” are both excellent chronicles of the early years of the AIDS crisis. These books are not just a good reminder of how fortunate many of us are to be able to wait this out at home, but also about courage, compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. And a big thank you to Grace!

I’ve escaped into a re-read of Anne of Green Gables.