TSS: New Reading Resolution
Happy Sunday, all!
It’s been a very productive week work-wise but another rather un-productive week reading-wise around these parts, and I’ve finally come to a conclusion: I just cannot handle grown-up books right now. My reading time is limited, and my attention span even more so, and if a book is not insanely compelling right from the get-go, I’ll just set it down and turn on a DVD. I just don’t have the attention span to commit to 400+ page novels right at the moment.
So, a new resolution: from now until my dissertation is written, or at least until I recover my attention span, I’m sticking to young adult novels. (Or at least mostly so.) They’re typically, short, fast, generally get to the story quickly and don’t spend a lot of time mucking around with literary fanciness, I can get through them quickly even without a ton of time to devote to reading, and I’ve got a bunch of unread ones on my shelves… all of which are characteristics which I need right now to stop from sliding into a months-long reading funk.
So look out, it’s going to get a little bit YA-heavy around here for a while. If YA’s not your thing, I apologize in advance, but I hope you’ll stick around anyways – you might see one or two that could make you change your mind.
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As you know, YA IS my thing, so this is more than fine by me :D I do hope that those who write it off completely will consider giving it a chance sometime.
Best of luck with your dissertation!
Good luck with your dissertation, and I’ll look forward to reading about your YA books! :)
That is quite a list! If I might make a suggestion, “The Knife of Never Letting Go” should grab you attention. Have a great week.
Nothing wrong with more YA goodness. Bring it on I say! :)
YA books are great for what you describe! I agree with Gavin on the Knife of Never Letting Go and the sequel The Ask and The Answer (which you will want as soon as you finish the first).
I think you are very clever to know your limits and to take action like this. I love YA books and am trying to include more of them in my reading. I will enjoy whatever you post. Take care and good luck on your dissertation!
Hey, YA works for me! Read whatever you want, as long as you enjoy it.
I’m like you in that I often don’t have time to read a 400+ page novel either. I also don’t have the inclination anymore. I’d rather read an Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes short stories, in small doses.
As for you reading more YA and then writing on it, I for one am appalled!!! Appalled, I tell you (okay, not really, but I just thought I’d say it anyway to be the one contrary view here :).
You never have to apologize for your reading choices. Nice thing about being a grownup.
debnance – That, and being able to eat tater tots for dinner if you want to! :)
Oh, and keeping you on target with the purpose of the Sunday Salon: to share about what you are reading :) What are you reading today?
unfinished – My point was kind of that I wasn’t reading *anything* this weekend… what with the short attention span and all.
I am right there with you! YAs just seem so perfect right now.
I definitely understand. When it gets to be that time in the semester, all I want to read is YA. Because it doesn’t necessarily have to be light and fluffy to be easy to read. Does that make sense?
Lu – Absolutely! I think a lot of YA’s readability has to do with the amount of time spent telling the story vs. embellishing the story. The story itself can run the gamut of tones.
I like YA, and I haven’t been able to read as much of it as I want lately, so I will be looking forward to some good reviews and recommendations.
I see no problem with that and I perfectly understand! I find YA perfect too to relax in between writing papers and studying for exams. I’ll stick around whatever you read anyway :)
It sounds like you’ve got a good plan for what you need at this time. I know when I was in college I stopped reading non-course books altogether because I was so overwhelmed by all of the reading that I had to do for classes (fiction and nonfiction). Plus I love YA books, so I look forward to seeing what you read. :)
Alyce – My dissertation mostly requires reading bunches of scientific articles, which somehow requires different brain energy than reading novels, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep doing both.
To take off from what Alyce just said, I stopped reading non-dissertation-related books for a while when I got down to the actual writing, so I think anything else you can read is marvellous!
Sounds great to me! Looking forward to it. :-)
Since I love YA, I am very looking forward to your next book reviews!