Monday 10 August 2009

What is it



with the weather?

It started off just fine, the perfect day for a stroll through town for a visit to the ironmongers but no sooner has the day started than the heavens opened and caused a deluge of rain, a preponderance of water, a dashed uncomfortable experience. Ahh well it's all in a days work for the intrepid Victorian gentleman.

I arrived home (a reasonably early wrap today) and the postie had been with a bundle from Amazon - Lemons never Lie by Richard Stark, 84 Charing Cross Road on DVD and a new protective cover for my IPOD. I'm looking forward to starting the Richard Stark - I only discovered him last year (Sheesh I know late comer, shame on me!) and ever since I've been devouring his work both in his Stark persona and under his real name of Donald Westlake.

My TBR list is growing and growing, stretching now toward the ceiling, each book precariously balanced on the one below it, and threatening to topple and send millions of words down onto my head one day as I work. The health and safety nuts would have a field day with my TBR pile and probably insist on some form of scaffold to support the construction. Usually I read one to two books per week - I've always got something on the go but lately I've slowed down somewhat because I've got so many others things to do.

And so I'm going to take advantage of the early wrap and sink into a warm bath with a glass of wine and a good book. There's no better place to read than the bath - the shower's no good for reading - and the better the book the longer you stay there. If the book's a real cracker when you eventually get out the bottom of your feet are all white and wrinkled.

I read practically anywhere - because I spend a lot of time in the car I get through a fair bit of my reading parked up at the side of the road or in a cab rank. Reading is a favourite past time of cab drivers. It passes the time between rides which can, at this time of year, be considerable. Bed is another great place to read and in the garden, though you must have the weather for the latter and this summer there's been little of that over here in the drenched out UK.

Where does everyone else read? Anyway it's time for me to get on my bike and skedaddle.

10 comments:

P.M. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
P.M. said...

Lemons Never Lie is a great read, the best Westlake published by HCC, IMO. My two favorite places to read are while I'm eating, which drives my wife nuts, and on the . . . ahem . . . throne.

Gary Dobbs/Jack Martin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeff Smith said...

Great bicycle footage. I kept hearing "Rain drops keep falling on my head."

Laurie Powers said...

I've actually been thinking of posting something on my blog of how my reading habits have changed so much now and debate how much of that is due to our changing lifestyle. For example, it's taken me a week to read one short story. At this point I plan for an hour first thing in the morning. And I try to read at night but I usually fall asleep after a couple of paragraphs. It's never enough. BTW, I love the 84 Charing Cross Road movie - one of the rare times when I've liked the movie better than the book.

Cullen Gallagher said...

I read a lot on the subway, which adds up a lot. 10 minutes waiting for the train (or sometimes 30 if it is at night), 15 minuets or so on the train itself, then more waiting if you have to transfer... Yeah, I'm never without one when I'm going anywhere in New York.

Scott D. Parker said...

I read everywhere. As I commute to/from work, I am listening to an audiobook. I also carry around a paperback and read it throughout the day. I read at night. I read all the time. I even convert text to a file my iPod can display.

Randy Johnson said...

I once commented that my TBR pile was threatening to cave in the house and was given a tip. The pile, properly used, could shore up sagging timbers.

Randy Johnson said...

Oh, I read everywhere as well. My disablity sends me to the doctors quite often, I'm never without a book while waiting anywhere from a half hour to an hour past my scheduled appointment.

G. B. Miller said...

When I do read, I try to read at work during my breaks or before my day starts. I also like to read while sitting out on my backyard deck.

I've also done it stupidly on a cold windy day at vacant schoolyard as well. But usually, whenever I can grab a few minutes is generally when I do my reading.

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