New Reader on the Block

If you’ve stopped by the blog and heard nothing but the sound of crickets, that’s because work and stress brought on by the you-know-what crisis (I dare not say its name) have caught me in their snares and I cannot escape them. Blogging and writing over the last month or so has dwindled to almost zero, but I hope to pick up the pace over the rest of the year.

The good news that I can share is I had a flash fiction piece accepted recently, but it doesn’t go online until October so I’ll share the link then.

The other positive thing I am focusing on is reviving my reading habit.

I think several articles online have unraveled the mysteries of why it’s been so tough to read during the lockdown. I won’t add my own diagnosis but I can only say that the attention needed to read, more so now at this time than any other, has been difficult to garner. I’d read a few pages of PG Wodehouse or something similarly light on my Kindle before I felt my attention drifting.

So, I turned to some old paperback favourites I found lying around the house, and that really helped.

I managed to polish off two books in super-quick time, and I’m reading two others in parallel as always:

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

This is one of my favourite books by the writer. I first read it in my teens and the storyline has stayed with me ever since. Despite remembering most of it I enjoyed reading it and tore through it in a matter of days.

One Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie

I vaguely remembered this mystery but not the details of it, especially not the juicy tidbit of who the actual murder was, so I loved this one even more. As I raced to the end I understood once again why she is deemed “The Queen of Mystery”. In her books its not just the “who” but also the “why” and the “how” of the murder that makes for tantalizing reading.

Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot

I’m not sure if this is intended to be a well-kept secret but most readers I know aren’t aware that the author of The Princess Diaries series has also penned a number of funny romance books for adults. Boy Meets Girl is one of them and its as uproarious and hilarious as I remembered it. I’m only just starting on this one – I haven’t made much headway as I have to keep putting it down to wipe away the tears of laughter.

Asterix Omnibus 4

One fine day while idly browsing through Amazon it struck me that I haven’t read much Asterix in my adulthood at all! I vowed to rectify the situation, and within a week an omnibus containing three of my favourite Asterix comics were making their way to my address. The three comics in this collection are – Asterix and the Legionary (Funniest/Punniest comic ever!), Asterix and the Chieftain’s Shield and Asterix and the Olympic Games. I zipped through the first one in one evening, and chuckled my way through it. The names, the puns and the one-liners haven’t lost their zing! Highly recommended if you’re trying to get out of a blue funk.

That’s all my recommendations this week! Do you have any books that you would like to share? Let me know in the comments what you’ve been reading!