I have decided that I have developed Adult ADD. When did this start? you ask. I suspect that it began sometime after the mission, but before my trip to Africa. What happened in that time? Nothing really, except for a semester in the Bad Place (as Jen and I call it), and a really good year with some great friends. I suspect that it is a result of the completely anti-social, depressing, dysfunctional semester in the Bad Place. No matter the reason, I feel that it is real. One example of this is the fact that I constantly have my laptop with me no matter what else I am doing. I am always looking up music, blogs, and news while watching TV with Chelsea, which bothers her to no end.
One of the major issues with this Adult ADD is my inability to finish books. Here are just a few books that I have started and have not been able to pick up to finish, as another one inevitably catches my eye. The partial list is as follows:
Beloved - by Toni Morrison
The Good Earth - by Pearl S. Buck
Daisy Miller - by Henry James
Tess of the d'Ubervilles - by Thomas Hardy
Cold Mountain - by Charles Frazier
The Secrets of a Fire King - by Kim Edwards
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - by Anne Bronte
I know there are more, but I can't think of them. I am reminded of a scene from the classic Gilmore Girls when Rory goes off for her first day at her new private school. Her mom stops her because her backpack is full of books and she is holding some in her hands. When she tries to make her leave some home, Rory's response is such that each book is for a different mood, and is there to provide an option for what she feels like reading. What if she feels like reading fiction? Nonfiction? A Biography? Poetry? She just has all of her bases covered. Sometimes I feel like I am caught in this conundrum, but it has become so that all of these books now sit on my shelf and I am unable to drum up the courage to finish any of them. Instead, I pick up my book from the Twilight series or one of the Harry Potter's. Maybe the Uglies. Is it a problem that I now only have the desire to read adolescent literature? I think part of the problem is that I have no reading buddy like Jenny or Kate to share my literary adventures with. Hmmm.... Maybe if I use my blog as a forum, I can kick off this aspect of my Adult ADD.
2 comments:
Ok, new thoughts on reading: I am experiencing this bizarre pull towards adolescent lit. So I understand. For example, I started Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Annie Dillard's American masterpiece) and put it aside for House of the Scorpion (a great book about the clone of a drug lord in what once was Mexico--you need to read it). I have not yet reached your depths of several books unfinished--really, Jo, you still haven't finished Beloved? :) Wasn't that about a YEAR ago? I think that two things are to blame: The Bad Place (I think we should capitalize the "t" in the--makes it more definite) and the semester we were no longer roomies. After all, I was no longer there to nag you about finishing books, and you were no longer there to nag me about reading mine more quickly (quicklier if you will). And call me about books any time. Did you know there's a fourth in the Uglies series? Extras--apparently it's not even about Tally. Hmmmmm....must find and read.
If reading more than a few books at the same time counts as ADD, then count me as a full-fledged member of the club:
Drawing On the Powers of Heaven
Scattered Minds
Made to Stick
Walking on Water
Wherever you Go, There You Are
The Feeling Good Handbook
The First Big Ride
Unhooked
Talking to Anxiety
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
And there are probably some I've forgotten that I'm in the middle of. ;)
You should join goodreads.com
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