Resolution Foolishness

Ruefully, I look at the upcoming year and think “I should…”

I should do a lot of things. Some of them I actually will. But the one that I was thinking when I stopped my mental self, gave her a Gibbs smack upside the head and said ‘what are you thinking?’ was related to something I do weekly here on the blog.

You see, Goodreads has now made it fast and easy to link your Amazon book purchases, be they ebook, paper, new or used, to your Goodreads shelves. I was tickled to see this, having spent several days of Christmas break last year cataloging my paper library, and wishing for an easy way to do the same with my digital library. Now, my Amazon books are only the tip of the iceberg for me. I’ve got a digital library that I started back in 1999. Something tells me I’ll never get all of those in one place or on one list.

I can live with that. No, what I thought when I saw that link was:  “you know, I should review every book I read in 2015.”

I have too many books to even read them all, let alone review…

Um. Now while that’s a noble idea, to give all those authors a boost, and to share my thoughts with other readers which might help them find books they wouldn’t have otherwise looked at, let’s be realistic here, Chickie. You can’t possibly keep up with that, because you know you read too much, and it’s not that you’re ashamed of some of what you read, it’s that you read bon-bon books, and…

Bon-bon books, I’ll break into my internal monologue and explain, are short, sweet, and calorically null. They are what I read when I’m tired, sick, or both. Once upon a time it was romances, usually historical or regency. Recently it’s been British mysteries, but it changes with my mood. The Kindle Unlimited program is great for this, since I can pick up a book to read, and if it’s not what I want, discard it and move on without any financial commitment. Now, I do sometimes review these. I know I’m not the only one who likes light reads.

But realistically, I can’t possibly review every book I read in a year. I have too many other things to do as well. I’m not talking, by the way, of reviewing them here on this blog. I think you’d all get very tired of that, just as you must be of my art by this point in December (I promise, come the end of the month, the daily art goes away!). I’m talking about Goodreads, or even Amazon, since the bulk of my book buying is done there, these days.

But anyway, it’s clearly not possible, and that inner bright-eyed optimist needs to pipe down before she gets us into another fine mess. If she’s going to suggest we review everything, it would be better to make it movies. The First Reader and I watched… maybe 5 all year in 2014? That, we could manage.

Because, of course, what the world needs is to be reminded of My Girl Friday and what a riot that movie is. I had intended to put it on for background noise (I often use a technique called flooding when I work, which entails playing either music or television progamming in the background. Helps me focus) and we both wound up watching it. Sigh… if only they made them so good these days. I’d watch more movies.

I will continue my weekly reviews, but it will be of Indie authors, or books that really struck a chord with me. There will likely be very few negative reviews, for two reasons. One, I learned a long time ago that I do not need to read a book all the way to the end. Two, I rarely dislike a book that much. Usually it’s a case of being bored, unable to engage with the characters or the story, and wandering off.

I know, for instance, that many of my readers would really enjoy Kal Sprigg’s Shattered Empire. I know I enjoyed the first book in the series, The Fallen Race. But I’m just not in the mood for a big, fat, convoluted space opera. I finally gave up and stopped trying to force the issue. Maybe I’ll come back to it, but in the meantime, those of you who like big books (you cannot deny it!) should give these a whirl. They have a huge cast of characters, derring-do, space pirates, a Lost Fleet, inscrutable aliens… if you like Weber’s later books, you’ll enjoy Sprigg’s books.

As for me, I’m traveling, enjoying family, and likely not reading… much.