Escapism and Comfort Reading

Recently I’ve been terrible at actually getting round to writing reviews of all the many books I’ve been reading. I’ve just been having a lot of difficulty getting inspired, and I blame that mostly on the fact that I’m freaking out about having got a new job, which I start this week. I’m not the kind of person who deals with change particularly well, and so I’ve been super nervous about the whole thing, and been finding it really difficult to concentrate on anything. To try and forget about it all, I’ve retreated to the arms of an oooooold favourite: the Harry Potter series.

I’ve been trying to figure out for ages what it is about these books which makes them such a comfort read. Every time I start reading the first page of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, I’m instantly calmer. To be honest, I find that fantasy in general is usually really good for escapism, and I reckon it’s just because the worlds are so far removed from my own that they allow me to absolutely step outside of reality and pretend I’m somewhere else for a while. All good literature does it to an extent, that’s the beauty of reading, but fantasy is on a different level. Along with Potter, my other favourite ‘crisis reads’ are David Gemmell, Terry Pratchett, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I also like this list.

I’m currently finishing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for approximately the four millionth time, about to move on to The Goblet of Fire, and I won’t stop until I finish the seventh book. I’m realising that I really do use reading like my own personal drug – I have certain books or authors who I know will put me in a certain mood, and I use them strategically. At a time in my life when everything else is changing, and I’m panicking like nothing else, it’s nice to know that old favourites won’t have changed. That there are books I can rely on to calm me down and reassure me about the state of the world.

What I’m really wondering is, does anyone else do this? Are there any books you return to time after time, relying on them to make you feel a certain way? Or is it just me?

The Sunday Salon (a day late) – Feeling Displaced...

Sunday Salon is actually my favourite part of the week, blogwise. I’m annoyed that I can’t participate on a Sunday, due to library closure, and thus not being able to access the internet, so here it is, a day late!

Lately lots of people have been posting about being stuck in ruts, or feeling like blogging and reading are becoming a chore instead of being fun. While blogging is still huge fun for me, I am having (yet another) moment where I’m feeling really unsettled, both with reading, and in my personal life. We relocated to another part of the country in December, and for the first time in my life, I’m not living around the corner from my family. Also, outside of work, I’ve not yet met a lot of people, so I think that’s a big part of the uneasy kind of feeling I’ve been having lately. It’s kind of a ‘there’s loads of things I should be doing, but I don’t really want to do any of them’ sort of thing...

Reading wise, my concentration levels have been totally rubbish lately. I’ve got about six books on the go, and have been having a hard time getting into any of them. Excepting The Three Musketeers, which I was expecting to find really difficult, but am actually really loving. I’m only reading two chapters a day of it,though, so I don’t know that it really counts.

I read a great short story  yesterday (thanks to fatbooks.org!) and I’m thinking that maybe now’s the time to do a bit of short story, essay, and poetry reading, just to get my head back in the zone. I think I might have taken on a bit too much....

Having said that, I’ve started another challenge, to read more plays. Lists and details will be on their way later this week, along with my first Fairytale Feature!

Some of my reviews are going up on Goodreads at the moment, rather than here, to limit double posting. This is mostly for the stuff that I feel is a ‘lighter read’. Like Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall, which I absolutely LOVED! (she’s coming to my local library in a couple of weeks, how excited am I????!)

Also this week, the first World Book Night in the UK. A million books were given away by booklovers throughout the UK, and I got one! Courtesy of the lovely Lyndsey @ teadevotee, I am now the proud owner of The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. The whole idea behind the night is that you read the book and then pass it on, which I will probably do via a giveaway on this blog, so watch out!

All in all, a pretty good week last week! Hoping for a better one (and some loss of the unsettled feeling please!) this week.

Hope everyone had a great World Book Day!!

Struggling with Kipling...

So, I got let out of work earlier than expected today, and it was one of those days that's really gorgeous and sunny, but absolutely freezing - perfect reading weather! Too cold to be outside but bright enough to flood my living room with light. My intention was to curl up in my awesome armchair that I got off of ebay for 99p, and finally finish 'The Man who Would be King and Other Stories' by Rudyard Kipling.

awesome 99p armchair!    

Apparently, this just was not to be. I am finding this book very hard to finish, and I'm really not sure why, as I don't dislike it. I'm actually enjoying it. He has a great way of portraying characters just at the moment they realise that they are not, actually, the pinnacle without which society cannot survive. His social commentary is really quite witty, and stylistically he reminds me a lot of E.M Forster, whose work I love. It's a total mystery to me why this book (and just as an aside, it's only 200 pages long, which fact only increases my frustration!) is taking so long to get through. In fact, I haven't even got to 'The Man who Would be King' yet! Every time I sit down to read it, I remember something else I have to do, or another book I really want to read, or a post (like this....) I really must write. It's driving me crazy!

Since writing this post, I have practically finished one other book, and read half of yet another. Neither of them are by Kipling...

Has anybody else had this problem? Any clues as to why it is this happens?