Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
A lot more of us are working from home than was the case a year ago.
Has that changed our reading habits? Any books that stand out and
symbolize this period for you?
  

    
I've wondered how my favorite authors will handle the pandemic. Michael 
Connelly's "The Law of Innocence" is the first novel I've read that 
mentions the virus. The first mention comes when one character asks 
"Where the hell is Wuhan?" after hearing a story on CNN about a new virus 
in China. The foreshadowing gave me chills. Later, a character notices 
that the woman sitting next to him on a plane is wearing a mask. "She 
must be sick," he thinks. There are a few more mentions, all slipped in 
naturally.

Michael Robotham in his acknowledgments after "When She Was Good" 
explains, "Like many of my previous novels, 'When She Was Good' is 
written in the first person in the present tense with the story unfolding 
in real time. It is set in 2020 but was written before the global 
COVID-19 pandemic turned our lives upside down. For that reason, there is 
no mention of the virus or lockdowns or social distancing. It was too 
late to alter the story significantly, and it would have spoiled many of 
the most important plot elements of the novel. I hope this doesn't 
distract from your reading experience and you can enjoy a world without 
the coronavirus, at least for a few hours."
  

    
Oooh. Another reason to continue catching up on Michael Connelly
novels. I'm maybe halfway through and taking a break due to too much
non-fiction reading that is on my plate and attached to deadlines
(albeit, sometimes, deadline == due back at the library).

What has changed the most for me is that I have gotten much more
used to ebooks. For several months, couldn't go to the library at
all, but ebooks were just as available. And, in truth, the ability
to be sitting here at home, comfy, and find a good mystery to read
while still curled up in my chair is a pretty strong incentive to
use ebooks to the max. Also, with ebooks, if too many things become
available all at once, I can just set a few to "delay". With
physical books, when they show up, I sort of have to go through the
ritual of checking them out, even if I'm pretty sure I don't have
time to read them right now--that's especially true (in my mind, at
least) if the book had to travel physically from another library in
the system to get to me in the first place.

I also haven't seen a lot, yet, that mentions covid-19 yet. I mean,
I know that I've noticed it in some recent novels, but can't put my
finger on anything. I assume it was in Ali Smith's final seasons
quartet novel, "Summer," but it's not what I remember about the
book. Maybe I just internalized mentions of covid-19 and missed
whatever she did with it.
  

    
I think Lawrence Wright's _The End of October_, published last May,
was the first book I read that was clearly influenced by the
pandemic.  And then Kim Stanly Robinson's _The Ministry for the
Future_, which I'm reading right now, has the pandemic's
fingerprints on some parts.

I'm moved even more to electronic books, since the library curtailed
physical book lending for quite a while.  Probably the book I will
associate most with the pandemic will be Hilary Mantel's _The Mirror
and the Light_, because it was published just before the lockdown. 
I had a hold on the physical book and thought I would go by the
library and see if it was ready -- sometimes the book is on the hold
shelves before they send out the notice it's ready.

But the library had decided to close at 3pm, in a pre-lockdown
closure, and had sent out an email to that effect.  It was packed
full of people, mostly getting books and books for their kids,
because the announcement that the schools would close Monday had
just gone out.

I managed to wedge myself in the pack and edge over to the hold
shelves where I found the book, and edge back to the end of the line
where I waited I don't know how long to get to the checkout kiosk.

The whole time I was thinking "is this wise?  this can't be safe." 
No one had a mask; social distancing hadn't even entered people's
minds yet.  "Is this wise?  Is this safe?" in that mass.


Nowadays I would have turned around and just ordered the book - I
would have never had gone into a crowd like that for a minute, even
masked.  And it turned out the virus was already in community spread
then - had been for a month.

The library closed that day and didn't reopen for months, not even
for book returns.  So  _The Mirror and the Light_ sat on the table
after I read it -- because I couldn't return it -- reminding me that
I couldn't even go to the library any more.  Reminding me of my
little loss in the mass of everyone's losses.
  

    
Ah, Elaine. Even those little losses matter.

The epidemic has been disastrous in terms of my worst habits. I'm
watching more TV, and dicking around online, more than I ever have.
And I have so many books to read. 

It got to where the ONLY books I read were those for work, on hard
deadlines. No pleasure reading at all. All those wasted hours!

I've got the Freedom app on my computers, and in the interest of
forcing myself to read more, I've set it to block my black-hole
sites from 10:30pm to 7am, and for six hours in the middle of the
day.

And I'm reading! Both book-in-hand reading, and listening to
audiobooks. I'm focusing on classics I've always meant to get to.
I'm reading Bleak House, and listening to Middlemarch. I've got
Ulysses on deck - first a listen, then reading it. I'm downloading
the Great Courses lecture series on Ulysses, too. If that inclines
me to, I'll then pick up the Odyssey. 

After that, Oscar Wilde's complete works. 

Amazing how the world opens up when you get the hell off the
computer.

(Tangentially, in case it's helpful to others: with the Freedom app
I'm also sleeping earlier and more regularly. I do recommend it.)
  

    
One thing that has changed for me during this period is that I'm now
technically "older." My claim of being at the tail end of middle
aged is denied by the covid-19 "when can I get vaccinated" levels -
we're almost at the point where my age gets the jabs. Probably
appropriate that I'm making my way through Louise Aronson's recent
book, "Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine,
Reimagining Life." I also have the example of my father's mother,
who continued to be out and about and lucid (and especially
available for bridge), despite getting mugged a couple of times,
until her death in her '80s.
  

    
This is the year in which I admitted to myself that I am old. 78. Up
til now, I was clearly "slowing down", but "old" just didn't
compute.

One of the benefits is priority in the vaccine queue. It's a great
relief to have that behind me.

Now that I've accepted my new status, I find myself routinely
monitoring my rambling when talking to others, especially younger
people. And yes, I detect early indicators of rambling. This is just
another example of "first you have to accept that you have a problem
before you can get to work solving it." So, a new resolution,
"Practice concision."
  

    
Oh yeah. I meant to say, I just ordered the Louise Aronson book and
will start it today.
  

    
She gave me a wonderful interview when the book came out. Not just
an innovative thinker but a lovely, lovely person.

<http://indeepradio.com/podcast/dr-louise-aronson-elderhood/>
  

    
My reading habits have completely changed. I don't want to read
heavy non-fiction that makes me feel more scared and stressed than I
am. I don't want to read Great Literature that makes me feel like I
have to work to understand it. I just want to read things that are
diverting and happy-making. I have torn through a massive stack of
romances and mysteries and I am 100% okay with that.
  

    
<fsquared>, that sounds like my spouse's video preferences since
covid-19 (well, that and our former President).
  

    
I'm lucky, I guess - the classics don't feel like work to me,
really. The Forsyte Saga was, so I just put it down.

Escaping into romances, mystery, any kind of what I would call
"casual" fiction isn't an option for me. I've never had a taste for
them, and a couple efforts to revisit that have all turned out the
same way. Just not my taste.

I'll tell you what has changed (drift alert! But this is The Well,
where Drift-R-Us:

My taste in TV and movies has been turned on its head. I've always
been one for darker stuff and deep documentaries, but I've no
stomach for that now. I want to watch the Chicago Seven movie. I
tried to watch Trumbo. But everything feels too heavy.

I've developed an appetite for farce, which has never been me!
Pratfalls, slapstick - they've always left me stone-faced. I've
discovered Miranda Hart's series on Hulu ("Miranda") and omg I love
it so much. I've laughed so loud and hard Bruce claims I've actually
hurt his ears.

She is immensely talented. Her character is in her thirties, a kid
at heart, socially awkward. She takes full advantage of her six-foot
height to underline her inability to really fit in. Her control of
her body as a comic instrument is close to Chaplin's level. She is
*brilliant*. 

I understand the American version - Call Me Kat - has fallen flat on
its face, which is no surprise. Not just that so many Brit-to-US TV
adaptations have flopped, but that Mayim Bialik is not Miranda Hart.

I really do recommended finding it. What a relief to laugh so hard.
  

    
I've read a ton of "pandemic porn."  You know, _Station Eleven_, _The Stand-
okay I couldn't finish that one, Barry's _The Great Influenza_ etc.

Now I'm reading John Le Carre's _ The Perfect Spy_ -- because the author
died.

Do you see a theme emerging here?

On the other hand, I'm now part of three book groups.  All of which are
devoted to understanding and undermining systemic racism ,reading books by
black authors and people of color.  They're big fun and extremely thought-
provoking and I'm reading stuff I might not have picked up on my own.
  

    
I've long been a fan of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books.   The 
first new ones in quite some time came out last year.   I almost
never buy beach reading like the Dresden books - I just patronize
my local library.

With the lib closed for COVID-19 I've been using my access through
the lib to a consortium of libs that loan out ebooks.  So while
waiting for the new Dresdens (Peace Talks & Battleground) I read
the entire series to get back in the swing of things.  I wasn't
real assiduous about it and I often had to wait for books so it
took most of the year.   I filled in some of the gaps with Sandords's
Lucas Davenport, Virgil Flowers and Kidd books.

I'm on the list for Mick Herron's Slough House when it comes out.
It's the latest entry in the Slough House series about failed MI6
agents that can't simply be fired.   They're shuffled off to Slough
House in hopes they'll give up and quit.

Luckily soon after closing up the physical shop the lib got a 
system in place to loan physical books again.   So on that side
I read Dying of Whiteness, Strangers in theri Own Land, American
Nations, A Very Stable Genius, and such like.

For Christmas my older daughter gave me Maddow's Bagman but I 
haven't started it yet.

So many books - so little time.
  

    
>Sandford
I'm looking forward to Ocean Prey, due in April. Lucas and Virgil are both
in it.
  

    
Yeah ... I noticed that.   Not the first time though.
I'm currently on Storm Prey  - while it's a Davenport
book, Virgil is a strong secondary character throughout.
  

    
Are you reading the series in order? If so, I envy you because you have ten
more books, eleven counting Ocean Prey.
  

    
Yup ... in order.   But not my first time through.  I read
most of them as they came out so it's been quite a while
since I've done them.

I did the Kidd books first as there are only four of them,
then alternated between the FLowers and Davenport books.
There are fewer Flowers books so I'm done with that series
until I read Ocean Prey.

I use BooksInOrder.com and FictionDB.com for ordered lists.

For the past 14 months I've just been a reading machine, 
alternating between "serious" stuff in hardback (some bought,
most from the library) and "beach reading" (all Kindle books
from the library).   

My only unread Dresden is Battle Ground - which I should get
in about 3 weeks.  It'll be a bit longer before I get to Ocean
Prey.

Earlier this year I read The City and the City (China Mieville).
Much of his stuff I can take or leave but that one I quite
enjoyed.    It's a murder mystery set in a pair of cities - one 
East European and one Turkish/Middle Eastern - that occupy the 
same physical space.   The resdents have trained themselves to 
see and interact with only their own city even though the other 
city might be - literally - across the street.

The protagonist is a police detective on the Eastern European
side who is trying to solve the murder of a visitor from the
outside world.   His quest takes him through both cities and
the complicated interface between them.
  

    
To circle back to the actual topic ...

My reading hasn't really changed much because of the pandemic.
I retired about 3.5 years ago so was finally able to indulge
my reading habits to the limits of my wife's patience.

The biggest change was moving esssentially all my "beach reading"
over to ebooks while the libraries were closed.   Closed libraries
meant no current/hot books - they seldom make it to the ebook
loan service right away - and no ILL's.   

Now that my local libraries have a curbside pickup service for
books ordered online I'm able to get stuff that isn't available
on the ebook loans yet.   The lib has pushed their wi-fi coverage
out into the parking lot to make it easier for those without 
internet connections to access the web.   Those without computers
or phones are still out in the cold.  Given the level of service
in our library district I imagine they're working on that 
problem as well.
  

    
You remind me of an interesting point. One of the excellent things
my library does is provide study/meeting rooms and access to
computers for those who need it. I still remember one period of
unemployment when a buddy group would meet in the local library,
where we'd have a free room, excellent wifi. People in need have no
access to either of those right now.

(I also miss the group puzzles that the library put out. It was fun
for me to spend a bit of time, when I had it, putting a few pieces
in, and sometimes sharing a bit of insight with other puzzle
solvers.)
  

    
Yes, the libraries have been key to providing access in the past -- not just
to computers but stable wifi.  Now my students drive to mcdonalds.
  

    
Does anyone find themselves having a hard time focusing on reading,
full stop?
  

    
Oh, yes.  My level of focus is nothing like it was a few years ago.
I'd attribute that more to the previous president than to COVID,
though.
  

    
Good point.
  

    
Me. Absolutely. 
  

    
Thinking back .. yes.  Probably why more beach reading this
year than more serious fare.

And yes .. escapism from the chaos of Trump certainly played
a part.