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darkemeraldsAt some point a few years ago, Twitter became magically addictive to me. Prior to that I could take it or leave it, but something-something-SPN-fandom-something happened, and I got hooked.
Periodically since then I've quit, but I swear it's like quitting smoking. Just one peek at my notifications and within two weeks I'm back up to a pack a day.
A couple of weeks ago it was time to quit again, and so far the abstinence is paying off. My goal wasn't simply to stop wasting my life (I mean...hours per day!), but to read more books. To recapture the magic of reading.
It seems to be working. Since I deleted my Twitter app, I've finished two and a half novels and chunks of two nonfiction titles. (I'm talking actual text-on-page books here. My audiobook game has never wavered.) A side benefit is slowly-returning attention and focus in general.
Finished:
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (the one he published after Cloud Atlas)
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske (queer Edwardian magicians solving a mystery--loads of fun)
In progress:
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead (his prose deserves the two Pulitzers he's won)
History in English Words by Owen Barfield (very old, but kind of charming)
The Passion of the Western Mind by Richard Tarnas (survey of Western philosophy; not easy reading)
Up next:
The "Capitola" novels of E.D.E.N Southworth (mid-19th century American adventures featuring a feisty girl protagonist named Capitola. Southworth was the most popular author of her day, publishing 60 novels between 1849 and 1915.)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (to continue my project of reading all David Mitchell's novels in 2022.)
It is wonderful to be reading again.
Periodically since then I've quit, but I swear it's like quitting smoking. Just one peek at my notifications and within two weeks I'm back up to a pack a day.
A couple of weeks ago it was time to quit again, and so far the abstinence is paying off. My goal wasn't simply to stop wasting my life (I mean...hours per day!), but to read more books. To recapture the magic of reading.
It seems to be working. Since I deleted my Twitter app, I've finished two and a half novels and chunks of two nonfiction titles. (I'm talking actual text-on-page books here. My audiobook game has never wavered.) A side benefit is slowly-returning attention and focus in general.
Finished:
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (the one he published after Cloud Atlas)
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske (queer Edwardian magicians solving a mystery--loads of fun)
In progress:
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead (his prose deserves the two Pulitzers he's won)
History in English Words by Owen Barfield (very old, but kind of charming)
The Passion of the Western Mind by Richard Tarnas (survey of Western philosophy; not easy reading)
Up next:
The "Capitola" novels of E.D.E.N Southworth (mid-19th century American adventures featuring a feisty girl protagonist named Capitola. Southworth was the most popular author of her day, publishing 60 novels between 1849 and 1915.)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (to continue my project of reading all David Mitchell's novels in 2022.)
It is wonderful to be reading again.