#sendmebooks

I’ve had this post open all day, either I have been lazy with my free time and unable to focus. Or I can use the excuse that I have been very contemplative of what I’m trying to convey.

Yeah, let’s go with that.

This past year, I have started this blog and have written a few things. I also started an Instagram page, full of plants and animals from daily walks, to the occasional alcoholic drink. Even though it’s social media, and I might be social on it :shrug: it’s not quite what I wanted. Specifically Instagram, the blog is whatever, I can throw words at this and decide I don’t like it or wrestle with the words to form a thought from arrow to heart. In regards to both, I was, I don’t know. Putting words out there, Ideas, things? I guess I’m being more reactionary than anything else.

Let’s change this, shall we? Let’s step further back to when I was younger, cue the music … budget cuts? Why wasn’t I told about … cause I made the budget? That’s hollow. Okay then, moving on.

So, I’ve been thinking and evaluating a few different things. This includes what caused me to be interested in reading and in stories. I remember the series that made me interested in reading, Boxcar Children. A present from a teacher, now it could have been book 8 or 35, can’t recall. I also no longer own it, but it started me on a journey to read more. I migrated onto Ghost Twins, Animorphs, Everworld, and there might have been others, but at that time YA was small. I went to B. Daltons and Waldenbooks, and had to go into the very back corner to find books for my age group, and it was exhausted quickly. The ladies that worked at these stores though, they pointed me in the right direction a few times.

Complete aside: B. Dalton created a subsidy called Software Etc., which, to save overhead, started within B. Dalton. Spun out and subsequently bought up a competitor by the name of Babbages. Re-branded as Babbages Etc. (yet both were still active), turned around and had to file bankruptcy. Both chains were for sale, but when no buyers came forth and the retail group’s assets were sold off. They then restructured Babbages Etc. to relaunch as Gamestop. Funny enough, it was sold back to Barnes and Noble/B. Dalton before being spun back out. Sorry, this was a fascinating cyclic rabbit hole.

Anyways, I found Barnes and Noble to be soothing. I would go there just to walk and read, treated it more like a library. I was relaxed. I found comfort, reassurance, and joy in the written word. Dropping into other worlds, so amazing. To be able to read the stories that are being written now? Stories that matter, that teach empathy, to see the world through more then just the eyes of our fathers? I wish I could have read them when I was younger, but damn, as an adult, I can budget and buy multiple genres.

I wrote a blog a long time ago, it was bad. In writing now, I’m finding more of myself. It’s still like pulling teeth, but I think, I’m like a level 5 writer? I will get better, but I also need to read more. I have halted the amount I read, or I’ve let stress rule how much I give to reading. Which actually contributes to stress. Not a pleasant cycle.

My point, which, I’m tediously getting to now, is that for all the books I have read or have not read, people ask my opinion on what to read. I find this, utterly fascinating. An old friend asked for a list to read as he waits for new books from an author I introduced him to years ago … okay the books, not the person. I’ve had a cousin and another friend ask for recommendations. Which amazes me. Why trust my tastes?

Apparently some people do, go figure.

To the end that people have asked my opinion, instead of just answering during the few random times I can see people, especially during a pandemic, I need another way to communicate. That is of course if people would like to hear my opinion on books. Now, this doesn’t mean that i’ll be reviewing books on Goodreads or Amazon. I do however have an Instagram page that could instead be used to showcase books. This is also me formulating and thinking on page, but I think I might do that.

This idea started from different people and from posting a picture. Maybe from this, I’ll find some good books to read. II’m going to read more, my To Be Read (TBR) pile is a siren. On the other hand, maybe, just maybe, I can offer you, a person I don’t know, a new title to read.