Rabbit Holes
An April resolution is to very much limit going down the rabbit hole on FB and TWTR. What I mean is that I will do my best to stay out of the comment sections on certain groups, particularly sports and politics.
There's no winning to be had there. Except for the odd outlier, there is almost no rational discussion. I can almost feel my IQ degrading when I read comments.
This isn't all that easy for me, for by personality I am more of a listener than a talker, or reader rather than writer, this blog notwithstanding. I like listening to or reading about what people have to say. But when I click on many posts, I am confronted by childish comments that add nothing to my life and even subtract from it.
I am not done with either posting or following on either platform. but I am working on the urge to follow comments and to gt involved.
Reading Goals
I have promised not to get too detailed about my monthly reading. You may recall that my goal has been to read 1 fiction and 1 non-fiction each month, I have been meeting both goals and well exceeding my fiction target.
In March I completed 2.5 works of fiction and 1 non-fiction (although it took me a few days into April to finish the non).
The list was quite mediocre. Darkest Before the Dawn was a Sergeant Windflower mystery set in Newfoundland. The setting and characters were appealing, but I found the prose to be ... um ... prosaic. That was much better than One Last Prayer for the Rays by Wes Markin, which I was too macabre and horrific for my gentle tastes.
I did find Played to Death, a Scott Drayco mystery by BV Lawrence, to be good enough,to the point where I would read more of the series if they were to come my way. However, I'm not sure that I would go out of my way to find more volumes.
My non-fiction work was Celtic Lightning: How the Scots and Irish Created a Canadian Nation by Ken McGoogan. It consisted of 30 character studies of various Scots and Irish who might be said to have influenced Canada and Canadians in some way. Many of the figures are deeply historical, and the lines to the present day can be a bit tenuous, but it is mostly in terms of temperament and character that the influence is felt. There were studies of William Wallace, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Sir Ernest Shackleton, and many more. I got a bit bogged down at times reading short studies about people who were altogether new to me, but on the whole I am glad that I read the book.
Good goal...the reading one. I've been bogged down (escaping reality of course) in fiction. Lots of audio books make them easy to carry around while doing mundane things. But I've yet to go for a walk while listening to a book...that just seems so absurd to me. I'm currenty listening to Louise Perry...and enjoy that the reader can give the French pronunciations, where if I were reading the text, my mind has 8th grade French with very bad inflections. I have it checked out for only 4 more days, so will be putting in 20 hours to hopefully finish it. Thank heaven I can paint glazes on pots while in the land of Gamache.
ReplyDeleteI am also staying clear of comments sections, and most social media too. It's helping a lot. Never known such stressful political times as we have in Britain right now, but you've been living with that kind of stuff as well. Phew.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to go down a rabbit hole these days with the number of social media accounts one can have. I comment on little else besides blogger these days.
ReplyDeleteYou inspire me.
ReplyDeleteA friend of a friend cautioned "Don't feed the trollers!" to the latter. I occasionally read FB, and smiled at the admonishment.
ReplyDeleteEverything in balance. I do not remark on most political statements on FB because, as you said, the comments can be so poor and unenlightened. They are just slug fests by some very angry people. But there are some funny memes and other stuff as well. I think our level of conversation has been reduced greatly and I hope we will return to higher standards soon.
ReplyDeleteI made a dismayed remark about a comics artist with a bad reputation on Twitter- and the guy himself went after me. Best to leave such things alone from now on.
ReplyDeleteI prefer fiction over FB and Twitter and world/national politics at the moment (although there is plenty of "fiction" on those sites). I have not opened Twitter since February and only follow FB groups that are homely. Having said all that, I am finding it difficult to get stuck in a new book!
ReplyDeleteGood for you.
ReplyDeleteWe are both voracious readers. I'm looking forward to some sunshine to sit on the front deck and read.
I've read Fatal Passage by Ken McGoogan, the story of Scotsman John Rae who discovered the fate of Sir John Franklin and the ships Erebus and Terror.
ReplyDeleteAlso read the story of Erebus by Michael Palin, and currently reading Minds of Winter by Ed O'Loughlin, also about the Franklin expedition plus other Arctic explorations. All books highly recommended!!!
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