READING CLUTTER

I like any post to be accompanied by at least one image. I am not sure if that is because I find that reading from a screen is tiring on the eyes, far more than on paper. By this I do not mean that my paper gets tired, but that my eyes reading from a book, magazine or newspaper can go for hours, whereas gazing at pixels seems to sap my powers of concentration. A picture often tells you all you need to know and saves you the trouble of reading the article; or it can interest you enough to engage with the words and find out more. There is probably an art to that, Other blogs of mine have been merely a vehicle to display my artwork or photographs, but hopefully this one will be more ...intriguing?
Mind you, I am reading far less nowadays than I have been used to, and wonder if this is a commonplace or if it is just me. Lifestyle changes undoubtedly play a part. In my youth I had acres of time to fill, and often chose to read over other pursuits. I am thus well-read, but rubbish at any sort of sporting endeavour. As I have aged, attending to business during the day and attending on my lovely wife in the evenings (this is a very generalised version of each day, I should add), has pushed my reading time into the long grass.
My style of reading also has changed. Gone are the days when I would choose a book, read it through and return it to the shelf. I clutter up my bedside table - or under it at least - with quite a few books of various degrees of seriousness, weight or import.
Offhand I am presently in the process of 'reading' nine books (including my Bible), although I have not looked at three of these in some weeks and have only dipped into the others for only a paragraph or two at a time. Where is the fun in that? This does not include audiobooks - not technically reading, I know, but... - and of these, one recent purchase is an audio Bible, which boasts 86 hours of listening. I nearly said 'listening pleasure' there, and although generally all this should be a pleasurable experience, after a time it becomes a chore.
So I try to look on my lack of reading as a freedom from the tyranny of the printed word, but it lacks conviction somehow. I must make the effort to put aside an afternoon - an evening maybe - half-an-hour surely - to settle down and once again enjoy a good yarn well told. 
Now I am sure I have a good Patrick O'Brian novel on the bookshelf that I have been meaning to read for ages. Or maybe I should finish a couple of these other things first...?
Oh help!

George's current reading list:
The Bible
The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers - Oswald Chambers
Song of Songs - Watchman Nee
The Gathering Storm - Winston S Churchill
The Charm of Ireland - Stephen Gwynne
Seeing Salvation - Neil MacGregor & Erika Langmuir
Thrones, Dominations - Dorothy L Sayers & Jill Paton Walsh
How to Read A Painting - Patrick de Rynck
Memoir and Remains of R M M'Cheyne - Andrew Bonar
Letter from America - Alistair Cooke

Which is 10 not 9...

...and there may be others.
G J Stewart
Humphreystown, 28th April 2015








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    1. Yes, and one in which I hope to follow the lead taken by your own 'Antonalyptic' blog. My other blogs are all in one way or another work related and thought I should like somewhere to express whatever random thoughts and experiences came my way.
      Your blog is - if I may say so - a fine modern example of the sort of thing Samuel Pepys put into his diaries. Personal experiences and eye-witness accounts.

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