Today, I had the first of two major medical procedures that I am having this month, in back-to-back weeks. Next Tuesday, I am having arthroscopic surgery on my left knee to check, and repair if needed, my meniscus which was diagnosed earlier this summer as “degenerative” from osteoarthritis. But first, earlier this morning, I had a colonoscopy since I just turned 50 in June.
To keep it short, the procedure went well, with the doctor discovering a small polyp that is being sent for biopsy, with a report coming back in five to 10 days if cancerous, precancerous or noncancerous. And now tomorrow I have a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood test, another medical procedure, along with another blood test prescribed by my primary.
Remember all those possibilities that I mentioned last week for my own extended readathon – along with Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon on Oct. 26 – at the end of the month because I’ll be recuperating after knee surgery?
Now forget them.
Because that’s what I’m doing.
Every so often, at least once or twice a year, I start with a clean slate and that time has come again. To that end, along with scrapping all those possibilities mentioned last week, I’ve returned everything that I’ve checked out, both physically and virtually. I’ve also canceled all my holds.
Why?
Because once again I discover that I’m not reading what I want to read – at least not what I want to read right now. Either I’m reading what others want me to read or books I think I should read. I look at the stack of books on my desk and the ebooks on my Kindle…and I sigh. So as of today, I’m pushing the reset button on my reading. What will I read next? I don’t know yet, but after I figure it out and have read it, I’ll let you know.
By now, no doubt, if you’ve been reading this blog, you know that I’ll be having arthroscopic surgery on my left knee for a degenerative meniscus on
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2019!
At least, that’s how I see it in my mind…
…along with this date:
SATURDAY, OCT. 26, 2019!
On that date is the latest edition of Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon, and as I mentioned before, I already have begun thinking, and rethinking, about what books I might read as I start my convalescence.
Now I’m thinking not only of what I’ll be reading that day, but what I’ll be reading for those two weeks that I have off after my surgery, my own mini-readathon (and binge-watch, let’s be honest).
As I mentioned before, I already have three set for the readathon day itself, apropos for it being so close to Halloween:
The Unforeseen by Dorothy McCardle
The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (an annual Halloween reread tradition).
The only definite for the two-week readathon is my sister’s self-published book, A Story To Tell, now available on Amazon.
There aren’t any good stories left to tell. They’ve all been told. So this is just a story that maybe you’ve heard before – the story of a girl who loved a boy, who thought the boy loved her. The story of a girl who thought life needed to be constantly exciting and full of adventure for it to be real. The story of a girl who learned that what she thought she needed to be happy wasn’t what she needed after all.
The rest of the list is indeterminate, but includes these possibilities:
a pair of books from series I’ve wanted to start or have tried previously to start without much success: A Morbid Taste for Bones (The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Book 1) by Ellis Peters and Death at La Fenice: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon.
a trio of collections of poetry: Dream Work by Mary Oliver, This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems by Wendell Berry, and Now and Then: The Poet’s Choice Columns, 1997-2000 by Robert Hass.
a pair of political books, which is doubtful I’ll get to because…sigh…politics, but I’ll put here anyway: Becoming by Michelle Obama and We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
a pair of library bookstore finds: The Brothers K by David James Duncan, which I thought I read years ago but skimming, I’m not so sure, and Bookmarked: Reading My Way from Hollywood to Brooklyn by Wendy W. Fairey.
a trio of devotional books: The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr and a companion journal to that book.
The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger, which I won as a door prize from the last 24in48 Readathon.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
In all, that will make 18 books, with a realistic goal of reading maybe six or a third of them. As always, I’ll keep you posted.
Pushing Forward Back Last Week/This Week
Reading
Finished last week: Andrew Sean Greer, which grew on me as I read.
Starting this weekend: The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland.
Watching
Friday night: Wife and I watched Fighting with My Family, which was surprisingly good.
This weekend: I’m watching Spider-Man: Far from Home (my wife is “over” the comic book movies).
Listening To
Two new albums: All Mirrors by Angel Olsen and Ode to Joy by Wilco.
What are you planning to read this month, even if you’re not doing the readathon? What have you been reading, watching or listening to this past week that’s good?
