Just about to start reading . . . .

I intend to start reading today: Georgette Heyer's Black Sheep; Katie Roiphe's Uncommon Arrangements; Julia Stuart's The Matchmaker of Perigord. I shall also continue reading Susan Faludi's The Terror Dream and listening to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. People always ask me how I can possibly keep the details in my head when I read so many books at the same time. I think the answer lies in making sure you read different genres. I'm not sure I could read 4 books of the same genre.

Of the four books which I shall be reading - 2 are fiction and 2 are non fiction. Black Sheep is set in a similar historical period to Pride and Prejudice but its location is Bath whereas P&P is set in Hertfordshire, Kent, London and Derbyshire. In any case listening is not the same as reading - well not to me it isn't. I know many other voracious readers who always have more than one book on the go. If I'm struggling with a book I will read it 30 pages or so at a time interspersed with another book which I am really enjoying. That way I persevere with books which I might otherwise give up on - and I'm frequently rewarded by finding books enjoyable which started off in an unpromising fashion.

The Terror Dream

The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post 9/11 America by Susan Faludi is interesting - and frightening - reading. I decided to read it because I was very impressed by her book Backlash. The Terror Dream could almost be said to be an updated version of Backlash. I've read the first two chapters so far and it is interesting and disturbing how the American media turned on feminist writers and journalists after 9/11. People such as Susan Sontag and Barbara Kingsolver were pilloried for daring to write anything not wholeheartedly pro America's response to 9/11. Rational articles which suggested America put its own house in order were referred to as treason.

The number of comment articles written by women in the American mainstream press more than halved overnight. It was stated by many commentators that feminism was wholly responsible for 9/11 because it had weakened America and made the attacks possible because no one expected them to retaliate. This was mainstream, journalism not the nuttier outer fringes! The attitude from many quarters was - 'Not now, dear, we're at war.' Domesticity was suddenly top of the agenda and the country behaved as though 9/11 was an attack on domestic life rather than on America's foreign policy in the Middle East. Absolutely fascinating reading.

Facebook and books

I have taken a decision to deactivate my Facebook account. I'm really really not interested in the Facebook phenomenon and I can't be bothered to learn about it. Call me a dinosaur if you wish but I'd rather pick and chose which bits of modern technology I use. You could easily spend all day on the social networking sites if you chose and I'm going to limit myself to blogs I think. I have no interest in Twitter either.

I may however start a new blog - when I can think of a name for it - though I shall still be using this one. I've had a blitz on the more personal posts on this blog as well and in future it will be limited to books read, writing and subjects in the news - unless anything major, good or bad, happens in my life. The New Year is, I feel, the time to decide what's important and evaluate how I want to spend my time. A writing project is still under consideration as is an Open University Course as well as various maintenance projects around the house so life is busy - and enjoyable - apart from the usual 'down' feeling I get at this time of year.

Books currently being read: Richard Donkin's The Future of Work; Georgette Heyer's A Civil Contract; Susan Faludi's Backlash. Thoughts on these three in the coming days, I hope.