What are you reading?

If someone asked you how many books you read in the last year, could you answer? And if they pushed further and asked which three were your favorites, could you answer? I found myself answering those questions recently—and because I read Kindle digital editions almost exclusively, I had a fairly handy answer in my Kindle account.

I know some people scorn digital editions and wax eloquent about the feel of the book in their hands, the smell of a newly opened book. I understand all that, but I usually read at my desk—for goodness sake, I eat at my desk, phone there, practically live at my desk when I’m awake, so it’s not unusual that I read there, especially late at night. But I find putting a book on my desk and bending my neck to read is awkward and gives me a stiff neck. (No, I don’t know what I did all those years before Kindle). I also find the type is too small in some books and too crowded together. On my oversize monitor, text is straight in front of me and clearly legible.

As for reading in bed, forget it. I have never been comfortable doing that. When I go to bed, I go to sleep. Reading in bed would really give me a stiff neck.

Some people keep a reading journal, listing books by date, author, plot, and personal reaction. I think that’s a great idea, and some days I think I’ll start that. But I haven’t.

Back to the questions I answered. Shepherd.com is a website founded by avid reader Ben Fox to help people find the books they want to read. Fox solicited memberships from authors and readers and began listing books by favorite topics. We were asked, for instance, to dream up categories and list our favorite three books, so I listed my favorite Outrageous Cozy Mysteries.

When a call came to list my favorite three reads in the last year, I simply went to my Kindle directory and scrolled through what I’d read. Here are the three I picked: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/judy-alter. It interested me that none of my favorites made the list of books most often cited. Here’s that list: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023. I think I’m a bit proud that my books weren’t on the popular list. To me, it means I’m following my own personal tastes and not being swayed by what’s popular. You won’t be surprised that my list is heavily into food-related books. You’ll also find I read forty books last year—that was an estimate, and I expect it’s on the low side.

Several people in an online authors’ group also submitted to this list, and a bit of correspondence with them convinces me that I need to go back and give a second chance to a couple of authors I’ve previously decided against. One is Richard Osmond’s retirement center series where a group of four meet to discuss murder—and find themselves in the midst of real murder investigations. There are four books in the series, starting with The Thursday Murder Club. I started that once, guess I didn’t give it enough of a chance. So I will go back to it.

The other author I’m told I’d enjoy is Janet Evanovitch. I have real reservations about that, but it’s been so long since I read about Stephanie Plum that I’m not sure why. My memory tells me I thought it was over the top crude, but I do know that the grandmother in that series has lots of loyal followers. So I’ll try.

My one Janet Evanovich story: she spoke to a capacity crowd at TCU one night quite a few years ago, and my assigned job was to stand by the door of the ladies’ room so that she could have a moment of privacy between her talk and book signing. So there I stood, barring the door, when a woman came up to me and said, “I know who you are.” Well, yes, I preened a bit and thought, “She’s read my books.” No such case: she said, “You run the cash register at the Star Café.” She’d apparently caught me at what was then my Saturday night gig in a café owned by good friends. So much for fame.

So, to wrap this up, right now I’m reading, Guilt Strikes at Granger’s Store, the ninth Samuel Craddock mystery by Terry Shames. I really recommend this series. It will probably go on my favorites list next year.

In all that is so sad in our world these days, this struck me as particularly sad: I saw where a teenage girl had finally brought down the “magnificent’ buck she’d been stalking for years. She talked about what an honor it was for her to kill this buck. I know people who hunt for meat, but hunting for honor and glory strikes me as so wrong—and for a teenage girl. Besides, if she’s been stalking him for years, the meat will probably be tough and stringy. Why couldn’t she have let him live his life in splendor. Color me a soft heart.