Do You Read in the Kitchen?

Reading on holiday with prosecco

Summer is over (in the UK), and it’s time to kick those autumn leaves; to dig out the coats and boots and to put the flip flops away. The kids have returned to school, and I'm getting back into the swing of things with a few busy weeks coming up, but I don't want to go back to reading as little as I did in the first half of this year.

As Stephen King says in my favourite how-to-write book, On Writing,

‘If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others; read a lot and write a lot.’

This year I haven’t been getting through as many books as I’d like to, so I decided to rectify that in August when I went on holiday with my family. I took a good look at the TBR pile by my bed and selected a novel which had been gathering dust for more than two years: The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, winner of the 2014 Man Booker Prize. I picked up The Dark Circle by Linda Grant from the table in Waterstones (have read most of her books), and the cover of Zadie Smith’s, Swing Time really stood out in Tesco (plus I'd read about it in an article online that week). Each book has taken me on a different journey and I love the way all three authors write (still reading Zadie Smith, almost finished).

This summer is about lots of reading, some writing, and spending time with family #amreading #amwriting #bookstagram #writers #writersofinstagram #alwaysreading #lindagrant #instabooks #booklove

A post shared by Anita Chapman (@neetswriter) on Jul 23, 2017 at 8:26am PDT

In the past, I’ve read the most when commuting: when I worked in London in my twenties, doing quite an intense job with long hours, I used to get the train into Waterloo and reading was a great way to shut work out of my mind. At lunchtimes I’d venture into Waterstones, Canary Wharf and buy my way through the bestsellers. In the late 90s, some of my favourite books were published: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Chocolat and Memoirs of a Geisha spring to mind. One day, I discovered Anne Tyler’s, A Patchwork Planet when scanning the shelves where authors were organised alphabetically, a treat as she had quite a backlist. Of course, these days, there are lots of recommendations to be found online, but it is nice to discover a new author when browsing in a bookshop, by assessing the cover and blurb, and by reading the first page.

Finished. What a read #richardflanagan #thenarrowroadtothedeepnorth #manbooker2014 #amreading #alwaysreading #bookstagram #historicalfiction #histfic #ww2 #wwii #instabooks #booklove

A post shared by Anita Chapman (@neetswriter) on Aug 10, 2017 at 10:37am PDT

Since returning from holiday, my reading speed has slowed down, and I do want to get to the next book in my TBR pile. Usually at home, I only read before sleeping, but I have a new way to get through my books more quickly. When prompted to finish the sentence, 'I love my mummy because...' at nursery aged three for a Mother's Day card, my daughter said '...she's always in the kitchen'. When my kids were younger, I was always in the kitchen, but even now, I do spend a lot of time waiting for food to cook. So instead of checking social media on my phone whilst waiting for the timer to go off, I shall aim to read instead.

The next book on my TBR pile is How To Stop Time by Matt Haig. I’d planned to wait for the paperback, but when I saw the hardback in Tesco, I read the first page, and continued onto the next and then the next; and then I bought it. And so, I hope to get through a few more books than in the first part of this year-I’ll be reading, in the kitchen.

Update on my writing: I've almost finished the latest 10K words for my mentor, to send off by the end of this week. It's moving forwards, little by little...and update on my alter-ego, neetsmarketing's new ten week course, Social Media for Writers and Bloggers at Richmond Adult Community College here.

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