Time for a little reading

One problem I have is that whenever I’m writing a book/novel, I have a hard time reading other books. Usually the most reading I get done is when I am between projects, which doesn’t occur that often. It’s not that I don’t like to read books, quite the opposite. I love reading books, and when I’m into a book, I won’t put it down and even skip meals till it’s done. I have a lot of books here, and since I’m a professional procrastinator, I have quite a few great books I haven’t gotten around to reading. Even then, I’m still buying new books and adding even more to my reading hit list.

Over the Christmas break, my Dad gave me a copy of a book he wanted me to try. It was a mystery/thriller titled “Rules of Prey” by John Sandford. It’s the first book in a huge series of novels about the same character, which is a Police Detective that lives in Minnesota and drives around in a Porsche like he’s some cheesy Don Johnson of the north. I was skeptical when I started to read it, but slowly got into the book. I was at the airport waiting for my flight home when I read the last hundred pages, and I loved it. This Sandford guy is such a talented writer, that I was willing to give the rest of the shit a pass because the prose was brilliant. Now I’m looking for his other books. Thanks for the distraction, Dad.

As a writer, it comes as no surprise that I have a hard time passing by a book store without stopping to check things out. I did that on Wednesday after I hit the bank to pay my rent. I came across a hardcover book that I couldn’t resist picking up. I grabbed the book by Jordan Peterson, who is a professor from the University of Toronto and a clinical psychologist that has been going viral lately because of his views on gender pronouns and his refusal to accept them all. I’ve been enjoying his interviews and videos, so when I saw his recently released book titled “12 Rules for Life: an antidote for chaos”, for a rather decent price too, I couldn’t resist. I’m about 20 pages into the book and am digging it so far.

My plan is to take a short break from writing over the weekend. I’m gonna hit the pause button on the novels and books till Monday, but still work on the comic books as they have deadlines approaching. with the extra time, I’m going to dig right into this Peterson book and see if I like it enough to finish it. I’ve for Jonathan for the weekend, but he usually prefers to hog the TV and computer whenever it’s his weekend, so I’m going to let him. I’m going to crash on the couch and/or the bed and read this weekend.

If the weather gets better, I might take Jon for a walk around the park but if now we’ll just hang out at the apartment and veg out. I had considered taking Jon to a autistic friendly screening of Paddington 2 at a local theatre, but it’s supposed to be really cold tomorrow and the bus rides are really far to put up with that. I don’t like to go out that much in the winter unless I really have to, so I think the little dude and I will bunker in and we’ll do more fun stuff when the weather improves. I’ve already picked a few idea dates for taking both boys to see the Blue Jays, so we’ve got some fun things to look forward to.

At least the Peterson book will keep me very busy until I can find the next Sanford book. I want to read them in order, so I’ve scouring used book stores and ebay to find the best deal to get it. It was easier when I could download the book to my e-reader, but that’s not an option right now. I used to have an e-reader, but I loaned it to my older brother. Chris takes a bus to and from work everyday and each ride is 45+ minutes and that doesn’t even include the time waiting at the bus stop. Chris’ e-reader was stolen, so I loaned him mine so he could keep reading on the bus. I thought he was going to get another and then give mine back, but that was a little over two years ago. I think I know what I’m going to get Chris for his birthday in May… a new e-reader so I can take mine back.

That’s why I’ve been old schooling the books lately. Sure I’ve always been buying books even with the e-reader, but book series like this one were easier to get online. For example, I have most of the Jack Reacher books on my e-reader, and I as only about four books in. I look forward to reading that and these Sandford books when I get it back. But for now I’ll just old school it one paperback at a time.

Well, I gotta get ready to take Jon for the weekend. I hope everyone else has a good one too.

My best,

Peter