I really relate to what you're saying about getting more sensitive. I had to put Notes on an Execution down in about the first chapter because it was just too intense for me! I've been talking with Elizabeth Held, who writes the great newsletter What to Read If (https://whattoreadif.substack.com/), about a category we're calling "quirky groups of friends," and I'd suggest that as another "chaser"--books that are well-written but where you know everything's going to turn out okay! I'd put Jesse Q. Sutanto's Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers in there, and also Tara Conklin's Community Board.
Yeah, I did not make it far at all in Notes on an Execution either! Thanks for the "chaser" suggestions. And I will definitely check out What to Read If because I feel my book tastes are changing and I need suggestions. Plus, decision fatigue in life: sometimes I just want someone else to tell me what to read!
Chasers! Great term. I have two stacks on my bed table. One contains new and exciting fiction, the other, more introspective work: non-fiction, memoirs, analysis. And I can't read anything from the new and exciting pile just before lights out. Now I have a name for the soothing pile. Thanks, Eva! Right now, my chaser is "The Inner Work of Age" which is helping me to think differently about what's next in late life. And yes, this aversion to late-night agitation has increased as I've aged. I remember movies I watched as a young person ... Reservoir Dogs comes to mind ... that I would find too disturbing to watch now, especially before bed. I have wondered if it is a declining capacity to clear adrenalin from my body.
Yes, I think nonfiction makes for good chasers, especially since they tend to be books you can pick up here and there and not have to follow the thread of a complicated plot. I think from now on I'm always going to have at least two books on my bedside table! I guess I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem!
I really relate to what you're saying about getting more sensitive. I had to put Notes on an Execution down in about the first chapter because it was just too intense for me! I've been talking with Elizabeth Held, who writes the great newsletter What to Read If (https://whattoreadif.substack.com/), about a category we're calling "quirky groups of friends," and I'd suggest that as another "chaser"--books that are well-written but where you know everything's going to turn out okay! I'd put Jesse Q. Sutanto's Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers in there, and also Tara Conklin's Community Board.
Yeah, I did not make it far at all in Notes on an Execution either! Thanks for the "chaser" suggestions. And I will definitely check out What to Read If because I feel my book tastes are changing and I need suggestions. Plus, decision fatigue in life: sometimes I just want someone else to tell me what to read!
Chasers! Great term. I have two stacks on my bed table. One contains new and exciting fiction, the other, more introspective work: non-fiction, memoirs, analysis. And I can't read anything from the new and exciting pile just before lights out. Now I have a name for the soothing pile. Thanks, Eva! Right now, my chaser is "The Inner Work of Age" which is helping me to think differently about what's next in late life. And yes, this aversion to late-night agitation has increased as I've aged. I remember movies I watched as a young person ... Reservoir Dogs comes to mind ... that I would find too disturbing to watch now, especially before bed. I have wondered if it is a declining capacity to clear adrenalin from my body.
Yes, I think nonfiction makes for good chasers, especially since they tend to be books you can pick up here and there and not have to follow the thread of a complicated plot. I think from now on I'm always going to have at least two books on my bedside table! I guess I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem!
Safety in numbers!