“Paperback Writer” 


(Lennon - McCartney 1966)














Welcome to the next instalment of how I spend some of my newly available time – and with hindsight, a great deal of it is as enjoyable (or more so) than in the old days!

 

And indeed, the song title does have some relevance – but, for reasons that will become apparent and with utmost pedantry, “iPad Reader” might have been a more accurate title.

 

Having learned a couple of weeks ago, that books shouldn’t be read by their covers, it’s now time to start turning the pages – and I mean that, quite literally:

 

One of the things that Phil v2.0 does nowadays, is spend a lot more time reading for pleasure, than was the case with earlier versions of himself.

 

Before the head bump, most of my reading material was work related. Reading for pleasure - and not out of necessity, constitutes a very big change. I’ll go a stage further than the oft cited “different isn’t necessarily worse”. In this case, different is a damn sight better! 

 

In support of my new (or at least, hugely expanded) hobby I have joined a local book club. Each month we read an agreed book and towards the end of the month, meet up to chat about it. During lockdown, these meetings are taking place online.

 

The club is styled as a “classics book club”. Some might think that this sounds boring … 

 


… but I beg to differ! 



One good thing about reading in a club context, is that inspires an exploration of books that I wouldn’t necessarily, have otherwise read. 

 

As such it has introduced me to writers such as Anne and Charlotte Bronte. So far as the latter is concerned, Jane Eyre is a recent and very much favoured, read. I am currently embroiled in and thoroughly enjoying Persuasion by Jane Austen. In times gone by, I would never have thought to pick up books such as these.

 

In the enjoyment of fiction, I have a few hurdles to overcome:

 

As you might recall, I am visually impaired and this is of course, a source of practical difficulty. Luckily, through the use of a tablet (which affords the possibility of significantly larger fonts), I am able to get around this problem.

 

Post injury memory problems can easily cause me to forget previous content within a book. I am afraid I haven’t come up with anything better than flicking back through relevant parts of the book and re-reading – better than nothing, I suppose.

 

In addition to memory loss, other subtle, cognitive changes render it a little difficult to pick up on some matters of (perhaps inferred) detail. By reason of a limited perception of nuance, I used to find myself rather more drawn to fact than fiction – it being more suited to the “black and white” manner in which I now often, see things. I have however found that the more fiction I read, the less of a problem, this is becoming - practice makes perfect! This is a good example of how part of the process of rebuilding is re-learning.

 

As has been previously stated, I now have a tendency towards unwarranted worry, ahead of doing something. Well - the book club is a good case in point. Before each meeting, I have had a tendency to fret over a concern that I will have little to say about the book (or little that I consider to be sufficiently “clever”).  In practice though, these concerns are utterly needless – we just have a relaxed chat about the book and high-level intellectualism doesn’t come into it (and, even if it did, nobody would be under any pressure at all, to join in!) Further, when we get together, much of our conversation has nothing to do with the book in question. At our last meeting we even talked about the inconclusive nature of the nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty! – if anybody cares, it is probably because in its early days it was treated as a riddle. We all picture Humpty as an egg but of course he is not depicted as such in the rhyme. The fact that he was an egg is actually the answer to the riddle. Who says you don’t learn anything from this blog?! Despite my advance concerns, the meetings are always very enjoyable, and I am learning experientially to set aside these worries.

 

Let me now give you, a quick bullet point summary of how my new reading habits are supportive of my mental health:

 

·      When I am lost in a book, then a limited ability to multi-task (it’s a bloke kind of thing!) precludes grieving over the genesis of Phil v2.0

·      It has assisted in the development of strategies such as those mentioned above

·      The club is a great opportunity for social interaction with some new-found friends. Phil v2.0 struggles a little socially and is having to re-learn some social etiquette. I find the club to be an unthreatening environment in which to undertake this.

·      In any event, I am taking great pleasure in reading the books!

 

     













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