Due to all the unfortunate current events and assholes-in-office, I’ve been having a somewhat difficult time keeping my focus when I read almost anything. I’m okay for about a page or two and then my brain wanders. But I keep trying anyway.
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The Mimosa Tree Mystery
by Ovida Yu – 2020
narrated by Crystal Yu – 7h 57m
rating – 2 / WWII/ spy/mystery
(returned)
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This was already on my wish list because it looked like a gentle mystery of the historical variety and then a friend recommended it. Okay – I’ll bite.
I don’t know what went wrong. I tried to enjoy it but … the Japanese names were confusing to me (although I’ve read a fair amount of Japanese fiction). The plot was a bit convoluted with relatives and bad guys – and that might be my current mental state. The narrator’s voice got gratingly sweet. I did finish it but that was more out of sheer stubbornness than anything. I write this up to give myself credit I guess.
I have no idea what I’ll read next. There’s an Alexander McCall Smith Ladies’ #1 Detective Agency book coming up this month or next – I sure hope I have the mental energy and focus to read that! LOL!
Becky's Books - 
Press on, my friend, it’s stress that’s doing it to you, and while I’m no expert, I think that reading will take you into another world and hopefully give you a break from what is worrying you.
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Thank you, dear Lisa! I did find a book which is helping. It’s non-fiction HumanKIND” by Rutger Bregman. It started out feeling silly but when you really get into it – Part 1 (not the two-chapter Prologue) it gets to Hegel and Rousseau. But Bregman talks about Trump, too, so it’s not out of date.
I feel bad reading fiction because who cares what a person can make up or how they put it together when we have serious and real life problems? But I can’t pay attention to that all day. So maybe lighter nonfiction like history etc. will do it. ???
I will keep trying.
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Knowing you as I feel I do, I think you are suffering a kind of grief about the state or your nation, and grief does odd things to the brain. That is why, when you feel that you can, it’s important to give the brain a break from intense feelings and emotions. Sometimes we feel guilty when we do this, that we should always be attentive to the loss we feel and that it is shallow or disloyal to take time out. But it is essential to do it: watch a silly movie that you know will make you laugh, read a soppy romance that will make you smile, take a walk and smell the roses. After all, the situation will not change because one person more or less stops worrying about it or spends some time not learning more about it, but when you do get an opportunity to act you will be better able to do it if you are feeling well. Take care of yourself xo
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