jcqln62

I am and have always been an avid reader. I am also a bibliophile who hoards books. I am 62, and it was only a couple of years ago that I anxiously let go of my really-out-of-date college textbooks--well, most of them. I was an editor in my worklife (so I could feed my children and myself), but now that I'm retired, I am a writer. If that change... more »

I am and have always been an avid reader. I am also a bibliophile who hoards books. I am 62, and it was only a couple of years ago that I anxiously let go of my really-out-of-date college textbooks--well, most of them. I was an editor in my worklife (so I could feed my children and myself), but now that I'm retired, I am a writer. If that change sounds like an easy switch, you're wrong! If I let the left side of my brain rule, I spend all of my time editing/fixing each sentence I write--and my left brain has been well trained to rule. But I am learning to be in the right-brain mode. Besides allowing my writing to flow, another way I'm training for right-brain dominance is by learning to sketch and to paint. Thus many of the books I'm reading currently are art books, not only how-to's but also art history and biographies of artists. Reading those biographies has led to an interest in spirituality, religion, and science, and how they correlate in the arts. Actually, I should say I've been led back to those subjects, because I have always been on a spiritual quest.

I love mysteries and historical-fiction books. Those are the books I can't put down. However, they must be well written or I can put them down and I do. Once upon a time, I had to finish a book if I started it, and that is no longer true. I like literary fiction and poetry. I am pickiest about the latter. If I can't figure out what the hell a poet is writing about, I'm not going to spend any time trying. I especially like political poetry. With the exception of the previously mentioned art books, almost all of my nonfiction reading is political.

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