23rd and St Georges Day and England ought to celebrate our Patron Saint as much as other countries do but we don't and maybe it's too late now to start. And anyway he wasn't even English.
My week since the busy Easter weekend has involved putting the house back together after visitors, WI meeting, gardening, shopping and looking after the two nearest Grandchildren for a morning. We had a quiet morning, drawing, colouring and playing with the new chalks on the patio. I think all 3 of us were still recovering from the weekend get togethers. Apparently Youngest Granddaughter complained that she'd not even had time to play with her new birthday toys! (Her 4th birthday on Easter Saturday- my 67th) .
I felt so guilty about the plight of bees after the WI talk (yesterdays post), that when cutting the grass I went round the 3 dandelions that had popped up on the lawn and also left two bits uncut.
My young vegetable plants are now out in the greenhouse all the time but I'm covering them up with fleece at night and opening the windows and door during the day......either a little or a lot depending on the temperature. Fixing the automatic window opener is a priority when BiL is next here and getting another one sooner rather than later.
I'm also reading my way through the library books. Snooker is on TV and that's one of those things that keeps me company but doesn't need watching every minute so I can read too. This week I finished
Dorothy Whipple's book - 'Random Commentary'. which is taken from her diaries and notes.It's a Persephone Publication . The diaries were written between 1925 and the end of
WWII during the time she wrote most of her novels. I've tried some of them but only managed Greenbanks but this diary is very readable, she gathered it together and published it just before her death in 1966.
I then whizzed my way through the latest Elly Griffiths - The Locked Room. The 14th in the Dr. Ruth Galloway series. I enjoy all her books even though they seem to be a bit repetitive and predictable sometimes and am always grateful for borrowing them for free as they are written in a large type, double spaced, with much empty header and footer space to make a large book costing £20. I'm sure they use way more paper than needed!
And finally I've just finished reading a book from the Young Adult section of the library by Eve Ibbotson - A Song for Summer. It's set mainly in Austria just before WWII and is the story of a young girl who after training as a chef goes to work in a very unusual school specializing in music and drama and English.
It was mentioned on someones book blog and appealed to me, luckily the library had it in stock. It was even warm enough on Thursday afternoon to sit outside and read for an hour - lovely.
Rachel said I ought to explain how I get through books so quickly - I speed read - which to me is just normal reading! - but it means that my eyes don't need to see every word to read it, they read more than one word at a time just automatically. Perhaps I've always done it but didn't know it was speed reading until I was doing the Library Assistants City and Guilds course, where it was explained and taught and I found that my eyes hopped along the line of text, rather than going in a straight line.I believe my reading then got even more speedy.
This week I have been grateful for
- Being able to sing Jerusalem at WI again after all the covid fears
- Really good books
- Sunshine for my plants.......and me
Have a good weekend. I'll be back Monday
Sue
Thanks for the speed reading explanation. Like you I have always devoured books at speed and assumed everyone read in the same way. I find that any wrong spelling jumps out of the page.
ReplyDeleteYes, even with speedy reading I can still spot spelling mistakes, at one time I knew all the marks that are made in the margins to correct mistakes in text - but I've long forgotten them
DeleteI totally agree with your comment about the large spacing of print etc in new books. I have noticed this and am also thankful for the library service! However - I think the large spacing, wide margins etc is often to present a 150 page "novella" as a full-blown novel: very crafty maximum cash for smaller product ploy....shrinkflation anyone? . But I also wonder if Publishers are asking for smaller books because many people now do not have the attention span to spend time on anything long or involved anymore (see also the decline of the Cricket Test Match / 5 day games in favour of 1 day games and "big bash" events).
ReplyDelete(Scraping noise as I put soapbox away........)
My library books each month add up to 100s of pounds - hardback new fiction books are well out of my price range.
DeleteWhen I mentioned your speed reading in the comment I didn't know you had read the comment because you didn't reply. Perhaps that's why you don't always reply to comments, you are speed reading but not speed replying. I used to speed read law cases by scanning them or skimming as I think it is known. I sometimes do this if I am reading a novel with long, boring, no need for, bits, and can also be known as skipping. Otherwise in a good book I am the sort of reader who hears the words in her head, and likes to.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely better at writing posts than replying to comments. Too little time and too many things I like doing
DeleteI always used to celebrate St George's Day when I was working by wearing a red rose then when a political party claimed it I changed to a badge of the English flag. Before the Rugby World Cup people would ask me what the badge was then not so much after.
ReplyDeleteA badge of the English flag sounds like a good idea, We all should have one
DeleteI think it depends on the book if I read fast or not. Some are fill with detail you need to know for a murder mystery or if it is just fluff you can read over it. Our days are still much to cold for planting not for another month yet but I still like to think about it.
ReplyDeleteCathy
We are getting sunshine but cold winds. I need to get more things sown soon
DeleteYour comments on speed reading interest me Sue. As an English Graduate I can't really approve because although you get the gist of the story what you dont get is the appreciation of the Engish Language. But it does explain how you get through them so quickly.
ReplyDeleteThat's why your post are so well written and I just ramble on!
DeleteMy problem is that sometimes I cannot recall what the book was about and I forget if I have read it or not! I will start to read a book that I think is new to me but will find as I go along that it is all very familiar! I should do a better job of keeping track of my reading!
ReplyDeleteI've got a book-of-books-read that I've had for 40 years!
DeleteSpeed reading has always interested me. You have mastered the skill and read more books in a week than anyone I know. It's a great skill! How nice that you've enjoyed some warm sunshine. Lately our nights are close to freezing. Days are windy and cool. Everything is in bud and growing. One Magnolia tree is in full flower. It is nice to watch the garden progress.
ReplyDeleteI could easily read a book a day if I had nothing else to do!
DeleteI speed read, but I do not skim the text. I read every word, every sentence. Of course I'm much more fluent in my own language than any other. But for me it's something I haven't been taught (well, no-one taught me to read, I did it myself). I've noticed I remember much better everything I read if I read it the way I read, fast. If I try to read slower I just can't remember what I've read.
ReplyDeleteI've realised my fast reading irritates people, so I don't tell them about it, and I also try to avoid to show people I read fast. I don't know WHY it makes people so angry? but I just keep holdng a paper in front of me much much longer I need to be able to read it just to make sure people don't notice how fast I read!
But for me it's normal to read a standard novel with 250 pages in one go, or maybe not in one sitting (Need to take the dog for a walk, need to make super, need to feed cats, water plants, fill washing machine etc) but I could easily read one book per day. I don't read that much nowadays. Bah, I waste my days doing utterly stupid things like watching youtube-videos about cats.
I rarely look at you tube - lots of them just annoy me
DeleteI've always been a fast reader. I can't help reading if my eyes fall on words. It's automatic. My oldest daughter is even a faster reader than me and she's been known to knit while reading.
ReplyDeleteYes I know what you mean about reading everything that has words!
DeleteI remember St.Georges Day for various reasons, we could wear our brown/guide uniform to school and has we got older we could carry the flag to church, I remember one year I was lucky enough to carry the flag in St.Pauls Cathedral. Later on when my son died we had the service on St.George's day, today my GS came and did a lot in the garden.
ReplyDeleteHazel 🌈🌈
St Georges Day Parade with Cubs was always fun - I hope they still do it.
DeleteAbsolutely love all of Eva Ibbotson's books.
ReplyDeleteMy first of her books - it was a good read.
DeleteThat sounds a relaxing way of reading. Sometimes I don't see the words themselves, just the story.
ReplyDeleteReading must be different when you are an author.
DeleteSounds like you're really getting through the books! I have resisted temptation and not purchased any new books. I am trying really hard to get through some of the ones I have. I might have to give in on the Elly Griffiths one. I have the whole set on my kindle so maybe it will come up on sale (which is how I bought the others lol)
ReplyDeleteStill enough here to last me weeks and the library van will be round again soon! So many books so little time - as usual!
DeleteCanada's patron saint is Saint Joseph....I think the only province that celebrates is Quebec, though I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Compared to Ireland and Wales we are hopeless at celebrating out Patron Saint!
DeleteI'd prefer to have St Edmund still as our patron saint really, but it's fun to celebrate anyway when you're a Morris dancer. Arilx
ReplyDeleteI read really fast, with focus and concentration. I don't think it's ''speed'' reading. I used to get in trouble in grade school bec I 1-read my week's library book in one day, was no longer allowed to bring my book home/ 2-bec I'd read ahead in textbooks, esp history, but even math. I buy my books on Kindle or use their semi free offers, my library is / was awful---mean [unkind, rude, snarky] librarians! Closed after H Sandy, I haven't been in a library in years. Books are a huge budget expense, but it is the only thing I do not travel, no going out. Kindle was a blessing during Covid lockdown and poor health recently too.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've been a speed reader for years too. It started when I was briefly a typing pool supervisor and had to check everyone's work before it left the department. So like you I spot mistakes quickly as well as reading fast. It still helps me now when I check through Alan's documents before submission. When I'm reading a VERY good book though I do occasionally go back a page and savour something more slowly so that I will remember it better.
ReplyDelete