Pandemic Diary—What I’m Reading & Watching, On Kindle Search

On Kindle Search: I’ve had a Kindle in some form since the second generation of Kindles and my complaint has always been the same even more so since recently—the Kindle Library search sucks. I would like to be able to search by page numbers and genres and series, etc., but search is still so rudimentary even after all these years. Why do you need to search by page numbers, you ask? I’m glad you did. I like to read a variety of genres, especially one nonfiction book at a time, at least. With one nonfiction, I like to read a considerably large volume, say 600+ pages, over a period of a year or so, give or take. With physical books, you can eyeball the pages and that’s that, but with ebooks, you just have to pick and go from there. Well, you don’t have to, but a more user-friendly search feature would allow a lot less time in the vagaries of starting a book to read. Why are you bringing all this up? This leads to my next item…

On Fat NonFiction Tomes: For a while now I’ve been reading Louis Menand’s The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War and it is fabulous but also voluminous. I love it. It’s densely populated with the most interesting facts that go far beyond anyone’s knowledge, and even more so with someone as completely unknowing (undereducated, whatever) as I am. Menand created this beauty with the density of subject in mind as it is sectioned off in modest bits and bites that won’t overwhelm, unless, of course, you look passed the tree to the forest then you will definitely be overwhelmed. I’ve done this a few times and had to take a beat from it. I went back to it eventually because the topic and his reverence to it and the writing of it is divine (one of my favorite books is The Metaphysical Club). I would love to take a class on it alas. I believe I’m about 40-50% into the book and I realize that there comes a point when the rest of the book will be ~~footnotes~~ endnotes. I did not look ahead for this but I have experience reading these big fat tomes and it eventually sneaks up shocking you that you are, in fact, actually at the end, sort of. Unless you are one of those weirdos that love to look at the footnotes and endnotes. I am one such weirdo but usually speedread through them. Anywho, back in November around Thanksgiving (22), I wanted to start another nonfiction read in addition to this one and I haphazardly chose David Graeber and David Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. Like an idiot, I did not look at the page numbers and it is 702 pages versus 881 pages. So, therein lies my problem and why I would like a search by page numbers in my Kindle, fuckyouverymuch.

On Science Fiction: In addition to a nonfiction book, I most always keep a science fiction or fantasy book on my currently reading shelf. I chose Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary. Weir’s science fiction, like most male science fiction writers, is stuffed with so much techno-jargon that it oftentimes hurts your head if you are not used to it. I usually speedread through it limiting myself to the more interesting and salient facts. So far, this book is fascinating and mildly interesting. His use of first person POV kind of threw me because I’ve been avoiding those books lately, which is another subject entirely and one I’ll broach in another diary post.

On Watching: I don’t think I’ve watched anything in two weeks or so. I turn my tv on to the Roku screensaver and that’s where it stays. I’ve been more in the mood to read than watch. I even canceled a few of my pay television channels like HBOMax and Paramount+. I canceled Apple months ago. All of those channels started raising their rates and I’m just sick of pandering to corporations who do nothing but exploit for the bottom line. I’ll eventually cancel Disney soon since they too raised their rates. I’ll maybe only keep Amazon Prime and Netflix. I did watch some series that I would like to review—one being Vera. I love to watch international detective shows as a sociological and cultural study. I also have one more episode to watch of Redemption, which turned out to be far more interesting than what I thought it would be. I’ll probably end up being one of those people that doesn’t own a tv and turns into a hermit in a secluded log cabin in the woods, which sounds heavenly right about now.

On Twitter and the state of the union: I just don’t have the energy. Seriously. Menopause should be a disability and combined with the fascist idiocy of Republicans and that general political mania, I just cannot lately. I needed a serious timeout. I still do. Along with working more hours, I can understand why my mom chose to check out of that arena. While I’m most definitely not going to permanently check out, I am taking a break and hoping that my more progressive brothers and sisters will have my back as I need to recharge and replenish.

On Menopause: I had to reset my diet again. This is something I have to do occasionally because I’m an all or nothing girl and tend to not do anything half-assed in moderation. I leap without looking and dive in eyeball-deep and stay in obsessively till I eventually need to reboot, reset, and rethink another strategy. Oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and veggies and chicken or fish for dinner—stir fry lately. I stopped all supplements and teas giving my gallbladder and liver and pancreas a break. They were simply far too hypersensitive. The hot flashes at night are sizzling—hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold like a mother fucker, babe. I ain’t kidding. The brain fuzzles have me looking at something thrice then checking it yet again to make sure I didn’t seriously fuck something up. I’ve committed mistakes that any Virgo would scoff then bay at the moon in anger for, and sometimes my bones ache like another mother fucker.

I’m gonna go read.

February 5, 2023