October! It was so cold in North Idaho, all I could think of was getting out of the cold. Reading didn’t happen. I’m living in my van, which isn’t insulated yet. It was so cold I couldn’t even focus on learning to use the propane heater I bought, and I couldn’t leave town because I was waiting for a business deal to go through. It took much longer than expected. Finally got out of there on October 11. Forgot to tell my daughter I was leaving town, because I just wanted to wake up in a place that wasn’t below freezing.
Welcome to this October 2019 “living document” page where I’ll write about reading – and something about writing too. I have a project in progress! When the month is over my writing on this page will be finished.
Goodreads keeps track of books I’ve read this year. Books I’ve read so far in 2019.
My Word of the Month
Change
My Haiku of the Month
Finding the rhythm
Autumn leaves carpet the ground
Each day amazing
Bible Verse of the Month
For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.” (Philippians 1:29)
Books I’m reading during October, 2019…
☆ – I own a copy of the book
★★ – I own a copy and am currently reading the book
✓ – Finished
↪ – Postponed
↩ – Held over from last month
PSRC = 2019 PopSugar Reading Challenge
★★ Christian: Living Beyond Yourself, by Beth Moore
I confess, I am not done reading this book. That’s how busy, distracted and cold I was in September and October. I’m now in week nine out of ten. I returned to the town where I started the book, and borrowed the last four videos to watch. Progress.
★★ Classic: The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera – [PSRC #40. Your favorite prompt from a past Pop Sugar Reading Challenge]
This is not the worst book ever, but it is in the running for that title. I’m more than half way through it and am not finding much to appreciate. There’s too much sexual content for me, though most of it isn’t graphic, and I wouldn’t call it superfluous. It just happens that one of the main characters is a pathetic and pathological womanizer. I’m having a hard time finding his redeeming qualities. Aside from all that, I like the novel’s premise about comparing lightness and heaviness to conditions in life. A light life is easy, and unbearable. A heavy life is difficult and painful, and bearable, or better… more worth living.
If I start reading any other books this month, I’ll add them in when that happens.
My Writing News
I’ve made an agreement with a close friend (Judy) that we will write memoirs in 2020. From now until the end of 2019, we’ll be planning them. My memoir will probably be a form of testimony. Earlier this year while studying the book, Rooted, with my home group in Idaho, we each had a turn to tell the group our testimonies (why we became Christians) during our weekly meetings. My testimony was long. It is a long story… and I could put that into book form. Now, if I could do that and write as amazingly as Bob Dylan, I would accomplish something worthwhile. One can dream. Because there are 12 months, we’ll be writing our memoirs in 12 segments. My friend is a natural memoir writer and has taken a university class on writing them.
My October 2019 Reading Diary
October 1 to 11 – Too cold in North Idaho! Too cold to read, think, or do anything fun. Managed to go to church. Okay, truth be told, church was fun. I always love being there. I went to Anytime Fitness for exercise and showers. Too cold to be creative. There was a thunderstorm while I was sleeping in the Walmart parking lot in my van. Alternatively, slept at Cabelas. There was snow. There was an ice storm one night. It was below freezing in the mornings. I had no heater in the van – except that Mr. Heater Buddy I bought in desperation, and didn’t know how to use. Too cold to figure that out. Too cold to do anything except crawl into a sleeping bag under a pile of blankets.
October 11 to 12 – Driving to California. I could only think of how much I wanted to wake up somewhere where it wasn’t freezing in the mornings. I didn’t want to drive in the wind of the Columbia River highway so I turned south from Pendleton, Oregon and was in a mountainous region with two state parks. Finally found a tiny rest area just in time. I stopped to sleep only because I was concerned about driving off the side of the next mountain if I didn’t get some rest. Finally got to my destination in Northern California around 6:15pm. It is cold here in the mornings, but up in the 40’s and that’s so much easier to live with.
October 13 to 20 – Adjusting to being here. Paid for a month at a local RV park. I’m in a good place.
October 21 – I’m having a good day, but not reading. I rearranged some books in my cargo trailer, does that count for anything? They are all books I’ve already read, that I don’t want to discard until I do a video about them. I hope to get back into video making soon, but today I’m focused on insulation. I unpacked it… found out it has a thermal R value of 5.2 which pleases me greatly as I thought it was only R-3. It is the very expensive Thinsulate Acoustic Insulation. I can glue it to the van walls and sew it into curtains. I’m happy. Now, just have to measure, cut and glue. The work, in other words. Last night I watched one of the videos for Living Beyond Yourself. I’m getting through it.
October 22 – Today I went to the local book club meeting at the deli. They’re reading The Goldfinch and I will join in on reading that even though it is 700 pages and normally I wouldn’t want to read a book that long. I’m getting the audiobook version. I’m also looking at a couple of other books to read this month. One is the book I lost in my van a few months ago – One Hundred Years of Solitude. The other is a book about memoir writing.
October 24 – I started listening to the audiobook version of The Goldfinch last night. Those chapters are LONG!!! I’ve listened to one completely and I’m part way through chapter two. Fortunately there are only 12 LONG chapters, but one of them is 5 hours long on the audiobook. I might not get to that one until JANUARY… just saying, considering how my reading has gone this year. I made good progress on the 2019 PopSugar Reading Challenge during the first half of the year, then started failing miserably when my #vanlife started in July. Since then, very little progress and I’m facing the reality that I again won’t get through all fifty books.
October 30 – I’m continuing on with the books mentioned above plus a Christian Bible study book by Laura Story. My life is taking an unexpected turn now… more information later, perhaps.
You are really busy. I’m tired just listening to all you’re doing. The cold I don’t like. But am enjoying the cooler temperatures after such a hot summer. I’ve joined a local writer’s group and we kind of help each other when we have a problem. Well, happy reading and writing.
Good to hear from you Beverly!! I’m glad cooler temperatures have come to Texas. That the perfect place to live – in the winter. Looks like I’ll be in Happy Camp all winter instead of heading south, as I originally intended to do.