Reading for the soul

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Hi everyone, CstM here.
So can we all agree that lockdown is starting to suck massive balls? I’m here panicking, trying to write a blog post, wondering how to act human, since the only socialisation I’ve had outside family and friends is the occasional visit to the pharmacy.

I’ve taken up bird watching. Or a more fitting description, I’ve started semi stalking the local pheasant and his wife. They come to the garden every day to eat the droppings from the bird feeder. We did have a quite fun sighting of a Great Spotted Woodpecker. Well I was there starring into the soul of this poor bird, wondering what the heck kind of bird he was and really, the bird just wanted a bit of privacy so he could eat.

Although it hasn’t all been bad. I’ve started and finished quite a few cross stitching projects and I’ve started a wall of cross stitch.

Well I was talking with Roob and Cade, over from Library of Libraries, and we were talking about how we’d like to read some more. I know I have a big list of books I’d like to read, but I’ve really fallen behind on my reading these past few years.
In an attempt to start reading more and just enjoy books with friends, we came up with the idea of starting a book club.

So I hereby introduce you all to Gloom Dog Book club.
The idea so far is that we’ll read one book a month. I’ll get on here and introduce the book and if you feel like reading along with us, that would be grand.
I have a whole list of upcoming book ideas, but if you have any suggestions feel free to drop it in the comments below.

The first book we’ll read is Animal Farm by George Orwell.

I hope you’ll consider joining us on our reading adventure.
Happy reading!

29 thoughts on “Reading for the soul”

    • Good to hear from you too. I’m happy that you’ll join, even though you’ve already read it. Hopefully some of the future books will be new to you.

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  3. Animal Farm was the book I had to read and analyse for my ‘A’ level English exam in the ’60s. Had to compare and contrast with Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ and Orwell’s other book, the modern political instruction manual, ‘1984’.

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    • That is an amazing avatar!
      I’m pretty sure Brave New World and 1984 is on the list of future reads.
      We read Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart and Hemingway was quite a popular choice for American authors.

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  4. Impressive cross-stitching. I especially like the pigeon one. Most of my washing has to be done twice if I’m silly enough to hang it on the line in the garden, as I have four pairs of pigeons nesting.
    Read Animal Farm many years ago. Not a bad idea to read it again, but I have five books on the go just now.
    Nice blog!

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    • Thank you so much! Your poor laundry. Are they really noisy too? Leggy’s son has a neighbour who has a pigeon colony, and they are so noisy. Just cooing away.
      What are you reading, if you don’t mind me being nosy.

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      • I’m going through all the books of Kazuo Ishiguro (‘Never Let Me Go’ is a terrific one – he’s into AI). Last year, I read a lot of Joyce Carol Oates (spare gritty writing).
        Yes, the pigeons are rather noisy – each pair has a slightly different ‘coo’ tune – quite comforting in a mournful way. I’ve also got blackbirds, robins, starlings, wrens and lots of little twittery ones. Also rats and a badger who comes every night. My garden is a wildlife haven (ie almost totally neglected – survival of the fittest, the Darwinian style of gardening).

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        • Another Ishiguro fan! Have you read “The Buried Giant”? I think it’s extraordinary.

          And another cross-stitcher in CStM!

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  6. PLEASE…CStM, PLEASE could you make me one of the pigeon ones? I’ve just had to scare away two pigeons trying to have sex (again) right above my car’s windscreen. Big deposits there this morning and took three gallons of disinfected detergent to get rid of it. They have to shit before they can have sex…there’s “only one hole”….did you know that?

    I will pay money for it. (You don’t need to frame it – I can do that.)

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  7. John Buchan. The 38 Steps, Greenmantle (no longer politically correct) and Mr Standfast. Of the first Richard Hannay Trilogy (followed later by The Three Hostages and The Island of Sheep – both less good) Mr Standfast is a giant story, at once both triumphant and tragic. My copy has fallen to bits and I shall need a new one.

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    • Buchan and Kipling ought to be placed in The Great Firmament Of Writers In English, whose words Tingle The Spine and, sometimes simultaneously Bring Tears To the Eyes.

      Erm…there are others. Perhaps not so emotionally compelling, but writers of stunningly grand creativity. J R R Tolkien. Dornford Yates. P G Wodehouse. I’m just putting “modern” chaps here, but one ought to include Shaespeare …” BID THEM ACHIEVE ME AND THEN SELL MY BONES!” I tingle up my spine, when Henry utters that one…)

      Arthus Conan Doyle… often forgotten that he wasn’t just Sherlock Holmes. “SIR NIGEL” AND “THE WHITE COMPANY” also rival anything.

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  9. No idea what you are talking about. This is the first I’ve heard of this, and I’m not reading any book named Manimal Pram by Jor-El Ore-Well. Too kinky for my Southern Baptist / Bible-Belt sensibilities.

    On a more serious note…hooray!! GDBC hath launchethed forth into the firmament!!!

    Now all I need to do is unpack all these boxes and see if I have a copy of Animal Farm. I know I have “The Lost Writings”, but can’t recall if I have Animal Farm. (nor 1984)

    Thanks for doing this CStM. Should be fun. ❤

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  11. People forget that there is other modern English writing, that also teaches history.

    “Lancaster Target”, by Jack Currie. A pilot who flew, survived his tour with his crew, related many incidents, some funny, some incredibly sad, and who then…WROTE…later on. I cry in places when I read it.

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  12. Pingback: Adventures in Remote Viewing: Animal Fam – Library of Libraries

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