Reading matters

Twenty-nineteen, like the two years before it, was to be the year in which I finally got down to seriously reading through all of the nonfiction books in my kindle - the hundred or so that I've purchased, but not yet read.

It's no secret I'm a fiction reading machine; back when I took the bus everywhere, I could easily finish three books every week (and did). A stressful job, other hobbies and the need for sleep have cut into that total a bit, but I can still get through a book a week of fiction without much fuss.

Naturally, here we are at the second-to-last week in February, and I've read exactly one nonfiction book. Which I just finished reading at lunch. Today.

Never fear, though, my book count for the year stands at eight, exactly on track for a one-book-per-week schedule.

The other seven books are all from Terry Pratchett's excellent Discworld series. I may have mentioned before that when I find a book I like, I will go back and look for anything else the author may have out there, and read through their catalog. It worked well when I first discovered Dick Francis, Martha Grimes, P.D. James and Ngaio Marsh; Other than Marsh, I wasn't all that far removed in time from their first published books (I started reading some of these authors in junior high and high school, which is now a distressingly (for me) long time ago).

But my taste for fantasy books developed late in life. Prachett has been writing about Discworld for decades. At this point, I believe there are more than thirty titles. I've worked my way through seven so far this year. It's a delightful series that can be read as stand-alones, but when read as a series, truly immerses you in a delightful, if rather quirky, world.

One that is flat as a pancake, being carted through space on the back of four giant elephants, who in turn ride on the back of a giant space turtle.

Erm. I see I've mentioned this before.

They offer a delightful escape from the cold, snow and general stress at work. I will, however, start another nonfiction title as well. At this rate of seven-to-one, I'll finish up the nonfiction in, oh, about seventeen years...