They told me I wouldn’t be able to pick up a book for at least two years. Forget about writing. Any creative drive that hadn’t been sucked out of me would suddenly be diverted into making a mummy blog or scrapbooking. And we wonder why more people are choosing not to procreate!
Thankfully all these predictions turned out to be mostly untrue.For the first month after the Crotch Goblin was born, I was too exhausted to do much except watch the entire seven seasons of Gilmore Girls on Netflix. But after I emerged at the end of the tunnel (starry eyed with ambitious plans to be Lorelai to Crotch Goblin’s Rory – never mind that Crotch Goblin is a boy), I tentatively tried to pick up a book.
Alas, the three-hourly feedings had changed my reading habits. I’d always been a physical book type of girl but I needed to be mostly hands-free to nurse for hours on end. I got use to reading on my kindle and downloaded the Aldiko reading app on my phone. Then I rediscovered my love of short stories. These bite-sized snacks were manageable in my sleep-deprived state. I made frequent visits to sites that had populated my Feedly thread for years. Lightspeed magazine. Tor publishing. Aurealis magazine.
httpss://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/
My latest find is a gorgeous fairytale anthology Tales from the Tower edited by Isobelle Carmody and Nan McNab. There are two parts: The Wilful Eye (Part One) and The Wicked Wood (Part Two).
Do judge a book by its cover. Do! Do! Tales from the Tower is gorgeous. Twelve authors take traditional fairy tales and re-imagine them – wicked stepsisters are given voices, a snow queen is an ice peddling drug lord transplanted to the grungy underbelly of Sydney. Catherine Bateson’s Learning to Tango is the best retelling of The Little Mermaid – from the point of view of the Sea Witch. Here’s a teaser from her website:
https://cattybatty.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/tuesday-poem-from-learning-tango.html
I felt a little bereft after putting the book down – enough to consider making a photobook of Crotch Goblin. Then again, Goodreads came up with a whole list of short story anthologies I need to start on.
What have you been reading this week?
(Feature image by Illusive Photography, CC Attribution 2.0 license httpss://www.flickr.com/photos/alanant/5723501589/in/photostream/ )
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