Soooo, as caregivers , we often find ourselves with time on our hands-not free time really, as we are still watching our loved one, but time when we need something to do. I love to read! I love to read scary ( but not gory) books. I am reading a pretty good spooky story called "The Loon" right now which is about a psychiatric prison about to go bonkers when a white out snow storm cuts them off from the outside. -and it was only 3.99 -but , I fear, it may have some gore in it so be warned.
So-how's about you guys? Any readers out there? Any good books to suggest? Or do you have another activity that you do that keeps you sane?
finds herself eh? my ex found herself, working 12 hr shifts while her gutbag husband lays in bed till noon. i do love happy endings..
Lately, though, with my mother having moved in and having memory problems, I've become focused on reading books about memory. It has made me think I can better understand and help her AND that I'm probably preparing for my own future, too.
A couple good memory/caregiving books: " Counting on kindness : the dilemmas of dependency" Wendy Lustbader and "Where Did I Leave My Glasses?: The What, When, and Why of Normal Memory Loss" by Martha Weinman Lear,
I also cross-stitch like a maniac and like jigsaw puzzles. Plus, I love music. Both mom and I like movies and I'm lucky to have TCM (Turner Classic Movies) where I can find plenty of movies for both of us, but I also get free movies from the library quite often, too.
I am also lucky in that I can still keep my outside activities and once every other week get out to something or another on my own. I'm lucky both because Mom doesn't need 24/7 care but also because my spouse would take that for the couple hours that I'm gone. I do know how lucky I am.
My book recommendation is "The Snowman" by Jo Nesbo. For anyone that like the Millennium series ("The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and the like), that series was disturbing. Jo Nesbo's books aren't just disturbing but downright scary. I was reading them at night in the winter when there was snow and kept thinking how glad I was that the doors were all locked tightly.
I should have mentioned that I can easily afford to be a compulsive reader with the library nearby.
msdaizy, you didn't tell us how to get to your daughter's blog.
If you hit MsDaizy's name, it will take you to her profile. She has on her Wall the poem her daughter did with the perspective of her grandma (who had dementia).
I love all kinds of books: light romance, humorous romance/mystery, etc... fantasies, light sci fi and supernaturals (werewolves, vamps, etc..) It's been years since I read Nina Kiriki Hoffman. I saw her short ebooks on Amazon, and paid $0.99 each. I forgot how her books have a way of keeping my attention on it. When I'm work, I couldn't wait to go home to read the ending. When it ended, my mind kept dwelling on the story.
Yesterday, I just finished reading one of my favorite author, Patricia Briggs, on the Mercy series. Am now reading another favorite author, Ilona Andrews, other series (not very fond of this Edge series since it tends to be a lot of fighting, head flying off, being eaten alive, being turned to another creature/monster while alive, torture, etc...). But since I started her 1st book, I'm compelled to read the rest of the series. My favorite series from her is actually the Kate Andrew series. I'm on a break from reading because I just finished reading a gory fight and needed a break from that Edge book. I would skip the fightings but I learned from the past books, that the supposedly dead man was alive. I had to backtrack to the fighting and read carefully and saw where there was a possibility that he survived. So...
Also, for something not-so-scary and light, I've been reading the silly combination books such as "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by Seth Grahame-Smith, "Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter" by Seth Grahame-Smith and "Queen Victoria Demon Hunter" by A. E. Moorat. I thought they were fun. I tried watching the movie of the Lincoln one but just couldn't get into the on-screen gore. As a book, though, I just kind of laughed as I tried to imagine Lincoln doing all that.
I also love Jo Nesbo, Henning Mankel, Hakan Nesser Karen Fossum. Smilla's Sense of Snow is one of my favorite books. I also love mysteries by US authors, C.J. Box (his all take place in Wyoming) and Steve Hamilton (his all take place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan).
For the other side of things, another series set in Michigan is the Chocoholic mysteries by JoAnna Carl.
I enjoyed the Smilla movie with Julia Ormond (although it doesn't capture the whole shoe thing, which I thought was interesting) and the Millennium series movies done in Norweigian with subtitles. Peter Hoeg's "Borderliners" is an interesting book, which I claim is about how traumatic the passage of time, any simple thing actually, can be traumatic to a damaged person. It was available at the libraries when it was translated to English but not sure if it's still readily available.
Also want to mention Camilla Lackberg while she's on my mind.
Also, find it a treat to read some of the older classic mysteries. Anything by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ross McDonald, Ed McBain, etc... And I enjoy reading Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" and watching the Bogart movie version right away to catch the few differences, as they are really quite close.
Right now I'm reading "One Thousand Splendid Suns" by the same Afghan writer who wrote "Kite Runner" (his name escapes me right now). It's such a good book, such a good story.
"The Shack"; about a man who tragically loses his daughter to a child abductor and his struggle to overcome the trauma via faith.
All are so worth the time invested.