I used to read a lot of books when I was younger. More recently my attention span has shortened, I think due to a combination of the general tiredness that comes with being a parent and my depression. For the first time in my life I was finding it difficult to finish books and left several half read. This along with the arrival of Android smart phones lead to me spending most of my reading time on easy to digest blog posts and twitter feeds.
Then, this summer, a few things changed.
First of all, with a little help from the NHS, I started to get a grip on the depression issue. This enabled me to break that cycle of: low attention span / can't be bothered -> not enjoying stuff / doing stuff I enjoy -> feeling more depressed -> low attention span -> ...
Then I discovered I really like comic books. I should have known before - I'm pretty much a geek in every other respect - but somehow I went through the first 29 years of my life without ever reading one.
This new-found interest was temporarily threatened when I realised that where a traditional novel might last me a couple of weeks, a typical graphic novel would last me just a couple of days at most. And they are relatively expensive - relative, that is, to the cost of a regular book and to my little disposable income. I definitely could not afford 3 x £8-£15 each week to sustain my new hobby.
This problem was quickly solved when I remembered that libraries still exist. Mostly. For now. Wickford and Southend Libraries do in any case, and it turns out that Southend Library has a pretty great graphic novel section. Not only that, but it's super easy to search the entire Essex Libraries database and reserve any available books which are magically transported to a library of your choice when they become available.
Since then I've been making the most of it and I reckon I've read maybe 80 graphic novels to date. I try to remember to update my reading at Goodreads, which turns out it was worth it if only because it means I can produce this cool book grid jobby right here to show you some of the books I've been reading:
(I think this grid updates dynamically, so if it doesn't show any comic books then you probably live in the future and future me has gone back to reading regular novels.)
Having a hobby I can be nerdilly enthusiastic about is definitely good for me. I genuinely look forward to my couple of lunchtime visits to the library each week and it helps see me through to the joy of the next weekend and the time I get to spend with my family that remains my primary joy in life.
