Balancing up a good read (From Swindon Advertiser)

Balancing up a good read

1:50pm Tuesday 18th November 2008

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Does anyone else have reading phases and non-reading phases? Having spent the past couple of months so addicted to reading I've been carrying a novel around with me at all times - just in case the conversation lapses and I get the chance to pound through a few paragraphs - I've hit a dry patch.

Out of the blue, I find I can't get past page 5, regardless of what I pick up. So over the past few days, I've dipped into various books and then found them floundering on the floor not even tempting me to pick them up again.

However, the dry spell is now over and The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe has brought back my reading mojo. Which I'm pleased about because it's been perched on my bookshelf for about 15 years now, patiently suffering the cold shoulder (again, I could never get past page 5).

But then there's another problem... When I'm stuck into a good book, I'm not very good at doing anything else except reading, and so the housework, bill paying and everything else goes to pot.

So it seems to be feast or famine - a total inability to settle down to reading or a total inability to settle down to anything else, particularly household chores.

I've decided I need to find a better book/life balance.