Like many in the technology age my attention span is… limited, so I treat reading like eating, to make it more digestible.
Breakfast
The breakfast book is an avocado on toast read. It’s trendy, not too heavy, and sets me up for the day.
Lessons on Living is a perfect fit. Part autobiography, part self-help, Kiwi psychology icon Nigel Latta’s final work is packed with bite-sized advice and examples from his career.
The previous breakfast book was Ozzy Osbourne’s autobiography Last Rites. Even if you, like me, only know Ozzy Osbourne because of the infamous bat incident or the opening lines of No More Tears, Last Rites is a fascinating read. It opens up Ozzy’s career and gives especial focus to the last decade or two as he pushed to keep performing despite his declining health.
Lunch
The lunch time smoothie equivalent is a regular investment in building knowledge. This is where I get sips of my longer term non-fiction reading in, a middle of the day brain boost.
Jung Chang has written some fascinating books about China. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China details her own family’s experience of China, from the Cultural Revolution to opening up. This book has a long scope, spanning three generations, and gives personal insight into recent Chinese history.
Dinner
The dinner read is something to stew over, a hefty book or series to work through.
“The beast’s hand was as long as a man was tall. He’d been killed by hands like those before, and it hadn’t been pleasant.”
Using thorough and imaginative worldbuilding, The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson had me invested from the first bite. Ringing in at over a thousand pages, this was a heavy tome to chew through but the ending had me immediately reaching for seconds.
Dessert
The dessert game is like an iceblock; it’s fun, fast paced, and provides sweet bragging rights to the winner. These are two of my favourites:
I think the more time you have spent with your Articulate partner, the higher your chance of winning. It’s like pictionary but with words, the ideal game for those who love to yap (quickly). My favourite part of Articulate is spinning an elaborate yarn on an ‘all play’ based on specific shared experiences so that only my game partner will get the word.
Ever felt constricted within the confines of the scrabble board and only seven letters? Look no further! Banagrams gives you more letters to work with, and no board so you can rearrange at any time. Even better, everyone plays their own game so you don’t have to worry about pesky interference. I love a quick game that lets me adjust my strategy as I go, so Bananagrams is one of my favourite after dinner games to play with my family.
Late night energy drink
Rounding out the day, the late night energy drink requires a thriller pairing. To accompany an injection of caffeine straight to the bloodstream, this read needs to be twisted and fraught with tension.
The crafting of The Beautiful Ugly blew my mind. Alice Feeney must have had one of those classic detective pinboards with the red string and push pins in order to keep all the details in mind (when describing this to a customer the other day I actually used the word flabbergasted which I feel like I’ve never said before, and no one else has said for decades).
The next thriller on my to be read is Butter; the cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer, and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story. The synopsis alone is enough to cause a cortisol spike:
Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation's imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can't resist writing back.