I have a new book to cheer myself up—a book of photographs by André Kertész. It's actually a present of sorts, because I'm still lost in the relapse wilderness. I'm very grateful and I love the book. I would have bought it myself.
In recent months my books have been an inspiration and a comfort. I have some wonderful photo books—Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus, Jane Bown, Eve Arnold, David Bailey, Don McCullin another of polaroids by Kertész, the fabulous Magnum book of contact sheets, and plenty more besides. Oh, and a few of my own self-published books sit on the shelves alongside the greats—sort of like gatecrashers at a party.
I love looking at photo books and I enjoy designing my own, but when the next body of work is going to appear is anyone's guess. The what, when, where and how of my next project has yet to come in to view.
My reading ability isn't great so novel reading is out, but…audio books are in. I'm thinking of joining Listening Books, a charity for people whose illness or disability makes reading printed books too difficult or impossible. Audible is just too expensive. My local library membership allows access to One Click, it's free but the choice is a bit limited. In the 'bad old days' of ME listening to audio books was one of the few activities I could manage so it's a bit of a downer to find myself returning to audio books, even though I know I shouldn't look it that way.
2 comments:
I love your description of your self-published books sitting on the shelves "like gatecrashers at a party." When/if I ever get round to doing something like this (poetry, not photography) I might borrow that phrase!
I can well understand why you call the return to audio books a downer. Of course it's good that they are there for the bad times. But the bad times are not where you, or any of us, want to be! Really sorry that you still find yourself in relapse wilderness, Digi. I am not quite in that place, but on the other hand not able to do very much.
It's good to see you.
Hi there Signs. Sorry life is a bit meh for you too.
I'm gradually coming to terms with this 'relapse' being a bit more than just the average relapse. It's no longer a temporary situation…well, it is…but it isn't. There are no shortcuts or abracadabras. I know that from experience.
I'm missing out on all the things that took many, many years to achieve, and the cabin fever is getting to me in this pokey shoebox without a view. Still, the audio books, the photo books and even Google maps give me a sense of the outside world. And progress, though very very very slow, is still progress.
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