On Writing and Reading

Since Abby went to bed so early this weekend I had plenty of time for cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, reading, and pondering the art of writing.

One task is to read "Are you somebody?" by Nuala O'Faolain. This is an author that had been mentioned in one of my writing classes, and I've check out "Are you somebody?" and "Almost there". I need to revisit my notes from class I think. I'm having a tough time getting through "Are you somebody?". The author is from Dublin, and I do not understand some of her vocabulary because it is just a little different than my own. I feel very unconnected to her for a variety of reasons- she's older, no kids, not married from what I can tell although I might have missed that part, from Dublin, and much better educated than I am. I was ready to return "Are you somebody?" to the library today and just give up on it. Then I picked up "Almost there" and saw that she made references to it. Both are memoirs. Now I'm thinking I may give the books another chance, and this time try reading them not as pleasure reading, but as books that I might learn something about writing from. I don't know. It's pretty tough going. We've both got alcoholic mothers, but beyond that, I can't really relate to her at all. So we'll see how it goes. I did get fairly far into "Are you somebody?" just because I don't quit on books easily, but right now I'm trying to decide if these are a waste of time for me and I would be better off moving on. I read today on Amazon that the author passed away last year, but she's got 3 or 4 other books that I haven't read yet, most of which are available at the library. I don't know if I should try to crack them open or not.