Curmudgeon is defined as a bad-tempered or surly person. Humpf. Could I be turning into one? I think it’s a summer slump myself. I’ve been a bit bored the past few weeks. I haven’t felt much like blogging so I’ve only done it in fits and starts – rather than post a bunch of crabby-natured posts. I don’t want to become “that” person.

I’ve noticed my crabbiness recently in my book reviews. I don’t like much of anything that I’ve read lately. I think the problem may be age-related. I used to read and thoroughly enjoy YA books. It hasn’t slipped my attention that I’m not “young” anymore. I can’t relate to a lot of what’s going on with the protagonists in these books. They end up irritating the crap out of me. So maybe it’s time to give up YA altogether, and that’s a big step for me. So where do I go from there? I don’t mind a mystery, but some of those are awfully silly or simple in tone. I don’t care for thrillers or horror stories. I don’t want to be frightened when I read. I don’t want to read about rapists or serial killers. I read for escapism. If I want to read about death and tragedy, I’ll read a newspaper. A romance is one thing, but some of them read like porn. When did they become so graphic? I believe they call that genre Mommy-porn. I’m not a prude, but I think leaving something to the imagination once in a while is nice, too. I am part of a small book group, and I am hoping my fellow group members will help me explore and find new things to read.

I’ve begun to explore the whole Twitter thing. I know what Twitter is, but I’ve never really understood the value or the purpose. I have felt bad because I stopped blogging on my squirrel blog. I wondered whether Twitter might be a way to pick that back up again. If you use Twitter, search for Squirrels. There are several Twitter sites devoted to or run by squirrels! I printed out a batch of helpful guides and how-to articles for Twitter beginners, and I’ve been testing the waters so to speak. It’s different. It’s also easy to tweet as the squirrel – she can bend common sayings into squirrel-isms or she can comment on the weather, things in the yard or others’ tweets. It’s also such a short format that it’s a challenge to come up with something that fits. You don’t have to be profound either. One squirrel tweets things like “dig dig dig dig” – just things that squirrels do. Maybe it’s the novelty – but right now it’s fun to talk to other kooks like me who love squirrels.

As summer winds down, I’ll continue to look for new and novel things to try out and maybe that will help to lift my bored mood. Just because I’m no longer a YA doesn’t mean I can’t learn and try new things.

Images courtesy of Pinterest and Goodreads