A rather weird phenomenon has shown up in this Coronavirus atmosphere. In conversations with book-loving friends, several have mentioned something I had noticed in myself. After many years of being too busy and longing for spare time to just sit and read, now that the time has been thrust upon them, they find themselves distracted and unable to concentrate on the book in their hands. (These conversations, to be clear, have been via Facebook and Zoom since I am confined to these eight acres with no visitors.) I may have stumbled upon a solution – or possibly the solution has just worked for me. I have found some books requiring no concentration. I have mentioned The Girl of the Limberlost in a previous blog, a treasure I reread from my youth where I already knew the story. My latest book with no brain activity required is an old standard with a predictable but enjoyable plot.
I have a stash of Agatha Christie novels, accumulated mostly at library book sales, that I had every intention of revisiting to read “when I got the time.” In the current atmosphere, I decided there would be no brain strain to revisit Hercule Poirot so I began reading The Murder on the Links. You might notice that the first thing it did was lose its cover because the book is so old. Poirot’s not too bright sidekick Hastings narrates the tale that begins with an urgent plea for Hercule to come at once from P. T. Renaud in France who is in fear for his life. Not unexpectedly, the man is already dead when Poirot and Hastings arrive. The rest of the unsurprising plot keeps Hastings making wrong predictions negated by Poirot’s “little white cells” and competition with the local police – also shown to be wrong by the superior Poirot. An anticipated surprise twist as the story winds up is accompanied by an equally anticipated second surprise at the very end. Christie’s familiar and comfortable plot line required no concentration at all and became a pleasant diversion.
Remarkably, after I finished, I found myself more ready to read a different kind of book that left me thinking and wondering as I went along. Whether this plan of taking a break with books that require no thought will work for others who are having this experience, I do not know. However, I found it to be fun, and I will return to the stash when my brain needs another vacation.