It’s been gloomy here. Everything gray and my mood reflects that. I don’t have a lot of motivation. It’s just a lot of just trying to get through. So it’s an excellent time to just disappear into reading a book.
Everything seems to be in the dumps right now, and I know I’m not alone in feeling like that. But I woke up this morning to the sun shining bright, and as I write this, I’m listening to the birds whistling their songs. It feels like a good day to begin again. So that’s what I will do today. Hopefully some of you will be right there with me.
Now let’s get onto this week’s reading.
Reading Social Media News
Google has been doing LOADS of algorithm updates and it looks like one of them is to downgrade AI images in image search. Creating original content is really what will get all the links to the yard, so this is a good reminder to keep focused on that. You can use AI for idea generation, but keep the creation with the humans.
And speaking of search engines, search is changing fast. It’s going more toward AI than the traditional search engine. With that in mind, you are going to want to start focusing on the kind of content AI loves. According to Search Engine Land, that kind of content is interactive. Luckily, it’s what social media fans also love, so you can hit two goals with one stone in this case.
Reading Books, Books and More Books
Past
There are some books that are just not written for me, but it’s not a bad idea for me to get through them anyway. Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange is definitely one of those books. I think what it was trying to achieve was absolutely admirable. It is an epic that ties addiction and the feelings of disconnection to the sins of the past. I have never been so disconnected to where I come from, so I was having trouble relating to a lot of it. And the writing style changed a few times, making it a little difficult to connect. There were also quick character changes and time leaps until we got to the central part of the story during the present time. I think all of the ingredients were there and that someone who has this kind of history might connect deeply with it. It just wasn’t for me and that’s okay. Score: B-
Present
I have been waiting for James by Percival Everett an extremely long time. I was supposed to read it for January’s book club. Despite having requested it three months beforehand, I couldn’t get my hands on it. Around that time, I was near the top of the request list, and then the next time I looked, I dropped down again. To say I was frustrated would be an understatement. But now I have it and I hope to God it lives up to all of the hype. I’m going to be very, very mad if this is a mediocre book. Eh, maybe not. I’ll probably huff for less than a minute and then move onto the next book.
What are you reading? What books are you looking forward to?