I get entirely too involved in things I read.
Whether it’s a forum thread about a woman who just discovered her husband’s affair, or a silly romance book, or even an article on WW2, I can’t help but imagine myself in whatever the situation is. I’ve been that way as long as I can remember. It occurred to me, as I sat and had a hot chocolate with my sweetie last night, that perhaps this is a metaphor for the difference between men and women’s emotions. And I suppose this all ties back into the issue of Female Solipsism that has been so hotly discussed lately.
When I read something that puts me in a bad place, I carry it with me for a little while, usually an hour or two unless it’s something particularly disturbing or thought provoking. Real life becomes more volatile, as if my real life emotions are amplifying what I already felt from reading. This mostly applies to bad feelings, but not so much the good feelings. Sucks that way.
My husband says he’s the opposite. He doesn’t carry emotions from his books with him, but if he’s in a bad mood from real life, it can effect his opinion of his reading, but nothing more. He said he finds me fascinating, but I think I’m just ridiculous. The more in-tune I become with the inner workings of women and men, the more I find myself ridiculous. Because women are ridiculous, aren’t we? I can’t help but think that the inner workings of a woman’s mind are a joke God played for his own amusement, just like pugs and the duck-billed platypus.
I started read the Outlander series, which I actually had to stop reading because the female lead character pissed me off too much. She’s got an awesome, Alpha/Beta hot Scottish husband, and up until a few pages ago, all she could do was be an emotionless cunt. They’re in a happy place at the moment, because I kept reading, but I read spoilers and know where the story is going, so I’m just going to stop where I am and pretend they lived happily ever after, dammit. Stupid asshole feminist writer. I think I’m gonna go back to reading some good, boring non-fiction for a while.
