I was born into a family of readers. My mom and dad were both avid readers as are my two brothers. My son would rather read than play on his iPad. Barnes and Noble or Amazon gift cards are always perfect gifts. None of us are without books. We take multiple books on vacation because we fear finishing all the reading material we have with us and being without a book. We have all been known to purchase at least one book while on vacation.

I am also a caregiver for my husband, Steve, who has been diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), which may or may not be a precursor to Alzheimer’s. I am a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, niece, cousin, volunteer, caregiver, chocolate lover, avid reader, and can be described by many adjectives.

Over the two plus years since Steve’s diagnosis, I have read and read and read some more about MCI, the brain, nutrition, and anything I’ve thought might help us. I have read so much about the brain that since November 2010, I have taught a class at the senior center. I have read so much about MCI and dementia related subjects that I have maxed out at times and found myself overwhelmed. The 36 Hour Day takes up space on a bookshelf, but does not receive much attention.

When I have time, I love to read for fun and relaxation. Fun and relaxation means that I want to escape from my life and go somewhere else in my mind. I enjoy reading mysteries, but “nice” mysteries as I call them. Nothing too gruesome or scary. I want to get so involved in a book I hate to put it down. I want to be disappointed about finishing a book and excited when I see an author’s next book is about to be published. For example, through Twitter, I recently discovered the author Mollie Cox Bryan. She has a new book coming out called Scrapbook of Secrets: A Cumberland Creek Mystery. www.molliecoxbryan.com Frankly, I can hardly wait to read it! It sounds perfect.

If you are caregiver for someone with an illness under the dementia umbrella, you’ve probably been told to read Still Alice. While this was a well-written book, if you are living the life of a caregiver for someone with an Alzheimer’s related diagnosis, I’d tell you to skip it. It isn’t a fun book when it’s your life. People have told me that the author  really lets you know what it’s like to have Alzheimer’s. My opinion is that she’s writing what she thinks it’s like. No matter what her work experience is or has been, she’s never had Alzheimer’s herself, and frankly, I don’t think she crawled into someone’s head to experience it. And my comment to the book club members who thought it had a positive ending, “You’re nuts!”

There is a series of books with a character named Lisa who is in her 20’s and caregiver for her father with Alzheimer’s. Lisa isn’t the main character in Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swenson mysteries, but her role as a caregiver to someone with Alzheimer’s is handled very well and very realistically. Much to my delight, while writing this, I discovered the next book in the series, Cinnamon Roll Murder, comes out later this month.  www.murdershebaked.com Oh, goodie!!

And I’m sure The Notebook is an excellent book. However, when someone says to me, “You’ll like it.  The woman has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t remember her husband” I simply say, “Thank you”, figure they mean well, and hope my face does not reveal what I’m thinking.

My life has enough mysteries I can’t solve and try not to spend much time considering such as why my husband has this or what’s going to happen. Hand me a good mystery book any time and let me really take a break! So in the meantime, until Scrapbook of Secrets and Cinnamon Roll Murder are released this month, I think I’ll grab In Harm’s Way by Ridley Pearson. www.ridleypearson.com I would definitely describe his books as “edge of your seat” rather than “nice”. But what is “nice” about all of these books is that at the end the mystery is solved and I’ve had a wonderful escape! Now excuse me while I go read a book.

Share