My kids have been at summer camp this week, so I actually got to walk alone a few times. (Don’t judge it’s a fully outdoors, socially distanced camp.)
Subtle signs of fall are starting to creep in on my walks, and there are mushrooms everywhere.
Here’s what I’ve been listening to and seeing this week.
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Ugh, is anything going to be left for us when this is over? I just read that June bookstore sales fell 35%. I guess it’s time to order more books! Any recommendations? I already have the new Louise Penny on pre-order.
July was a slow reading month for me, but between the adoption of two kittens and the new Baby-Sitters Club Netflix release who can blame me?
Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon - This is a travel diary from the late 1970’s, and like in Travels With Charley I was struck by how many problems in America then are still problems now. I usually am a fast reader, but took my time with this one so I could savor Least Heat-Moon’s observations. He had a really observant yet non-judgemental way of looking at the people he met on his travels.
“I’d traveled ten thousand miles and had not encountered a single hoodlum. But I’d been taken for one several times. ”
In The Woods by Tana French - I FINALLY got around to reading a Tana French book. I really liked this mystery that was really more about the detectives than it was about the actual mystery. The detectives in this book were very different than my favorite series by Louise Penny, but the feel was similar.
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescot - I love me a good Cold War spy novel, especially when the spy is a woman. The background of how Dr. Zhivago came to be published, and the race to release it as anti-Russia propaganda was also interesting. This was also the first library book I read post quarantine, so it holds a spot in my heart for that alone!
Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger - This was another new to me mystery series that I’m excited to catch up on. The former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota is at a bit of a loose end when this book starts. A mysterious death and a missing Boy Scout pull him back to his old job.
One Crazy Summer and PS Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia - The three sisters in these books were some of my favorite characters that I’ve read in a long time. These books touch on so many topics I want my kids to think about at a level they can understand. Great, great historical fictions for middle graders, and excellent on audio. I can’t wait to listen to the third one when we have a reason to be in the car again.
The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan - I can’t really get into these books, but my kids love them for road trips.
Back in June there was a chain letter going around town where kids tell other kids to buy books and send them and somehow they were supposed to get 36 books each in the mail. My daughter got three of these chain letters, and while I only let her send out one set of extortion letters in return we did end up buying books for four different kids because I felt bad thinking about them waiting for books in the mail that never came. So that’s why when I went to buy some books for myself the address of a member of my daughter’s girl scout troop was in the ship to field instead of mine. And my brain has been kind of mush this year, so I didn’t notice. And because the bookseller was swamped at the time I couldn’t cancel. And the girl in question had just moved a state away. But, happy ending to a long story I ordered myself a second set of books, and the original books made their way back to me last week. So now I have a set to give away! Just enter your email below, and I’ll pick on person to ship the books to! (US only, sorry.)
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We went from 100 degree days without a drop of rain to tropical storms and floods. Gotta love 2020.
Here’s what I’ve been listening to and seeing this week.
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We’re hunkered down here waiting for Isaias to pass. It would be a perfect day to read all day if it weren’t for this job thing they want me to do.
Bad weather is excellent for good reading. One of my favorite bookish memories is staying up all night in a shaky little cottage on Cape Cod listening to the wind howl and reading Bird Box. I’m not sure I would have liked that book at all if it weren’t for the weather.
Are you in the path of the storm? What are you reading today?
To me August reading is like that last big meal you eat before starting a new diet.
It’s a time for staying up way too late reading a thriller, or sitting on the porch all day reading a sweeping multi-generational novel that makes you cry. You know next month you’ll have stacks of non-fiction and reading challenges to catch up with, but you also know that for now it’s August and you have time to read what you want.
This morning I pulled a stack of books I’m hoping to read next month. They are:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - A group of us on Litsy have been reading through the Jane Austen books a chapter a day. We start P&P tomorrow and I CANNOT WAIT. (It’s #Pemberlittens if you want to join.)
Into The Wild by John Krakauer - This book really made me mad when I first read it in 2008, but for some reason I want to read it again to see if I’ve changed my mind.
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward - Part of my book buying binge this spring. I’m glad I’m finally going to get to this one that it seems like everyone else has already read.
A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir - I really enjoyed the first in this series. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.
One Of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus - This sounds perfect for reading all night, maybe in a tent or a hammock?
Beach Read by Emily Henry - I bought it for the cover. Here’s hoping the story lives up to it!
Universe of Two by Stephen Kiernan - I’ve had this ARC on my shelf for way too long. There are a lot of books about the Manhattan project, but I’ll gladly read them all.
What are you looking forward to reading in August?
One of my favorite new walking hobbies is to read all of the signs sprouting up in my neighbors’ yards. I guess since we can’t really get together and talk right now we turned to messages in our lawns.
Here’s what I’ve been listening to and seeing this week.
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Last week I was was in Wolfeboro, NH visiting my family. We were playing it pretty safe cooking our own meals, taking long walks, and swimming at an isolated section of lake, but at one point I did sneak away to visit a bookstore I heard was open. (Shout out to The Country Bookstore.)
It was great to be back. You know that feeling of being in a bookstore and finding books you didn’t even know you were interested in? Man, I had missed that.
The bookstore itself was great for browsing. I was the only one in there at the time (the bookseller told me they had been doing insane amounts of mail order.) The books were laid out nicely so that I didn’t have to touch everything just to see the titles. They had a great big kids’ section, and a wide variety of adult topics as well. In short, bookworm heaven.
I have mixed feelings about entering any kind of building at this point, and spend most of my time outside or in my very own house. My garden is producing so even my trips to the grocery store are getting rarer. But, for one brief 20 minute period of time, I felt normal and happy again. Thank you The Country Bookstore.
Meet Daisy. Brother Oliver is too fast to get a good picture yet.
Two good things happened since we last met up. One, my library opened for curbside pick up! Two, we adopted two kittens who are adorable and love to lay around with me while I read. We also took a very socially distant trip out of town to go hiking, and that meant audiobooks in the car. So, a good month for reading.
(Note, I was worried to leave my city which is filled with pretty serious social distancing mask wearers to go someplace that didn’t have as good of a reputation, but it was fine. No confrontations I’m happy to say.)
And how is it mid-July already?
The Color Purple by Alice Walker - I read this a long time ago, and picked it back up again early last month. So much good stuff here. You need to read it if you haven’t.
“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”
A $500 House in Detroit - I thought I was getting a HGTV style makeover book, but what I got was a really interesting look at race and class in Detroit around 2008.
Parable of the Sower - I read this for a reading challenge not knowing that a dystopian novel set in the year 2025 would seem so believable based on the year 2020. This is the second book I’ve read by Octavia Butler, and I will be reading more. (The other book, Kindred, was also really good.)
Ten Days In A Mad House - In 1887 journalist Nellie Bly had herself committed to a “mad house” so that she could report on the conditions. Once you read about the conditions and the ease of commitment in those days you will be amazed by how brave she was.
I weirdly ended up reading three books set in Chicago last month.
Rodham - A book about what might have happened to Hillary if she hadn’t married Bill. I thought this book was super clever, and have recommended it to a bunch of people (including you!)
Becoming - I loved the behind the scenes looks at the White House, and the very real struggles the Obamas had raising two kids with two working parents. This might have been bad timing though, because to me a lot of the things we worried about in 2008-2016 just seem so quaint.
A Raisin In The Sun - I love this play, and read it often. This was the first “grown up” book I read when my mom took me to see it in Boston as a high schooler. The struggles in this play just poke my heart.
Mary Anne Saves The Day - Yup, I’m 42 years old and read a Baby-Sitters Club graphic novel in preparation for watching the Netflix series. So sue me.
Anne of Windy Poplars - Still reading through Anne’s books. I enjoy them, but they’re feeling more and more like filler that LMM’s publisher talked her into writing.
Twisted Twenty-Six - These books are always the same, and I always enjoy them. This was the first one I’ve ever done as an audiobook, and I liked the narrator.
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My step count is way down this week because of the heat. I need to come up with a better schedule, but is there any good schedule in the time of COVID-19? I’m already getting up at 4:30 so I can get work in before my kids get up. Whatever, I’ll figure it out, because my brain doesn’t function without walks.
Here’s what I’ve been listening to and seeing this week.
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I was looking for an image of five stars and this picture of cookies came up.
I use LibraryThing.com to track what I’ve read, tags, and star ratings. Any book I read starts with three stars. Three stars to me is a good, average book. The good thing about LibraryThing is that you can give half star ratings. So from three stars I either go up or down a half star at a time. When I get to about two stars I usually won’t finish. Four stars is a really good book. Five stars is an amazing book that I will read again.
My favorite book of 2020 so far
I’ve read some great books in 2020 so far, but the one that I liked the best, the one that reminded me why Iove/need to read was Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. This book is truly unforgettable.
Best Re-read of 2020
I started The Stand on the beach last July, and finished it in February of this year, just before everything fell apart. It was a pretty weird experience to feel like I was living the Stephen King book I just read.
My favorite audiobook so far
This is another book from early this year. I really hope that after this mess is over we consider how our low wage workers are being treated, and how much we need them.
A great 2020 non-fiction read
This spring and summer it’s been all the books from and about the 60’s and 70’s that have appealed to me. Travels With Charley is one of those. I’s amazing to me how many battles we’re still fighting now that our parents were fighting then.
I’m nervous to see what the rest of this year brings, but I’m interested to see what turns my reading life will take. I wonder if any of these will be on my best of 2020 lists?
Last week featured a quick trip to the mountains. I got used to the lower temperatures there, and now walking at home feels like walking through soup. Still going though!
Here’s what I’ve been listening to and seeing this week.
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We’re halfway through the year
We’re halfway there guys. While I gave up on my 2020 reading goals long, long ago I didn’t stop tracking and I’m surprised to say I’m not actually doing too bad.
This year I set three goals:
Read 200 books (around 16 or 17 books a month) - So far I’ve read 102 books this year
Read books that take place in 20 different countries - I’m at lucky 13 right now
Read 20 new to me cookbooks and cook at least one recipe from each one - This has been the hardest one considering my lack of access to specialty ingredients, but I’m up to 6.
Of my 102 books 16 have been re-reads, 33 have been audiobooks, and 26 have been non-fiction. (Some of these categories overlap.)
I must admit that there are a lot of books I read in March and April that I barely remember. But around May I started loving books again. I never buy books, but this month I have been, probably more than I’ve been reading. Buying books from independent stores, books by BIPOC authors, and buying books that will give my kids something to do feels like a positive step I can take to help the world. So I’ve been going with it, and dropping them in local Little Free Libraries when I’m done. It’s part of my COVID-19 routine now. And this week my library opened again for curbside pickup. I got some of the books I put on hold in March, and while those books don’t appeal to me much now I was happy to see my library again. I hope they feel okay about working again, and that they feel protected.
On Friday I’ll tell you my favorite books of the year so far.
A few weeks ago I wasn’t in a mood for summer reading, but then I bought one book. And then I bought about 15 more. And now I’m in a summer reading mood again. This one is next up, but I’m also looking forward to all sorts of back list reading, the books I bought as part of #BlackoutBestSellerList, and some classics I’m reading as part of a buddy read. Bring on the backyard reading!
After a long cold spring, it seems like summer is finally here. This is when my best walking starts!
Here’s what I’ve been listening to and seeing this week.
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American Moonshot is a different look at the space race than I’m used to. From World War II until the assassination of President Kennedy so many things had to come together in order to give the moon landing momentum, and this book is a very detailed and interesting look at them. I’ve read many, many books about NASA in the 60’s, but never one that looked at the behind the scenes politics in the way this one did.
Readers should be aware that the astronauts never make it to the moon in this book. It wraps up right around the time Kennedy was assassinated. I did enjoy learning about all of the back channel negotiations that took place in the early years of NASA, but missed the payoff of the successful moon landing. I would recommend this to any NASA fan.
One of my favorite things to do every year is to listen to all of the nominees of the Audie Awards history/biography category. This year’s nominees were:
American Moonshot by Douglas Brinkley Narrated by Stephen Graybill, published by HarperAudio
The First Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch, narrated by Scott Brick, published by Macmillan Audio
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep, narrated by Hillary Huber, published by Penguin Random House Audio
The Queen by Josh Levin, narrated by January LaVoy, published by Hachette Audio
Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense by Dan Abrams and David Fisher, narrated by Roger Wayne and Dan Abrams, published by Harlequin
The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture, and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans by Patricia Klindienst
I loved this book.
Inspired by an old photograph of her family Patricia Klindienst traveled the United States to explore how people use gardens to connect to their heritage. She visited gardens tended by Native Americans, refugees from Asia, Hispanics who followed Conquistadors to the Southwest, and descendants of African slaves on coastal islands. At each new garden Klindienst explores how people literally put down roots in their new homes by the gardens they grew.
I highly recommend this book for fans of Angelo Pellegrini and Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
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I’m back on the walking bandwagon, and feeling better for it.
Here’s what I’ve been listening to and seeing this week.
25 year old beach chairs in heavy rotation here now that it’s summer.
In May I finally got my reading mojo back. I’ve been reading a lot this year, but because I felt like I should, not because I was particularly interested in anything. In May I got interested again.
I’ve been watching a lot more TV than usual as well, trying to make sense of what’s going on in the world. Local (Washington, DC) news had become something of a joke, but now seeing the reporters filming scenes live and broadcasting them has totally changed my opinion on them. There are so many awful and sad images coming out, but also images of hope and change. It’s been leading me to read a lot of books from and about the 1960’s.
Note: I’m trying to move away from using amazon.com affiliate links, and using bookshop.org instead. This is my first experiment. I miss the little pictures amazon gives you, but am having fun taking my own. Here’s my shop if anyone is interested. Definitely a work in progress.
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes - This novel about the Bravo Company, a unit of young Marines during the Vietnam War, is unforgettable. Karl Marlantes is a veteran himself, and the details he incorporated into this book were visceral and captivating.
All the Beautiful Girls by Elizabeth Church
The Good House by Ann Leary - Someone described this to me as unreliable narrator without all the murder which is a good and accurate description. I listened to this on audio and loved the pitch perfect Massachusetts accent.
All The Beautiful Girls by Elizabeth Church - Vegas show girls in the late 1960’s- loved it. Loved the descriptions of the costumes and the behind the scenes drama. (Trigger warning sexual and physical abuse)
Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck - In 1960 John Steinbeck took his dog Charley around the country in a motor home to reconnect with the American people. This book was surprisingly relevant: living life as the only Democrat in a family of Republicans, racial tensions, and good found in surprising places. A short book that was worth reading.
Mosquitoland by David Arnold - Mim Malone runs away from home in order to save her mother in Cleveland. I hated the father in this book, but loved the main character Mim and her little band of helpers she meets along the way.
My Daily Routine According To My Daughter
Anne of the Island by LM Mongomery - I’m reading one of these a month for a book club I’m in. This one I thought started out slow, but I loved the ending.
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend - I started listening to this with my kids, and when they bailed I kept going. I quite enjoyed Morrigan and her adventures. Typical of books like this none of the grown ups ever tell the kids anything so they have to figure it out on their own.
The Moffats by Eleanor Estes - A sweet old-fashioned book reminiscent of The Five Little Peppers or The Railway Children.
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