Month: April 2016

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Reading Round-Up: March 2016

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Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for March, 2016…

Jam on the Vine, by LaShonda Katrice Barnett – The fictionalized story of an actual historical figure, Jam on the Vine introduces Ivoe Williams, who along with her lover, Ona, founded and ran the first African-American female-run newspaper.  We meet Ivoe as a young girl and see her struggle through hardships and injustices with the help of her love of words, and cheer as she falls in love with Ona and grows into a determined and, ultimately, a successful woman.  I thought this book was wonderful – but fair warning, there are some scenes of violence that are very distressing (up to my threshold, which is admittedly not that high, but any more violent and I probably wouldn’t have been able to finish the book – so if you’re sensitive, be forewarned).

My Man Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse – I needed something a little lighter after reading about horrible violence in the Jim Crow South, and Jeeves always does the trick.  This wasn’t my favorite – it’s the first appearance of the brilliant valet, and you can tell that Wodehouse is still developing the characters.  And there are a few stories featuring neither Bertie nor Jeeves, which felt like filler material (although I’m sure they weren’t at the time the book was first published, before Bertie and Jeeves were so well-known and beloved).  Still, Jeeves and Wooster are always good for a laugh, and My Man Jeeves is no exception to that rule.

The Road to Little Dribbling, by Bill Bryson – Oh, how I love Bill Bryson.  Let me count the ways.  The man is the patron saint of American Anglophiles, he’s achieved what most of us only dream of (living in England!) and he’s absolutely hilarious.  In this latest offering, Bryson commemorates the twentieth anniversary of his classic Notes from a Small Island with more travels around Great Britain.  He’s cantankerous and grumpy and wonderful.  (Although I have to agree with Rebecca of Book Riot – why is it necessary to describe hills as “bosomy”?  Dear editor, this is where you come in.)

Saga: Volume 5, by Brian K. Vaughan – The fifth trade paperback installment of Saga delivered on the drama and excitement just as its predecessors had.  Marko and IV are searching for their families, but will they find them in time?  Sophie and The Brand are looking for a cure to The Will’s injuries, and Dengo involves some really frightening characters in his quest to bring attention to the disadvantaged of the Robot Planet.  Saga is weird and disturbing and excellent – but why is the next trade not being released until JULY?

The Queen of the Night, by Alexander Chee – Lilliet Berne is an opera sensation in 1870s Paris, with every honor except one – a role written just for her.  So she is intrigued when a novelist approaches her with a proposal to write an opera for her.  There’s just one problem – the opera is based on her life and reveals secrets she thought long buried.  Now Lilliet must discover who from her past may have betrayed her.  This was really well written, and there were a couple of twists I didn’t see coming (although I did predict the biggest one).  I really enjoyed it, but I think I would have liked it better had it not been so hyped.

The Enchanted April, by Elizabeth von Arnim – This is the most famous and beloved of von Arnim’s works, so I’m glad to have started here.  The Enchanted April tells the story of four English ladies, none of whom know one another particularly well, who escape a rainy Hampstead spring in favor of a villa in Italy.  Among the wisteria and sunshine, their hearts and souls are cured of various and sundry hurts.  I found this story charming, atmospheric, and just what the doctor ordered to get me through grey March.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, by Katarina Bivald – Another one that was everywhere, and that I might have enjoyed more had it not been so hyped, but I have to confess I was kind of underwhelmed by The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend.  I found the legal issues really distracting (although they did lead to a good laugh with one of the partners at my firm, so that’s something!) and I just couldn’t bring myself to care about any of the characters or buy into the central romance.  The best characters, Claire and George, were only half-developed, and the rest seemed wooden.  I know that many, many people just loved Broken Wheel, but I couldn’t get into it.

So, not a bad month of reading, although only one book by a person of color this month, which isn’t great.  But as for enjoying myself, for the most part I did.  I loved The Road to Little Dribbling and The Enchanted April and really enjoyed several other of my reads this month.  Looking ahead to April, I have a teetering library stack (again) but there’s some good stuff on it, so I’m excited for page turns to come.

What was the best thing you read in March?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (April 4, 2016)

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Sorry for the late post today, guys.  I’m home sick with the dreaded stomach flu – we’re pretty sure Nugget brought it into the house this time, and Peanut got nailed too.  (So far Daddy is unscathed – fingers crossed he stays that way.)  It was the last thing I needed because last week was a doozy.  I like to post pictures of our weekend adventures for these posts, but today, nothing is quite as appropriate as the picture above – that was naptime on Tuesday.  Yes, Tuesday.  Steve left last Sunday (Easter – so sad) for a week-long business trip.  I was dreading it, because I was swamped at work and holding down the fort all on my own was going to be stressful no matter what.  Then, about three hours after dropping the kids off at school on Monday, I got a call from Peanut’s teacher – she had a fever and I had to come get her.  I retrieved her, took her home and reconciled myself to working from home while she watched Curious George.  Two hours later, I got another call – Nugget was getting the boot from his classroom, too.  And so began a week of downward spiraling into kid fever hell while trying to keep my head above water at work and juggling child care and two kids who were both plastered to my face every second.  I ended up cobbling together a Wednesday that included Grandpa (for Nugget) and a trip to my office (for Peanut) and finally got them both back to school on Tuesday.  Unsurprisingly, I was beat by Friday and was looking forward to a relaxing weekend – which didn’t happen.  Nugget was sick on Saturday, and Daddy had a headache, and then Peanut and I got hit with our current horror on Sunday.  And now I’ve gone on for way too long about what a miserable week it was.  Let’s just hope for something better this week.

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Given what a mess the week was, I’m kind of surprised that I read as much as I did.  I ended up polishing off The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend and reading most of What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours in bed while Peanut snuggled next to me at night, after we put Nugget down, as a way to both get extra reading time in and encourage Peanut to fall asleep a little earlier (and kick that fever).  As I wrote last week, I was underwhelmed by Broken Wheel.  I did end up really enjoying What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours – it was incredibly well-written and creative.  I didn’t find every story equally engaging, but that’s par for the course with me and short story collections (and one reason I don’t often pick them up).  I finished What Is Not Yours on Friday night and immediately plowed through Men Explain Things To Me, which was incredible and distressing and should be required reading for everyone.  (There are a couple of essays in there I really want Steve to read, but I returned it to the library; hopefully I can find the specific essays online.)  Then I started Jane Steele, which was the only other library book I’d brought home for the weekend, but almost immediately felt it wasn’t for me, at least not right now.  I may pick it up again in the future, but for now I was looking for something lighter (and less violent) so back to the library it went and I grabbed one of my birthday books – the absolutely hilarious Very British Problems – instead.  And polished that off in a day.

Up next in reading, I will have to return to my library book stack, but they’re all at work and I’m home moaning on the couch, so that will wait until tomorrow.  TV for me tonight, and then I think I’ll dive into Diary of a Provincial Lady, which I’ve been wanting to read for awhile and which I recently requested from the library closed stacks.  Can’t wait.

What are you reading this week?

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ColoRADo 2015: Rocky Mountain National Park

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When we sat down to plan our trip to Colorado, we didn’t have many “musts” on the agenda.  Mostly, we just wanted to spend time with Dan and Danielle and have them show us what they wanted us to see in their area.  But there was one thing I did request – a day at Rocky Mountain National Park.  I love our national park system – visiting Acadia with my grandparents and Yosemite with my parents are some of my fondest memories from childhood.  Taking my kids to national parks has always been high on my list of family to-dos, and Steve had actually never been to one of the big parks before.  (He’s been to Great Falls a million times, of course, and to various smaller DC sites run by the NPS, but not a big park – nope, not even Shenandoah.)  So we told Dan that we really wanted to visit RMNP, and he was on board.  Dan and Danielle live near the park and love to visit.

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You’ve already seen some of our pictures, because we did our November hike around Bear Lake, deep in RMNP.  But I hope you’ll indulge me and look at a few of them again, and a few more pictures of the park besides.  It was just so breathtakingly beautiful.

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Shortly after we arrived in the park, we saw this massive herd of elk.  Apparently they’re very common – to the point that they will meander down to Estes Park and disrupt traffic.  But we still thought they were amazing and majestic!

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We pulled over on the side of the road for a few photo sessions every time there was a herd within eyesight.  Danielle is truly gifted at spotting animals – and maybe more.  Dan has told us that whenever Danielle expresses a desire to see an animal, as if by magic, they see the animal that same day.  Even shy bighorn sheep are no match for her wildlife summoning powers.  I told Dan he’d better pray she never takes it into her head that she wants to see a yeti.

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We drove through the park and stopped now and then to marvel at the scenery.  It was a good way to see the sights – with the kids still bundled cozily in their car seats.

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As we got deeper into the park and continued to gain in elevation, the turns got sharper and the roads more harrowing – but the scenery was that much more spectacular.  My knuckles were white, though, as we inched around some of those switchbacks.

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As you know, though, the payoff was so worth it.  Bear Lake was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

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Heart-stoppingly beautiful.

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After our hike around Bear Lake, we were all starting to get a bit peckish, so we drove down into Estes Park for dinner.  Estes Park was an adorable and historic town with cute shops and restaurants and an adorable playground that, had it not been dark and cold out when we were walking around, I know Peanut would have loved.

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We started out by strolling down a walk that ran the length of a sweet little stream and took us right into the center of town.

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The restaurants were warmly lit and all looked so cozy and welcoming.  We set course for a pub that Dan and Danielle recommended.

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(Detour to check out the playground.)  I really wish we’d been able to see more of Estes Park in the light!  Like with Nederland, I was sure we were missing out on a lot of charm, by not seeing these places until after dark.  Oh, well – I’m sure there will be other visits, so we’ll get a chance to play in all the best Rocky Mountain spots.

We warmed up from our chilly hike and walk with a delicious pub dinner.  Steve got an elk burger, and I was more than mildly horrified that, after we saw herds of beautiful elk roaming free and wild in RMNP all day, an elk burger was what sounded particularly good to him – ha!  I stuck with a turkey burger (I don’t eat four-legged friends) and a glass cowboy boot full of stout.  Because when you’re in the Rocky Mountains, you drink glass cowboy boots full of stout.  Hey, I don’t make the rules.

What a fun day!  RMNP was incredible in its winter finery.  Now I can’t wait to visit the park – and Estes – in the other three seasons!  Next week, our final recap – I’ll share photos of a spectacular hiking spot not ten minutes from my brother’s house.  Check back!