Month: June 2019

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Reading Round-Up: May 2019

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 May, 2019…

Outer Order, Inner Calm, by Gretchen Rubin – The newest Gretchen Rubin was short and sweet – I read it over one day’s commuting – and pretty much common sense, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless.  Rubin, guru of happiness and habits, writes about how cultivating outer order in one’s surroundings can lead to inner peace.  It was nothing I hadn’t heard and read a thousand times before, but the voice and the layout were engaging and Rubin is always good for a dose of inspiration.

Edith Wharton, by Hermione Lee – It took weeks, since this doorstopper biography was way too big to haul on the Metro, but I finally churned through Edith Wharton – and finished it on the very day it was due back to the library, too.  I was really impressed with how much material Lee was able to pull together from the notoriously private and enigmatic Wharton’s life, and I really liked the combination of literary analysis and criticism with traditional biography.  Reading Lee’s take on Wharton’s most famous works juxtaposed with the events of her life at the time she was writing them was a fascinating exercise.

Giant Days, Volume I, by John Allison – Another one-day read, I’ve been meaning to get to Giant Days for years now, and I finally picked up the first volume at the library.  I loved meeting Susan, Daisy and Esther, and reading about their exploits made for a good escape from reality.  It was such a joy, although Esther was definitely the closest to my heart, and if you’ve read the comic, I’ve now told you way too much about myself as a teenager.

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman – This was a re-read, but it had been quite a few years.  I was hoping that it would hold up, and did it ever.  I loved Good Omens just as much the second time around, and it made me even more excited to watch the adaptation.  Still love Aziraphale and Anathema the most, still entertained by Crowley and charmed by the Them.

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – And Why Things Are Better Than You Think, by Hans Rosling – I’ve been wanting to read this since I saw it on President Obama’s reading list (also, how much do we miss having a President who reads? #pleasecomeback).  Rosling is a global health professor who breaks down trends in living standards across the world to make the case that – while we still have a long way to go – things have never been better.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but his relentless optimism was infectious, and he had the stats to back up his argument.  Good stuff.

Travel As a Political Act, by Rick Steves – Steve and I have been huge fans of Rick Steves for years now – we’ve watched his show, carted his guidebooks around Europe, and Steve even travels with a Rick Steves backpack (#nerdalert) – but somehow I hadn’t gotten around to reading Rick’s travel manifesto.  Once I finally picked it up, I blazed through it and loved every second.  Rick makes an impassioned case for getting outside your comfort zone as a traveler, meeting real people and considering global and domestic issues in the context of actual lives.  My only complaint?  I got a sore neck from nodding along so much.

Provence, 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste, by Luke Barr – As a fan of Fisher, Child and Beard, I was really excited to read this interesting take on a brief time in their lives when they all came together for a few weeks in the south of France, written by Fisher’s nephew.  It was a delight, and I especially loved the food descriptions – and it made me want to pick up my copy of The Art of Eating again, and to whip up some dishes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking and Beard on Pasta.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Freshman Force: New Party, Who Dis?, by Josh Blaylock – Okay, I know that AOC is a pretty polarizing figure.  It seems like everyone has an opinion, and the whole world either loves her or hates her.  As for me, I’m solidly in the love camp.  I think her story’s fascinating, it’s obvious she worked insanely hard to get to Congress, and I love that she has big ideas and she doesn’t shy away from talking about them.  So clearly I was all in on this limited edition comic, which collects a bunch of graphic novel-style short stories about AOC and her friends on the Freshman Force (although there was not nearly enough Ilhan).  It was fun, different, and had me pumping my fists.

Women of the Raj, by Margaret MacMillan – I reserved a copy of this nonfiction study of the women who followed their husbands – or who traveled alone with an eye to catching a man – to India during the British Raj, after Claire recommended it.  It was fascinating, and I found it to be a really enjoyable and engaging book, but I think it caught me at the wrong time.  I was reading against a library deadline and was feeling something fiction, but had to knock it out – never a recipe for falling in love with a book.  Still, it was obviously well-researched, very well-written, and a good solid read.

The Bird King, by G. Willow Wilson – Let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way: everything G. Willow Wilson does is perfect.  Right?  Has she ever written something that wasn’t sweep-you-off-your-feet fantastic?  I mean, this is the woman who gave us Kamala Khan and Alif the Unseen.  Along with Catherynne M. Valente, Wilson is one of my must-reads, and The Bird King, a fantastical tale of a mapmaker with mystical powers and his loyal friend, a beautiful palace concubine, in Spain at the time of the Moors, was just wonderful.  I don’t know if it topped Alif the Unseen, which was one of my favorite books read in 2018, but it’s up there.  Go ahead and just sign me up for anything G. Willow Wilson writes, okay?

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, by Cal Newport – I’ve been wanting to read this since Meghan and Kelly discussed it on Sorta Awesome, but I wasn’t the only one – there was a library wait list for months.  I finally got my hands on it, and it was really good.  Inspiring, thoughtful, and realistic, all at once.  I don’t know if I’m going to do the recommended thirty-day tech cleanse, but I’ve definitely come away with some tips for reducing my phone use (just haven’t put them into practice yet – I’ll get there) and a solid dose of inspiration.

The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding, by Jennifer Robson – After seeing The Gown all over Goodreads and Instagram, I had to pick it up.  I won’t say it’s going to be one of the highlights of the year, but I really enjoyed it.  Ann and Miriam were delightful characters, and I loved following their journeys.  I had the same (small) complaint as I had with The Lost Vintage, though – Heather, the present day character, seemed unnecessary and was my least favorite.  I think these books that travel back and forth in time, between characters, are not my cup of tea.  I’d much rather authors just focus on the historic storylines without adding a present-day character to the mix.

Wow!  Twelve books in May – makes sense, because it’s a long month.  But it was also a month that saw a little travel – down to Virginia Beach for Memorial Day weekend – and the closing of my Metro stop until Labor Day (oof).  Still, even with those hiccups, I got a lot of reading in, so much that I’m not even sure I can come up with highlights, but I’ll try.  The Bird King was wonderful, like everything G. Willow Wilson does.  And Good Omens, a re-read, was just as good the second time through.  The one thing I’d have liked would have been to get to more classics, although I did finish up the doorstopper biography of Edith Wharton that I started back in April.  Hoping for some Gaskell or Austen in June, though.  Or maybe even some Trollope – I’m greedy.

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (June 3, 2019)

Happy Monday, friends!  This is the last week of school for my munchkins – we are limping to the finish line here.  Last week was a busy one, with the preschool class picnic on Tuesday, the kindergarten class picnic on Wednesday, and field day (for kindergarten through fifth grade) on Friday – somehow, in there, I also managed to work.  So I was exhausted by Friday night, and definitely ready for a rejuvenating weekend – which I can’t exactly say that I had, either.  On Saturday, we were out the door early to meet a crew from my office at Huntley Meadows Park for Clean the Bay Day.  We spent two hours tramping up and down a streambed, and I think we pulled several pounds of trash from the park.  A job well done, but exhausting at the same time.  On Saturday afternoon, Nugget and I drove down to our favorite garden center for a new bird feeder – since the birds seem to be singularly unimpressed with our green one, we went back to the red one we had before.  Hoping for better results.  (If we don’t see the birds back at the feeder soon, I’m going to start to think it’s the birdseed instead, but that wouldn’t make sense because I’ve bought the same birdseed that I always get.)  On Sunday, Steve had promised the kids a trip to the zoo, so off we went.  It was mostly uneventful, but I did get a super-cool action shot of a ring-tailed lemur in mid-leap.  Sunday afternoon, Nugget and I had a birthday party to attend at a nearby nature center.  The little dude had a great time going on a nature walk and watching an animal presentation, and I had a great time chatting with the other parents at the party.  Definitely a successful weekend, but not an especially restful one.

Reading.  Somehow, despite a busy week of trying to squeeze a full week’s worth of work into a four-day week with three school events and no metro commutes, I managed to finish three books and start another.  How?  I wrapped up Digital Minimalism on the playground on Memorial Day, then spent most of the week over The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding, which wasn’t earth-shattering but which was solidly enjoyable.  Over Friday and Saturday I blazed through Much Ado About Anne – those Mother-Daughter book club books always go fast for me, and they’re such a sweet escape from the daily grind.  Finally, I turned to Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld’s retelling of Pride and Prejudice for the Austen Project.  I am decidedly ambivalent about it – I haven’t been a huge fan of any of the prior Austen Project books, and I think I might be the only thirtysomething woman in the world who is kind of meh on Curtis Sittenfeld in general – but Peanut’s teacher pressed her own copy into my hands, and now the clock is ticking.  I have to give it back to her by the last day of school, and that’s Friday.  (She hasn’t asked me for it, but I really don’t want to still have her book come summer.)  I’ve had it for months now, so it’s time to actually read it.  In my defense, she has had my copy of Where’d You Go, Bernadette – with the brilliant short story “Dear Mountain Room Parents” in the appendix – even longer.

Watching.  It’s here!  IT’S HEEEEEEEEERE!  Good Omens has finally dropped on Amazon Prime – I’ve been waiting for more than a year, and I am loving it.  Steve and I are three episodes in – so halfway through – and really enjoying it.  It’s pretty faithful to the books, with a couple of exceptions, and it’s absolutely hilarious.  Steve hasn’t read the book, so he has no idea what’s coming.  It’s almost as much fun watching him experience the story as it is watching the show itself.

Listening.  The usual diet of podcasts – mostly The Mom Hour and Vegetarian Zen – and Nugget and I also listened to some music in the car this week.  It’s definitely summer, because I fired up the Rusted Root CD, which is the quintessential summer music to my mind.  All I need is a couple of chords, and I’m back at Camp Little Notch, standing on the picnic tables at the swimming dock, belting out Send Me On My Way with Heidi, Sarah and Rose, or three Yuenglings in, dancing to Ecstasy live on Libe Slope on a hot May day at Cornell.  For some reason I rarely listen to Rusted Root when it’s cold out, but as soon as the mercury climbs over eighty it’s all I want to hear.  I would like to reach out my hand…

Making.  The usual, good stuff all around.  A cleaned-out fridge, a container full of sliced veg for the week, a pot of soup (pureed kale, chard and sweet potato in my homemade vegetable broth this time), and progress on the 2018 family yearbook.  And memories.  Always memories.

Moving.  Been an active week!  In addition to two hours of hiking through a streambed on Saturday (and hefting a heavy bag full of trash as I did so) and tramping around the zoo on Sunday, I got in one gym day (elliptical and legs) and two runs on my new favorite Braddock-to-King loop.  I’m feeling stronger and more motivated than I have in quite awhile.

Blogging.  May reading recap coming atcha on Wednesday – a good one for a long month – and June’s garden to-do list on Friday.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  My Bushel & Berry raspberries are ripening, a few every day, and man are they delicious!  I have to say – I am still giddy with the excitement of having raspberries in pots on my patio. Growing fruit has been on my garden bucket list for as long as I can remember, and I really didn’t think I’d be able to make that happen until we move, hopefully to a place with a yard, next year.  It’s been so cool to watch the raspberry bush grow and ripen, and I have high hopes for the blueberries.  Definitely bringing plenty of smiles to my patio.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?