Well, look at that – I flaked on you again last week. Sorry about that. Everyone is fine here, in good health and spirits and all that; I just got busy and blogging went out the window. That tends to happen more in summer than the rest of the year, I’ve noticed, so I appreciate your indulgence.

Anyway, even though this is two weeks of reading here, and not the usual one, as you can see – it’s a pretty short list for me. Again, more of a summer thing, but this is just not a heavy reading season for me and really never is. Either I’m traveling, or just rushing around managing the usual chaos of life but without the benefit of a school routine to keep me grounded. The past two weeks were a little of both of those: first, a week of re-entry after Steve and I returned from our non-vacation week of diving and working remotely from Roatan, Honduras (pictures and stories to come!), followed by a week in Seattle (just for me this time – business trip). The re-entry and business travel combined left almost no time for reading, but somehow I still got through five-ish books over the two weeks.

Five-ish. Right. So, first up: after reading The Wimsey Papers in Roatan, I wanted to spend more time with Lord Peter & co., so I picked up Clouds of Witness. I’ve read many of the Wimsey mysteries, but have skipped around in the series, so I’m now gradually reading my way through in order, and this was one I’d never gotten to before. (I’m going to try to continue to read in order, although Have his Carcase is calling me and that would definitely be out of order for where I am in this read-through of the series. Such a perfect summer read, though. We’ll see.) After Clouds of Witness I was still looking for something light and fast to read over the rest of the week – knowing I was going to be traveling again soon I didn’t want to start a big chunkster. So I picked up The Wren: A Biography. Stephen Moss’s books usually take about a day to get through, for me – and a very enjoyable day at that – and this one was no exception. Finally, with the clock ticking down to the next flight, I grabbed the very slim Edinburgh: Pictorial Notes, recently republished by Manderley Press (new indie publisher alert!). I loved the last Manderley Press title I read (The Armourer’s House, by the fabulous Rosemary Sutcliff) but this one fell a little flat for me – Stevenson’s writing was a bit too dense for the attention levels I had to offer at the time. I’ll have to revisit it when I’m not distracted by an impending business trip and see if I get on better.

These days, I don’t travel with a stack of books anymore, so my next read came from my library of kindle downloads. And here’s where I get the “five-ish” number, because I picked up Someday, Someday, Maybe, by Lauren Graham (better known as the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore) and haven’t finished it yet. Partly that’s because I should not be allowed to choose a new read before coffee – I’m sure Lorelai would agree. I fired up the book while waiting for caffeine at about 6:00 a.m. at Dulles Airport, and I mistakenly thought it was Graham’s memoir (Talking as Fast as I Can). It’s actually a novel about an aspiring actress in New York City – fun, light and frothy, but not what I thought I was getting. And I should emphasize that the disconnect was entirely on my end, but yeah – don’t start this if you’re looking for a memoir. But you know how when you’re not quite feeling a book, it’s hard to motivate to pick it up? Combine that with a business trip keeping you super busy, plus almost no sleep due to an extremely noisy hotel… so, I barely read all week. And I still haven’t finished Someday, Someday, Maybe – saving it for the next plane flight.

I got home from Seattle late Thursday night and decided to devote my weekend reading time to something I was more excited to pick up – The Feast, by Margaret Kennedy. The recent reissue (from Faber & Faber – the cover is gorgeous!) was under the Christmas tree for me in 2022 (thank you, Steve!) and I’ve been saving it for this season because the action takes place over a hot summer week at a seaside hotel in Cornwall. I’m about three-quarters through now and absolutely captivated. I heard so many good things about the book going in, and it’s lived up to every expectation.

I’ll probably finish up The Feast tonight or tomorrow, and am not entirely sure what’s up next. Likely Father, by Elizabeth von Arnim, which I’ve heard is another good summer read – but I could change my mind in the moment and decide I’m feeling something else more. (The benefits of shopping my own shelves and not being tied to library deadlines right now!) And at some point soon I’ll get back to Someday, Someday, Maybe, because I hate to leave a book unfinished for no good reason.

The weather was glorious in Seattle last week!

What are you reading this week? What’s on the rest of your bookish summer agenda?