On Saturday evening, we went for a family walk after dinner, just around the neighborhood. I commented that while it had been fun being on vacation, I was happy to be home for awhile now. Nugget replied, “Not me. I would like to spend at least three more weeks in South Dakota.” Sorry, buddy, all good things – even vacation – must come to an end! And actually, we were on the go so much over the last few months that I really do feel a little relieved to be home and back in a routine, even if I do hate back-to-school (and oh, I do, I hate it so much). I have one more trip in September – a business trip to Nashville for a team retreat. And then really home until at least the holidays, and possibly even longer, since we haven’t decided if we will make any Thanksgiving or Christmas visits this year. With the return to routine should come more reading, too, and I’m also glad about that.

Notwithstanding the routine, last week was a slow week on the reading front. There were a few reasons for this: one, I went to the office four days last week. I usually aim for working in the office two days per week, and from home the rest of the time, but we had visitors from other offices and I went in to see them. And even more outside the usual course, last Monday and Tuesday I drove into D.C. to work from our office there (my normal office is in Arlington), so the commute was longer, the parking was different – everything was a little off. I did Wednesday and Thursday in Arlington and that was better, but still a lot. How did I commute into the city five days per week before the pandemic? Anyway, it didn’t impact my reading time so much – that’s confined to evenings no matter where I work – but it definitely drained my energy levels, especially when you consider that last week was also the first week of school. I’m tired just typing all of this out. And then on Thursday I had an unusually stressful day, which spilled over into Friday, and that drained my energy levels even more. All of that does impact reading.

All this to say, I spent the entire week over Father, which normally would take just a couple of evenings of reading, and didn’t finish it until Saturday afternoon. I really enjoyed it, though – it was such a delightful read. Possibly a 2022 highlight? We’ll see. I devoted Saturday afternoon’s reading to the summer issue of Slightly Foxed, since I’m expecting the fall issue in my mailbox soonish. And then after the multiple work stresses of Thursday and Friday I was looking for some soothing “convalescent literature” to pick me up, and there’s nothing for that like Agatha Christie. Five Little Pigs it was. I flew through it, didn’t guess the solution – well, I guessed partially, but fell far short of figuring out the whole puzzle – and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Finished it this morning over my coffee, and haven’t decided yet what’s next.

It’s nice to be home and stomping our old familiar hiking trails again, even if some people would prefer to still be in South Dakota…

What are you reading this week?