Hey, y’all – how were your weekends? Ours was too short, especially after the first five-day workweek back after a couple of short ones in a row. I did a lot of running around and not enough chilling (although there was some chilling). On Saturday morning I got up at an ungodly hour and squeezed in about four hours of work between the pre-sunrise hours and a little time Steve bought me by taking the kids out for the week’s grocery run. I got enough done that I was able to power down for the rest of the weekend, which was a relief. Once they got back from the store, I was out again almost immediately – off to a friend’s baby shower. I got home from the shower just as naps were ending and we walked over to the library for awhile. I ended Saturday evening basically passed out – after getting up at 4:30 a.m. to work, 9:30 p.m. is basically my limit. Since Saturday was full of work, errands and social events, I wanted Sunday to be earmarked for just fun. In the morning, we checked out a new family activity – kayaking on the Potomac! As my friends know, I love kayaking but have never been able to find a way to make it work with my little duffers. But I think I finally hit on the solution – we found a boathouse that will let the kids duff (ride along without paddling) in single kayaks, and it happens to be on a particularly peaceful stretch of the Potomac. We were out for about an hour, which is Nugget’s sweet spot – then we headed home for lunch and naps. I finished two books (my home book and my commuting book) while the kids snoozed, and we ended the weekend with a chill Sunday evening – a walk to check out a new-to-us Mexican restaurant, then bubble baths for the kiddos and a couch night for Mom and Dad. Sunday was a great day – wish every day could be that warm, sunny, and packed with fun.
Reading. Kind of a slow reading week, because I can’t seem to stay awake at night. (Not pregnant.) But on Sunday I finally finished Three Men in a Boat, which was absolutely hilarious – although warning, there is one offensive word that is jarring to the modern reader; other than that, it’s a perfect book. I also finished Jane of Lantern Hill, which I’d been reading on the Metro (not wanting to take my big, beautiful hardcover copy of Three Men in a Boat a-commuting). I picked up The Age of Orphans, which I have out from the library, shortly before naps ended. I’m not far into it yet, but I’m intrigued.
Watching. Not much TV this week – just a couple of episodes of National Parks Exploration Series. They’re fun to zone out to and look at pretty scenery. (And good for getting excited for a few national park visits coming up in the next few months!) The major viewing in our house wasn’t so much for the parents this week, as for the kids, who have discovered the joys of watching The Lion King songs on YouTube. They haven’t seen the movie yet – we’re waiting for the digitally remastered version.
Listening. More podcasts this week. I’m working through my podcatcher a bit and have been enjoying catching up with The Book Riot Podcast and The Home Hour in particular. And because I only had about 36 hours of downloaded audio in my podcatcher, and only a few hundred in Audible, I clearly needed another podcast, so I let myself be talked into subscribing to Annotated. Haven’t listened yet, though.
Moving. Since I took last week off from my Monday reading posts, I’ve been doing a lot of moving – a few hikes (including climbing a mountain), two kayaking excursions, and lots of kiddo-chasing. All weekend warrior stuff, so I really need to make more time during the week.
Blogging. I have a good week coming up for you here on the blog! My top ten favorite reads of 2017 (the first half) on Wednesday, and a big hiking recap on Friday. Check in with me then!
Loving. I recently stumbled across KidFriendlyDC, and I am hooked. I have them to thank for clueing me in to Fletcher’s Cove, and now we have a great family-friendly kayaking spot to frequent! And they’re also to blame for the ballooning of my list of activities to do in the area. So great to have another good source for fun ideas!
Asking. What are you reading this week?
Hope in the Dark, by Rebecca Solnit – Solnit wrote Hope in the Dark back in the 2000s, in response to the Bush Administration and its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and she recently updated it and made it available at a reduced price for those who need a dose in 2017, which I call very decent of her. Making the case for hope even when sanity and community seem to have fled the world, Solnit works her way through the recent history of the global social justice movement, explaining how so much more has been achieved than we realize, and how the journey is a victory in and of itself. Solnit argues against making the perfect the enemy of the good and holds up examples of successes as reasons to celebrate – reminding readers that while, yes, the goal is a perfectly just society, and of course we’re nowhere near it, we’ve achieved great things already. The book is a perfect antidote to the storms raging in our political landscape right now. It took months to read because I downloaded it to my phone (and reading for more than a few minutes on my phone gives me headaches) but it was well worth it and I am sure I will come back to this slim but comforting book.
Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett – Patchett’s latest novel was hotly anticipated and widely acclaimed. The book opens when Bert Cousins shows up uninvited at a Christening party for little Franny Keating, kisses Franny’s mother, and sets in motion the dissolution of two marriages and the combining of the Keating and Cousins families. Franny and her sister Caroline grow up spending their summers in Virginia with their mother and Bert, and they bond with Bert’s children over a mutual dislike of their parents – then one day, tragedy strikes. Years later, grown-up Franny begins an affair with an elderly author. When she tells him about her life, he decides that it should be a book… and Franny loses control of the narrative. So – I liked, but did not love, Commonwealth. None of the characters were particularly likeable, and I found it hard to care what happened to them. I appreciated the skill with which the novel was written, but it didn’t really do anything for me.
Who Thought This Was A Good Idea? And Other Questions You Need Answers To When You Work In The White House, by Alyssa Mastromonaco – I’d been eyeing Mastromonaco’s memoir of her years in the Obama White House and was planning to check it out of the library when I realized that the audiobook was read by the author and used an Audible credit to grab it. I started listening immediately and loved it. Mastromonaco is chatty and engaging, and her memoir of her career is fascinating. She has worked for Bernie Sanders, John Kerry’s Presidential campaign, and of course for President Obama. Mastromonaco doesn’t tell her life story in chronological order, but instead shares her stories in chapters organized around traits and values that she believes helped her succeed in her working life. Of course she was right at the center of things for many years, and she delivers plenty of fascinating insider details about the Kerry campaign and the Obama campaign and White House, which she intersperses with terrific career and professional advice. The audio production was wonderful as well. I think this is a memoir I’ll definitely listen to over again.
Greenery Street, by Denis Mackail – When we meet Ian and Felicity Foster, they are a young couple planning their marriage, looking for their first home and plotting out their new life together – which makes them perfect candidates for Greenery Street. Greenery Street, almost a character in and of itself, is a small side street in London that makes it a specialty to lure young married couples to set up housekeeping there. The street is charming, lined with houses that are just the right size for a couple starting out in life (and a few servants, of course). But every couple who sets up housekeeping on Greenery Street has their departure preordained; the moment the word “nursery” creeps into conversation, the house will begin to seem small and Greenery Street will be expelling the new family – on to a bigger home for them and on to a new young couple for the street. Greenery Street follows Ian and Felicity through their first year of marriage, before they too add a baby and depart from the street, and it is simply a joy to read. Funny, engaging, and simply delightful – we sympathize with Ian and Felicity through Family Drama, Rude Neighbors, Money Worries, and Problems With The Servants (that last being the most hilarious). We learn what Ian and Felicity read, what they eat, and how obsessed they are with their dog. Nothing much happens, and I could have stayed in the Greenery Street world happily for months. (There are two sequels, Tales from Greenery Street and Ian and Felicity, but they’re next to impossible to find – so here’s my official request that Persephone publishes the whole series and not just the first!)
Northbridge Rectory (Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire #10) – Oops. For some reason I thought Northbridge Rectory was next up in Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire series and ended up skipping from six to ten. Luckily, these are books that can be read out of order. I loved Northbridge Rectory (and got a huge kick out of the fact that I was reading Greenery Street at the same time – which was written by Thirkell’s brother Denis Mackail). Northbridge Rectory follows the inhabitants of the village of Northbridge for several months during one WWII autumn and Christmas season. The Rectory is the focal point and we get to know Verena Villars, the Rector’s wife, particularly well. Mrs. Villars is responsible for supporting her husband in his ministry as well as hosting a group of billeted officers – one of whom is quietly in love with her. (She has no idea and would be astonished if she knew.) We watch, along with Mrs. Villars, as the village prepares for war and the rest of the residents of Northbridge find themselves in and out of all sorts of matters of the heart. It was a delightful read and I can see why the WWII novels are some of Thirkell’s most popular.
The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir, by Jennifer Ryan – I’d heard so much about this debut novel and it didn’t disappoint. Defying the Vicar’s order that the church choir be disbanded since all of the men are off at war, the women of Chilbury reorganize themselves as the Chilbury Ladies’ Choir. The book follows several of them for one summer – sweet Mrs. Tilling; scheming Miss Paltry; wild Venetia Winthrop; and more – as they navigate the new wartime reality of their lives. There are squabbles over loves, there are tragic losses, and there is a lot of singing. The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir was a lovely and ringing testament to the power of community to help us through the darkest times. I couldn’t put it down, and ended up finishing it in two days – much to my disappointment, because I’d have liked to spend a lot more time with the choir.
Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders – This was one that I felt compelled to read because of all the buzz it was getting. Young Willie Lincoln has died of typhoid and been interred at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Georgetown. On the night of Willie’s funeral, his father, President Lincoln, pays a visit to the cemetery and holds his son’s body. The result – a battle for Willie’s soul – is told via a cacophony of voices, as excerpts from both real and imagined historical accounts of Lincoln’s life and presidency as well as in a structure reminiscent of a play, with the players being the other shades who are present with Willie in the cemetery on the night of the President’s visit. Well – I certainly appreciated the wildly creative nature of Lincoln in the Bardo, and I cried buckets while reading it. I can understand the buzz and hype and I don’t think they’re misplaced. For me, though, I am at a stage where I really want comfort reading, and Lincoln in the Bardo is very much not comfort reading (especially if you have children). I couldn’t put it down, and I thought it was astonishingly well-done, but it gave me nightmares.
covered in flour 