**eta: thank you for all of the book recommendations! I’ve written them all down. I also recently found out that our library will purchase books upon request – yay! Supposedly, there is no limit, but they might change their mind once I get started with my list o’ books…
Our house is under construction, so it is going to be another month and a half before we are even close to being settled. Cooking in a tiny apartment kitchen, using others’ furniture, not having any room to get away from each other or to sew anything…and no money to go shopping (increased taxes and healthcare costs have taken a big toll on our finances)…I feel like a caged animal.
Its very difficult to blog this way – in spurts, in a library, with an antsy two-year-old climbing the little computer station (in fact, this took two days to finish because of a tantrum). For me, blogging is a creative process, and one that needs to be somewhat spontaneous and yet polished. Without pictures to help express myself, without the ability to just "pull up" to my computer when the mood strikes, and with lots of people milling about while I try to put my thoughts together, it’s just a blog buzz-kill.
But I’m thinking about you all, wishing I had the time and ability to roam your blogs and be inspired. I wonder what you all are up to, how your summer is going, etc, etc.
Since I am outnumbered by my daughter and husband, who both apparently love NASCAR, I have been doing a lot of reading. So far:
- Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
- The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
- The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst
- on-again-off-again The Power of Play by David Elkind (I’m actually taking notes on this one for later blogging)
I’m now limited to books I can find at the library, so the newest ones aren’t usually available. But there are still many here that I haven’t read (I’m considering Bel Canto by Ann Patchett). Any suggestions for a next read?
Summer reading…
I just finished two good books and reading another.
Lion Eyes by Claire Berlinski.
Little Children by Perrota
and I am working on Heart in the Right Place by Carolyn Jourdan
Ooh, read Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. It’s quirky and delightful.
Viva la bibliotecca!
I get almost all of my books at the library…you should be able to request any title you want (it just might take a little longer). I read “Water for Elephants” this spring and really liked it. Not a big “Bel Canto” fan…how about “The Glass Castle”, “Secret Life of Bees”, “Before Women had Wings”?
The simple fact that you can read a complete book with a 2-yr-old is amazing!! Enjoy your “quiet time” while you can. I’m impressed (and jealous).
I know you prefer works of fiction, but two inciredible non-fiction works that read as smoothly as fiction are “Three Weeks With My Brother” by novelist Nicholas Sparks (about his around-the-world trip with his own brother; incredibly well written) and “The Opposite of Fate” by Amy Tan.
Miss u!
I really like Jodi Picoult. I just read Second Glance, and before that My Sister’s Keeper. Although My Sister’s Keeper made me cry. Long ago I read The Pact. I currently have The Tenth Circle on my shelf as next-to-read.
I have to say I didn’t love Bel Canto, but it wasn’t a bad read either. Just not one I’d pick up again. I do have to recommend The Time Traveller’s Wife. If you haven’t ever read it, it is an absolute must. It also made me cry, but I would read it over and over.
I hope you get settled in soon!
I’m not familiar with any of those books, so I’ll have to check them out.
However, the NASCAR comment I can relate too. My two oldest and their Dad have this special place in their hearts for NASCAR. Speed is one thing, but watching cars go round and round 500 times just doesn’t hold that much appeal for me. 😉
Bel Canto is a great read. Do it. Also, Atonement by Ian McEwan. Autobiography of a Face, Lucy Grealy. Naked, David Sedaris. Some of my personal faves. Naked is good for a laugh, a really big laugh.
Yes, I’m being bossy, but YOU MUST READ “BEL CANTO”. It’s FABULOUS. Trust me, I used to be a bookseller and this was my top hand-selling title from the day I read it.
Also, if you even somewhat enjoyed “The Tenth Circle”, go back and read Jodi Picoult’s other books. “Plain Truth” is my favorite, and “The Pact (A Love Story)” makes me cry every time I read it. I’m reading “Keeping Faith” right now, as a matter of fact.
I also just finished a really good book called “As Hot as It Was You Ought to Thank Me” by Nanci Kincaid. It’s about a young girl growing up in a small Florida town and the summer everything changed.
I get a lot of my recommendations from https://www.booksense.com/
They work with independent bookstores around the country and I find their recommendations are generally right on the money.
(By the way, welcome back to the south! I’ve been reading your blog for a while, but this is my first comment… good luck with everything!)
I read “After Long Silence” by Helen Fremont this year and have been recommending it to absolutely everyone ever since. It is an incredibly compelling true story about her parents and their experiences during WWII and how, after many, many years, she discovers her family is Jewish but she was raised Catholic and the reasons why. An amazing book.