Skip to main content

Summer reading, had me a blaast

So here I am, on the Tuesday after my vacation, desperately wishing I were independently wealthy and could just sit on a porch reading forever and ever. Or at least whenever the hell I felt like it. And since I'm sitting here wishing, I'd also appreciate it if John Cusack (from his Say Anything not Being John Malkovich days) would be my personal assistant/chef/maid/eye candy/ego stroker. My inner adolescent still pines for Lloyd Dobler. I'd probably have dropped trow, a la Diane Court, myself. Heck, I might still. But I digress...

Over vacation I read 8 books. EIGHT! And it wasn't because the weather sucked and I was stuck inside. It was just so nice to grab a book, start reading, and not either be interrupted or, worse, feel guilty about not doing something else I was supposed to be doing. Because there wasn't anything else to do. Except eat. And we all know I took breaks to do that. Although there were a few times Friendster Guy and I brought our food out to the porch and just kept right on reading.

The first thing we did when we got to the cabin was move a chair and a chaise together so we could both prop up our feet and sit for hours, feet/legs touching, not saying a word, lost in our own little worlds. Sometimes we'd go down to the beach and do the same thing. I did get antsy one day and went for a run but other than that (and a brief interruption when I realized the cabin had Bravo and there were Top Chef and Project Runway marathons on) we just read and read and read.

Here's the books I got through:
The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom (I liked this more than I expected to. It's better and less schmaltzy than I thought it would be.)
One for the Money - Janet Evanovich
Two for the Dough - Janet Evanovich (she makes it real easy to know where you are in the series - 1, 2, 3...)
The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
Playmates - Robert B. Parker (always entertaining)
Walking to Vermont - Christopher Wren (I've always had a secret longing to walk the Appalachian trail and have found narratives about it fascinating. At 65, this guy walked from Time Square, where he was a reporter/correspondent at the New York Time, to Vermont where he was retiring.)
The Sweet Potato Queen Field Guide to Men - Jill Conner Browne (this one had me laughing out loud and forcing FG to read passages.)
Running With Scissors - Augusten Burroughs (If you ever feel like your childhood was crazy and it's amazing you came out alive, read this book. Your family will look like the Brady Bunch.)

There you have it. All my summer reading condensed into one week. Anyone out there discover any books this summer I should try?

Comments

Anonymous said…
The whole world over- julia glass
also, i own just about all of the evanovich books except 2 if you ever want to finish the series (or catch up-she's now on #13 not including the "extra books" she snuck in
I had the exact same reaction to the five people in heaven book. It was a pleasant surprise.

I've read the first three of the Evanovich series, even got NS reading them, and now I have all but #13 in e-book. If work ever lets up more than five minutes, I might be able to read them while pretending to work;>

Popular posts from this blog

Making Eye Babies

Colleges often have a lot of rules the students need to follow. After all, a bunch of 18-21 year olds can't really be expected to self-govern on their own, at least not 24/7, no matter how vehement they are that they can do just that. (I was 18-21 once myself so I know it's annoying to hear that. I don't mean all 18-21 year olds individually, I mean when they all get together in one place.) Then there are Christian Colleges which have more rules, often based on biblical teachings and moral dictates. Further down the spectrum is Bob Jones University* which considers the Christian colleges just too darn liberal so they piles on a bunch of morally based codes of behavior. Not to be outdone by the crazy liberal heathens at Bob Jones, Pensacola Christian College goes hog wild with the rules and moral imperatives and makes the Taliban look almost liberal. An article in the March 24th edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education explains some of the rules and regulations the stu

Gone by the wayside

I have no idea if anyone is reading this anymore. If you have been loyally checking back now and again I applaud you. At one point this blog was a therapeutic outlet for me. I'm glad to have a chronicle of my experiences during this time of my life. Now, however, instead of a creative outlet it's more of a nagging reminder that I should be posting and this girl does not need one more thing on her "To Do" list. I'd love for you to explore the archives if you so chose. If you have already done so, here's a brief update: Friendster Guy and I are still together and co-habitating. We are in domestic, but still unwedded, bliss (that status could be a post or two in and of itself, but, as I've just said, I'm done with that.) We're so domesticated we're in the market for granite countertops. We also just returned from an Aussie/New Zealand vacation and if 8 days in a tiny RV won't solidify (or destroy) a relationship nothing will. We're stronge

Addendum to Resolutions

I'm adding two things to my New Year's Resolutions - 5) Read more using this list as a guide: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. I have no idea how many I've already read. I'll have to make a spreadsheet. You can do anything with a spreadsheet. Not that you should , but you can. 6) Get a massage every 6-8 weeks . This probably doesn't need an explanation. I had one for only the 3rd time this week. It's been at least 4 years since my last one. My gym has a spa attached to it and they had an intern doing free massages. Hello? Sign me up! Now that I've had one I'm wanting more. If I eat out less I might even be able to justify it. I wonder if I can write it off on my taxes?