March 12, 2012

Readings





I confess. My reading has been beyond the eclectic lately. I’ve ground to a halt in with The United States of Arugula. I had great hopes for it. This book was a fascinating history of the food revolution here in American, and I was enthusiastic right up to the section on Chez Panisse where the author faded into whines, sterilizations, and other unneeded gestures. I have the new Robb and finished it feeling that it was a waste of my time. I got stuck in the Civil War. Darn it. But when I read the newest Dana Stabenow, I found it marvelous. Riveting. I couldn’t put it down. She kept me awake and in my seat from the front page to the last. Ditto with a middle aged Janet Evanovich called Wicked Appetite. I loved it, but it left me wondering where the sequel was.

I truly feel a lot like a fox in the hen house at work sometimes. Perhaps I should just feel blessed instead of like the thrift store junkie I really am.

An old juvenile Anne McCaffrey, Horses for the King, came in to the shop last week. Brand new. I snagged it right up then couldn’t put it down it was so well written. In her last years of writing, she became syrupy and fuzzy. I understand being a fuzzy person myself. What was a surprise was to find how clear her writing was in this volume. How well constructed the whole book is. No wonder she became famous with such a degree of clarity, research, and imagination….a delight all around.

Sadly many of my much loved Dick Francis volumes developed mold at the moldy house. The worst were banished to the trash cans. The best sat lumpy and stained on a shelf in our current bedroom. Now they have been joined by an armload of new-to-me volumes, or replacements that happily over fill the Francis shelf….including several written with his son. Good stuff. Any time I run out of newer reading materials, you can find me with a Dick Francis in hand.

Now today the laundry is done. Groceries for the week come next next, then the cleaning G pleads for less fattening foods. At last, I had to admit to him that I’d given up. With the time change, maybe now I can drive to WW meetings in the evenings. Perhaps that will perk me up a bit…..before starting the next Dick Francis.

7 comments:

  1. Oh, that wagon full of books! It carries me back...

    When my kids were little and I had no car, we used the bookmobile. (I could have walked to the main library myself, but it was too far for little kids.) So we would load up the wagon; the maximum number of books for three kids plus mom would be 12 or more -- too many to carry.

    I am using the bookmobile again, but I carry my own books. The wagon has traveled to North Easton, for Charlotte and Lila.

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  2. I replied to your email. Yes, with warmer weather I am looking for lighter fare on the table. I am reading a variety myself, as well as working on my story which is sooooo much harder than I thought it would be.

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  3. So are you a speed reader?? How do you do it?

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  4. I'm getting hooked on that darn Kindle!

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  5. I KNEW we were kindred spirits!!!! I'm a great fan of Dick Francis!!!!

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  6. I can hardly wait to begin reading fiction again. It has been far too long. I intend to start with the Janet Evanovich books. Thanks for the tip. Dianne

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  7. I just finished a real hold in your hands book and don't want to start another one because of my trip to San Diego...taking the Kindle and hoping to finish off some of the 116 books I have loaded on it.

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