It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly blog meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeywhere you list the books you read last week and the ones you hope to read this week!

I knew as soon as I posted the titles of the books I hoped to read last week that I would probably end up switching what I was reading. I am not loyal to a reading plan, and if a different book comes along I want to read more, I will. A few books I was expecting to get in at the library didn't come in, but others did. And, my Amazon order came! Yay! That being said:

Read Last Week:

The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich: I thought this would be a fun horror read - how could it not be with the main character a self proclaimed "hobo vampire junkie"? Maybe I wasn't in the mood, but partway through, I set it aside. I am home on spring break this week, and if I run out of books, I will pick it up and finish it. Otherwise, it will be a book I couldn't get into, at least right now.

Specials by Scott Westerfeld: This is the last book in the Uglies trilogy - I picked it up after reading Twilight and The Hunger Games. I liked it more than Twilight and less than Hunger Games; I love this world that Westerfeld has created, very futuristic and scary in a conformist way. It is a quick, young adult read.

Pale Demon by Kim Harrison: I love this series by Kim Harrison, and her main character Rachel Morgan is so spunky. I have to admit, one of the reasons I enjoy it is that it is set in Cincinnati, and being from the midwest, I support all books that are set here. It is a fun series, and exactly what I needed last week. The week before spring break is nuts at work!

Currently Reading (or so that is the plan):

A Crown of Lights and To Dream of the Dead by Phil Rickman: Two holds of mine that came in to the library. I will probably read at least one today, since the nice spring Michigan weather has given way to SNOW today.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County: I started this last night, and it is sad so far. I am enjoying the story, but poor Truly!

A wintry mix of children's books

Today would have been the perfect day to stay home - cold, wet, gray. Instead of snow, we have rain. This type of day calls for some serious couch time with a book and my animals. Instead, I am here at work. Which is not too bad either, really. I get to hang out in the school library and look at the books and help students find authors that they love. Which is pretty cool.

At the beginning of the month, I lined the tops of all the bookshelves with some of our winter and snow themed books. I find it comforting to read old favorites, especially on days like today, and I thought I would share just in case you are interestedin checking them out for your family as well, one wet and cold day.

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen - I love any book with owls, and this is a sweet book about a parent and child's hike through the woods, looking for owls.

Cross Country Cat by Mary Calhoun - Poor little left behind Siamese cat! I love how he uses cross country skis to get around!

The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen - I just love Gary Paulsen. Try Puppies, Dogs and Blue Northers as well.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder - I loved these books as a child, and I still love to revisit the world of Little House! Sometimes I think if I need to survive in the wild, I could, having learned all I needed to know from the Ingalls family.

This next one is not an old favorite, but rather a new one. And it is not wintery at all, but is a book that is good for all seasons.

Zen Shorts by Jon Muth - A wise panda breaks down buddhist lessons into a story telling language easy for kids to follow and understand.

What about you? What books from your childhood stand out in your memory, and make for great cozy reading?

Dear Mr. Conroy

When I was fifteen years old, my father put the book The Prince of Tides in my hands and told me to read. An unusual choice, some might think, for a 15 year old female from the suburbs in Michigan, who listened to Nirvana and frequented Denny's. This was my life though, growing up. My parents started my reading education early, as young as ten when my mother gave me James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small, and never moderated or censored my reading choices; in fact they encouraged me to read whatever I could get my hands on, and suggested many of their favorites, like J.D. Salinger, John Irving, James Herriot, and Kurt Vonnegut. I read voraciously and tenaciously, hanging on every syllable of every sentence.

The Prince of Tides was a changing point in my life however; while I always read constantly, and by constantly I mean actually not putting the book down, and read while brushing my teeth, making breakfast, walking from room to room, I really couldn't put this book down. I even convinced my mom the day after I started the book that I was sick, and had to stay home from school. I finished The Prince of Tides that very day, and thus began my lifelong love of the south and southern writers. The lives of the characters in this book could not have been further from my own, yet something in the writing, in the story spoke to me. The setting, the characters, were a million miles away from my own personal landscapes, and I wanted to be part of that world. I wanted the concrete and tall buildings around me to transform into tidal lowlands; I had a crush on Luke, wanted to be Tom's friend, wanted to save Savannah. And later Luke. I can still recite from memory the poem Savannah wrote about Luke, still remember the white porpoise, Caesar, Callonwolde. This book is so full of pain and beauty and love rolled into one. I cried throughout most of it.

After that day, I read all of Pat Conroy's published works, and made sure to read every new one that came out after. Now, 20 years later, I am midway through Conroy's book My Reading Life, and am just as enthralled as I always am. It has reminded me just how in love with reading, with words, with books, with the south, with southern writers, Conroy in particular, I really am. He taught me that there is magic in a sentence, and that you can never use too many adjectives. He has shaped my northern world into one that dreams of the south, flawed or unflawed.

"Books are living things and their task lies in their vows of silence. You touch them as they quiver with a divine pleasure. You read them and they fall asleep to happy dreams for the next ten years. If you do them the favor of understanding them, of taking in their portions of grief and wisdom, then they settle down in contented residence in your heart." Pat Conroy - My Reading Life

Wordless Wednesday - Ruminating Himalayan

Just Miso. Just a Wednesday.

My Top Ten Reads of 2010

For some reason today I keep thinking about books and reading. This seems like a weird thing to be thinking about on New Years Day, but here I am, doing it. Maybe I am because last night I was talking to people about books, and the thoughts carried over to today. Who knows.

I went back and looked at my Goodreads page - one of my resolutions this year is to enter every book I read into Goodreads, even if it is a throwaway read. It was interesting to see what I was reading this time last year, and that got me to thinking about what books I read this year that I absolutely loved, couldn't get enough of, caused me to stay up until 3 am reading them. They are not all new to 2010, but 2010 is when I read them.

They are, in no particular order ~

1. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

4. The Likeness by Tana French

5. The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander

6. First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung

7. The Passage by Justin Cronin

8. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

9. The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb

10. South of Broad by Pat Conroy

What did you read? What were your favorites of 2010? I need some ideas for 2011.

All things cozy and warm

I think I must like rainy days. I feel happy and content when it rains. Cuddly. I want to eat soup and drink hot drinks and read and sit with Billy and the animals.

I also want to go to the laundromat when it rains - Billy thinks this is nuts. But there is something about a laundromat. It is like sitting in the middle of a giant pile of clean laundry- they are always warm from the heat of the dryers, and smell like the scent of a dozen or more different detergents. The only thing that could make it better would be if they supplied patrons with fresh baked from the oven chocolate chip cookies to enjoy while waiting for their laundry to finish spinning or rinsing or whatever stage it is in. And a library of books to choose from. And comfy chairs.

And all this talk about laundry reminds me I need to do some of my own right now, and then just relax and enjoy this rainy day.

Blueberry Summer

I both love and hate August. I love it because it means I still have one month before I go back to work, and hate it for the same reason.

My days recently have been a mess of frantically busy days and lazy slow days. I am either running around, to the gym, to the pound, to recycling, to different events - either socially or for our rescue group, or I am ensconced on our couch, windows open to the breeze if there is one, reading the day away. On days like that, I usually fall asleep as well. I have been eating alot of blueberries, yogurt and granola, usually for breakfast and lunch. My friend Jennifer, her son James, and I went blueberry picking the other day, where I picked two pints of blueberries (I think they were pints - they were big baskets). They have been sustaining me since then. Chrissy told me they are good frozen too, I am going to try that today. By the end of the summer I may look like Violet Beauregarde.

I think I have been taking lessons from Penny and Maggie - either they are sound asleep, flopped wherever they are comfortable, or they are racing around at top speed. Maggie will be sleeping on the table in a ray of sunshine, and an hour later be doing laps around our house that would put Speed Racer to shame. Penny loves to sleep on the couch when she is not outside; once outside she is a different dog, running so fast her back legs almost stumble her by overtaking her front legs! I read that English Setters and other breeds with strong hunting drives conserve energy when not outside on the hunt. Instictively, they save their energy for when they are hunting, when it is necessary for them to have reserves of energy. I like to think that is what my afternoons of reading and napping are about- just me saving energy, for when I need it the most.

Il bel far niente...

Il bel far niente means "the beauty of doing nothing" in Italian. That is where I am trying to find beauty this summer, in doing nothing. I am reading the book Eat Pray Love right now, and while I am slightly embarassed to admit that I am reading this, the author summed up what I am trying to accomplish in those four Italian words. The book really is not that bad; it is just not what I usually read, and the book seems a little too self-serving for me at times. At other times I whole-heartedly agree with things the author is saying.

I spent the past few days in my garden, not with a mission like usual, to get this done and that planted, but simply puttering around, enjoying the flowers, and the plants, the breeze and the sun. My garden this year is not as abundant, and my flowers not so riotous, but that is ok. I am trying to teach myself how to relax, little by little. Penny and Maggie certainly know how to relax, they are both currently napping in their spots- Maggie on the dining room chair, Penny on the couch. They do not have agendas or lists, they just live in the beauty of the moment, in the beauty of doing nothing. That the simple things are sometimes the best.

Yesterday I took Penny for a walk, eating a plum for my breakfast. It was a gorgeous day, a gorgeous moment, one of the pleasures of summer. Fresh fruit, fresh vegetables everywhere, so many my refrigerator is bursting with them. Chrissy and I went to a farmers market Sunday morning, and bought a few of everything it seems. But Billy and I will eat well this week, I am actually excited to make dinners when we have these sort of ingredients. Tonight is one of my nights for the pound, so I am making a simple dinner, but a good dinner. We are having Panzanella, or Italian Bread Salad, with a fruit salad of nectarine, peach and blueberry. The basil in the salad will be from my very own basil plants. My favorite recipe is from Tuscan Recipes, it is the perfect summer dish. We will drink the rest of my gypsy wine, and follow it up with a few truffles. Tomorrow night we will have ratatouille, because I love Aubergines. (My friend Erik always calls eggplants aubergines, I like the way it sounds so much better than eggplant. Which would you rather eat, an aubergine or an eggplant?) We will have the leftover crusty bread that I did not use in the Panzanella to eat with our ratatouille - I am looking forward to dinner the next couple of nights!

These are the simple things that make me happy this summer - fresh food, nice weather with gentle breezes, good books, sweet wines and red wines, nights by a fire, time with my husband, my family, my Penny and Maggie.