literary – Page 2

Restless Sunday

August 5, 2012 Marie Leave a Comment

When I awoke this morning I knew exactly what kind of day it would be. Overnight storms carried throughout the night, and the constant drizzle of rain pelting the windows made it all too easy to burrow under the blankets and sleep in (a rare occurrence for us). I’ve heard we received almost 3″ of rain, and by the water I found in the basement (another rare occurrence) I believe it.

I brewed a pot of extra strong coffee, and made pancakes and sausage for breakfast, but the semblance of normalcy ended there. I’ve spent the rest of my day bouncing from one thing to the next – knitting, reading, laundry, catching up on my Google reader, more knitting, more reading. At one point I was just wandering the house pretty aimlessly, hoping something to do would jump out at me. Then I debated on baking some bread or cookies, but the idea of heating the kitchen up wasn’t too appealing. So it was back to knitting and reading.

It’s just been that kind of lazy, restless day.

On book sales and summer reading

June 16, 2012 Marie Leave a Comment

Every year our local ‘friends of the library’ organization hosts a giant book sale. Paperbacks for 50 cents, hardbacks for $1. Boxes and boxes and boxes of books to pour through. The sale is always on a Saturday and Sunday, with Saturday being a by-the-book fee, and Sunday being a set fee per box of books. Sunday offers, obviously, a great deal – but by then you risk missing out on the ‘good stuff’ since it’s already been picked over the day before. Given that the books for the sale are always donated, and that the money goes back to a good organization, we always attend on Saturday.

The books I care to read, the fiction books, aren’t very well organized. If it’s fiction it’s lumped together – which means sci fi are mixed right in with romance which is mixed in with every other kind of fictional book. This requires going box-by-box trying to find something that catches your eye. You should also know that this requires being quick, a little ruthless (and yes, I do mean snatching that book you’re eyeing as fast as possible before the little old lady across from you can get her hands on it. Let’s face it, she’s probably thinking about doing the same thing to you!), and the ability to do all of this while being shoved around by other people who are trying to get in and look at the books, too. It’s also important that, should you be unsure of a book, you pick it up anyway and hold onto it while you wander around the treasure trove of boxes. You can always put the book back, but if you don’t have it in your hands then there’s a good chance it’ll be gone when you go back for it. This is serious business, ya’ll.

Ultimately, I came home with a small variety of books to read this summer. I have a birthday/4th of July staycation planned in a few weeks, and I’m fully intent on relaxing by the pool with a big glass of iced tea and losing myself in some stories. A few I can’t wait to get into:

• The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond
• The Lantern by Debora Lawrenson
• The Sewing Circles of Herat by Christina Lamb

I purchased 13 books total, 7 of which were Star Wars books (I can’t help it! I love them!), and doesn’t even include the myriad of books already on my shelves that I’ve purchased at Half Price Books and still need to read. Is there such a thing as an unhealthy love of books? If so, I don’t think I want to know.

Ugh. Just… ugh.

June 3, 2012 Marie Leave a Comment

I’m ashamed to say that I spent $10 to get the Kindle version of the first 50 shades book a week ago. I got suckered in. Friends were reading it, and I felt left out as they talked about it.

Holy fuck. What the hell was I thinking? It’s…. bad. So very bad. If I had purchased the book in print rather than electronically I’d be burning it. I knew from the start that the book wouldn’t win any literary awards. But it’s so much worse than that. It’s… just… bad. So very bad. (See?! Now I’m repeating myself… If I start using “Oh my” repeatedly someone shoot me.) I don’t know that I can even finish the book, which is really saying something because I managed to trudge through all of the Twilight books not because I enjoyed them but because I felt like I had to finish the story. It’s a rare thing for me to not finish a book.

I ended up picking up another book I had on my reading list and have been plowing through it instead (Kathy Harrison’s Another Place at the Table). Which is a nice change from the George RR Martin/Song of Fire & Ice books I’ve been reading (aka the books HBO’s Game of Thrones is based on). I was seriously doubting my reading comprehension skills while reading those. They’re so long and hard to read because they’re so detailed, and I can only get through 1 chapter an evening before I’m ready to get some sleep.

It’s here!

February 7, 2012 Marie 1 Comment

And it’s beautiful!! There aren’t as many photos as I had hoped, but the ones included are gorgeous. Cheese porn. And making me hungry.

An unusual start to February

February 2, 2012 Marie Leave a Comment

It’s a melancholy kind of day. I think it’s just that time of year. The weather has been unusually nice lately – not at all like February should be. I have clear recollection of the first day of March, one year much longer ago than I like to think, where the weather was warm and spring-like and I was driving with my windows down and the music blaring. Now, it seems, the weather has shifted and it’s the first days of February that we’re getting our first taste of spring. Which is cruel of Mother Nature to do to those of us whose souls ache and long for the day that we get our hands muddy in the soil.

I decided to order myself a new book today and take on a new skill: cheese making. I let myself sink into a black hole of farm envy these last few days, so in my attempt to drag my ass out of it and back to reality I decided that I needed to just keep doing what I can to pursue the dream and keep moving forward. I’ve already tried my hand at yogurt, which I’m more or less comfortable with, so why not take the next step? And, as I like to reason with myself, some day I hope to have a dairy goat on our someday farm and I’m going to need to do something with all of that fresh milk. So I might as well learn to make cheese.

Saturday I attend a community gardening workshop. Our garden is our backyard, rather than a community garden, but I thought it would be interesting to go anyway and see what I learn. I’m far from a gardening expert, mostly doing this whole thing half-assed and flying by the seat of my pants, so I’m really looking forward to it. And, if nothing else, it gets me out of the house and out there meeting other people who might have some similar interests.