Happy Reading Monday
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| My NIBS bookclub, with my daughter and grandson |
It's quite helpful that I also have a few whose recommendations I know to just steer clear of, but they will remain anonymous, to you and to them.
I'm not sure how many books I've made it through this year, not enough. Some really great ones and a few that were so so. But I'm running out of year, and trying to finish up several, so right now I've got four - no five - going at once.
Here's what MY nose is in right now:
#1. The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens. I'm reading it on my kindle, mostly in the bathtub late at night, for my bookclub, The Nibs. Although I am generally enjoying it, it's not exactly riveting, but rather good 'get sleepy' reading fodder. I've already heard, ahead of time, what happens to Nell, so there's that. You have to love the drama suffered by the hero / heroin in an old victorian era book. Really, for the most part, they don't do much of anything, but it's all so serious and morose.
#2. Reading People, by Anne Bogel. I thought it was about people who read, but it's actually about understanding other people, their personalities. The sub-title, "how seeing the world through the lens of personality changes everything' tells it all. I'm having fun trying to figure out, as I read, what the personality is of everyone I know or am related to. I'm about halfway through it. It has a very pretty cover on it, that looks sort of Christmasy, even though I don't think that was the intention, but it makes me happy to have it on my nightstand. I'm reading it in snippets and jotting notes in the margin, so the list of people I am willing to lend this to is very short indeed.
#3. The Ten Habits of Happy Mothers, by Meg Meeker, M.D. One of my daughters was reading it, and recommended it, and since I'm still a mother I ordered it, then ordered another copy for my other daughter, so I guess that means all three of us are reading it at the same time. Goodness gracious, but we should all be pretty darned happy by the time we're finished with it. It's got some great stuff on the need for, and figuring out how to orchestrate, the circles of friends, and some really great insight into how competitive women tend to be, and how destructive that is. I'm only through five of the ten habits, but would recommend this to moms of all ages.
#4 Book Girl, by Sarah Clarkson. I've followed Sarah's blog for a good number of years, and love her old soulness. She's an American wife, new mother, and writer living in England full time, married to a vicar, and her posts are perfect reading accompanied by a cup of Earl Gray tea. It's hard for me to resist anyone who's as much of a bookworm as I am, and especially if they tend to read the old, dusty stuff versus The Twilight Series (see paragraph two above.) Her book is about how reading has shaped her as a woman. (I just posted HERE about this book last week.) I see a lot of myself in the writing of this book. Not so much the rest of her writing - she's flat brilliant! But in a way that you'd still want to sit down and drink strong tea and eat berry scones with her. Then you'd leave her little cottage and head straight to the nearest library or musty smelling used bookstore, as most of what she reads falls in the paragraph one above.
#5 At Home in Mitford, by Jan Karon. Oh, Father Tim! I'm more of a non-denominational, but if Father Tim was preaching within fifty miles of me, I'd be in his Episcopal church every single Sunday. He's the only sixty plus, slightly overweight, balding man I've ever had a crush on except my Daddy. While Nancy Drew held the spot for several years, Father Tim is perhaps my all-time favorite main character ever. I love these books SO much they warrant two paragraphs here.
I'm listening to this on my phone - through my Audible account - while I walk Miss Lily. I've read the entire series, and read the first one in 1996, the year we moved to Pittsburgh. I didn't know anyone, both of our still at home kids were struggling to adjust to two moves within ten months, my husband had a new job and was in adjust mode also. I was dumb enough to say yes to a huge commitment at church without the connections I needed to pull it off, and was stressed to the max. A friend (see paragraph one) suggested I grab a copy of this dear, dear, dear book and it was manna for my soul. (Thank you, Liz.) Now that it's been 22 years since I read the first one, it gives me such joy to hear the words spoken aloud as Lily and I walk through the parks, up and down the streets of our town, or through the neighborhoods around us. I've vowed that I only get to listen as I'm walking Lily. Lucky her! It calls to me, and I find myself pulling on my old tennis shoes and heading out the door. Lucky me, I'm only on book one, and there are more than a dozen in the series.
So that's what's on my nightstand, end table, living room chairs, and kitchen counter right now. I know Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and then Christmas, but I'm not feeling much of a rush to dive into all the craziness. Rather, the sound of football announcers yelling in the background, on the TV, makes me want to curl up in a corner with a book; or the temperatures outside drop to such that woolen sweaters are warranted, and I find myself pulling one on, and venture outside to scoot leaves with my boots, while I listen to one of my half-finished books.
Most, if not all, of what I'm currently reading right now should be readily available at your local library, the very first place I visit when considering a new town to live in. The Mitford books are also almost always sprinkled across the shelves of any used bookstore, and can be collected here and there, but should be read in order. Seeing them on my bookshelves makes me smile every time I walk by.
Happy reading, whatever you might be in the middle of, and if it's some vampire series, I'll still be your friend. I'll just stick to my own stack. :-)
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