I had such high hopes in early June that I'd have time for at least some reading this summer. And I have, though those moments for "some" reading have been very few.
I am swamped with genealogical work, and I don't regret that, really, but I do need to actively and purposely plan time into the week for reading and relaxation. I have made the time for walking, though it's been a pretty lousy sport these days with tropical dewpoints in the 70s. I can't complain, though, given the severe, unrelenting heat confronting much of the country.
Books I'm Loving: I have so enjoyed Nancy Thayer's latest summer Nantucket novel, All the Days of Summer. I'm listening to it while I knit an incredible, multi-color scarf of Italian wool. It's self-striping and wild-- and what's more important it's been relaxing, when I do manage to make myself take the time to listen and knit for 30-45 minutes in the late afternoons. I have only about two hours of listening to go, and I'm already sad to see it end. Heather, the main character, leaves her husband in her late 40s to spend a summer in a run-down cottage on Nantucket. She finds a new life, and because her son is marrying into Nantucket royalty, a new "family," of sorts. Reading this one has made me dream at night of renting a place on Nantucket for a month. An unattainable dream! I'd probably hate it; the island has been taken over by billionaires. Crowded! So, no! But the fantasy provided by this novel makes me dream it. You know, I do miss the ocean. Sigh.
I'm also reading Love and Ruin by Paula McLain, about Martha Gellhorn primarily, but also about her relationship with Ernest Hemingway. Gellhorn was a war correspondent in the Spanish Civil War, and the Russo-Finnish War of 1939, and afterwards... Set in Key West, Cuba, and in Europe, it's a great read, and frankly, very well done. Huge acclaim for this book, which made me read it. But frankly, Ernest Hemingway, in my book, was a loser as far as a man to have a relationship with!! But that adds to the drama and conflict, doesn't it?
