Wednesday, September 22, 2010

"change is on the cards"

the song: "Wrapped Up In Books" Belle & Sebastian

Is summer over? Yesterday was the official last day of summer. Having said that, I live in Texas and I will be wearing shorts and sundresses looooong into the 'fall.' I complain about the heat, but I secretly love it. I'm fine with 105 degrees as long as I can have bare legs in November. Can and will.

One of my favorite things is when other bloggers I adore give a glimpse into their personalities beyond the subject of their site. It gives me more reason to care about them and their opinions. For that reason, I would like to give you a glimpse of how I spent my summer vacation when I wasn't gardening, cooking, or drinking good beer. 

Thanks Barbeerians, for this picture of two of my favorite things.

I've had my ebbs and flows with reading. The summer after my freshman year of college, I worked an office job where I sat in a big room by myself and gave directions to air conditioner repairmen (you remember the days before we all had GPS in our pocket, right?). Sitting in that office during the summer I read something like 25 books in a 3 month period. Big ones. I was required to sit there for 8 hours a day, and at that point I didn't have the Internet to suck my eyeballs out distract me.

Post college, I was in a state of limbo. The husband and I were planning a wedding and I was fighting the idea of dropping out of grad school (which I eventually did). I now lovingly refer to this time as my quarter life crisis. Thankfully, I got it out of the way early and I certainly can't complain about how it all turned out. But it dampened my reading considerably. Honestly, I can't remember a single (non-school) book I read from the 2004 era.

My reading habits lately are nice and even. It might take me a few months to get through a book, or I might tear through one in a week. I've recognized I'm a slow reader and I'm fine with that. I've also decided that I will not force myself to finish a book if it doesn't hold my interest. The husband thinks this is blasphemous, like when I look up the violent parts in movies before I decide if I'll watch them. My librarian mama is the one that convinced me that it's ok to put down a book. "Life's too short to read crap!" she recently told me. Preach on, Mama, preach on.

I like lists, so I kept track of all the books I read this summer. And what's a blog for if not for sharing?

Summer 2010 Books:
On the bookshelf for fall:
What are you reading these days? Any books lined up for the fall?

~eeg

2 comments:

  1. Have you read, "The Glass Castle," by Jeannette Walls? Chris read it first and said I MUST read it after I finished my read at the time.

    You can't put The Glass Castle down. The book cover is deceiving, it's not a drama/romance novel. Passed it on to my parents who love it as well. I definitely recommend it.

    On my shelf is also, "Talking to Girls About Duran Duran," and "Speaking with The Angel," a collection of first-person narratives gathered by Nick Hornby. Just ordered Tender at the Bone b/c of you! Excited to start reading some of Reichl's books.

    Curious what you think of Running with Scissors when you finish it. I can't motivate myself to read it because of it's popularity. But that's just me being stubborn. If I have a good recommendation for it, I'll put it on the list :)

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  2. Jacqueline, I'm so glad you recommended "The Glass Castle." We talked about it but I had completely forgotten the name. I will definitely check it out!

    I'm still loving "Talking to Girls..." Pretty much every sentence makes me smile. I'm reading that one slow, trying to savor it.

    I've started "Running with Scissors" (I found it for $1 at Recycled Reads). Meh. So far it seems like a not-as-funny David Sedaris. But I'll keep it up for a little longer.

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