A Bit About:

Emperorp

Blogging Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory
Seattle Mom Blogs

Calendar

««Jul 2008»»
SMTWTFS
   12345
6789
10
11
12
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031

News/Media Links I Like

Mailing List

Search Box

 








Rain and Reading

« H E Motherhood :: Children :: Books :: Food :: Self :: Nature :: Cultural Issues :: email
posted Sunday, 22 July 2007

It’s early Sunday morning and I have the pleasure of a couple of hours to myself. James and the girls are sleeping and, unusual for the girls, they are still asleep as it approaches 8am. It’s very rare that I get to spend time quietly alone in our home. Usually the girls are awake by 6:30am but a pre-dawn stirring with Ashley is likely the reason for this uncommon and much appreciated period of solitude.

After a hot start to summer, with temperatures soaring into the record breaking 90s for Seattle, we have experienced heavy rains this past week. Anyone who knows me is aware that I am a winter person and that I adore the rain. It has taken me seven and a half years living in Seattle to become accustomed to the heat of summer (which isn’t even very hot by most standards, except the Irish one). This is the first year that I’ve truly welcomed the summer and so I find myself, astonishingly, missing the sun.

That is not to say that I cannot gain any pleasure from these unseasonable rains. On the contrary, the sound of heavy summer rain, unbuffeted by winter gales, has a very soothing effect, particularly in the wee hours of the morning. So I found myself this morning, eager to climb out of bed and sit, with the living room window open, enjoying a good book and palate-pleasing cup of home made Chai. I am forever grateful to Anand (a friend of James’ from Madras) who introduced me to his homemade blend and then graciously shared his recipe, which this morning I finally perfected.

Savoring each sip of tea, I settled into my current book, ‘Comfort Me with Apples’ by Ruth Reichl. Yesterday I finished reading her first memoir, ‘Tender at the Bone’, and enjoyed it so much that I had to immediately start this second book, which continues where ‘Tender at the Bones’ finished off. It is ata time like this, when I read something so enjoyable that I want to continue with the author, that I am delighted for my collection of unread books. Those of you who share my passion for reading, and who have your own large pile of unread books, will appreciate the feeling of chipping away at those volumes sitting on the shelves just waiting for the right moment in one’s life when they are destined to be the perfect read at the perfect moment. Such is the case with ‘Comfort Me with Apples’.

I finally picked up ‘Tender at the Bone’ because it was selected by my book club this month. I am once again attempting to join fellow book lovers in conversation around collective book choices. My friend and neighbor, Rosemary, managed the gargantuan task of gathering together a group of about a dozen mothers, who all have children attending (or soon to be attending) the same elementary school. We started our meetings in April, and as often happens, when scheduling and rescheduling with a large group of busy people, I have not been able to attend many meetings so far. I am not alone and, as a group, we are confident that when school starts in September, schedules will develop a more accommodating rhythm for the book club.

Meanwhile I am reading all the books and, surprisingly, enjoying each one the them! Here is a list of those read so far and upcoming titles:

Read:
Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go
Geraldine Brooks: Nine Parts of Desire
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Love in the Time of Cholera
Ruth Reichl: Tender at the Bone

Upcoming:
John Steinbeck: Travels with Charley
John Irving: A Prayer for Owen Meany
Sherman Alexie: Ten Little Indians
Wallace Stegner: Crossing to Safety
Zadie Smith: On Beauty
Marilynne Robinson: Housekeeping
Tracy Kidder: Mountains Beyond Mountains
 


comments (2)


1. Janet left...
Sunday, 22 July 2007 11:53 pm :: http://willisweaver1.wordpress.com

Have enjoyed perusing your lists - here is a compilation from my List of Books Read 2007 - book no. 61 which I have just started will be A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes - Book Group selection for our meeting this Thursday.

51. Armstrong, Lance, with Sally Jenkins, It’s Not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life, Yellow Jersey Press, London, 294 pp Purchased in Oxfam, Dundrum, Feb. 20, 2007, Euro 4 this was a good book – enjoyed partly because of James’s interest in cycling and also because of his friend Christian’s battle with cancer

52. Ishiguro, Kazuo, An Artist of the Floating World, faber and faber, 1987, first published 1986, 206 pp Purchased with credit in the Book Exchange, Dalkey, May 11, 2006, Euro 2 a very good book, very thought provoking and atmospheric, slow paced, crafted

53. Rayner, Claire, Flanders, The Poppy Chronicles II, Sphere, 1989, first published by Weidenfield & Nicholson, 1988, 309 pp purchased in the Oxfam Shop, Llandrindod Wells,. Wales, June 2007, £0.99 a good book but an easy read

54. Petterson, Per, Out Stealing Horses, translated by Anne Born, Vintage 2006, copyright 2003, 264 pp purchased in Redmond’s, Dundrum, July, 2007, Euro 10.99 finished reading this 24 hours later – a wonderful book – the Book Group’s choice for September 2007

55. Severin, Tim, In Search of Moby Dick, Abacus, 2000, Little Brown, 1999, ills., 237 pp Purchased in the Book Exchange, Dalkey, January 2007, Euro 6 (credit) a most interesting book – read this just at the time of the sailing of the Sea Stallion

56. O’Brian, Patrick, The Letter of Marque, Harper Collins paperback, 2003, first published by Collins, 1988, 281 pp purchased in the Book Exchange (?), May (?) 2007, Euro 11 good, just plain good

57. Armstrong, Lance, with Sally Jenkins, Every Second Counts, Yellow Jersey Press, London, 2004, first published by Doubleday, 2003, 246 pp purchased in Vatros Bookshop, Llandrindod Wells, Wales, June 2007, £8.50 a lot of this I had read already in his first book It’s Not About the Bike but it was still good – it was written after he won his 5th Tour de France – he subsequently went on to win 2 more

58. Kennard, David, A Shepherd’s Watch, Headline, 2005, 2004, ills., 344 pp purchased in Vatros Bookshop, Llandrindod Wells, Wales, June 2007, £7.99 a very enjoyable book

59. Davis-Goff, Annabel, Walled Gardens, Scenes from an Anglo-Irish Childhood, Picador, 1991, first published by Barrie & Jenkins, 1990, ills., 255 pp Purchased in the Concern Charity Shop, Dundrum, Nov. 2004, Euro 1 – finally read this July 2007 – well worth reading, lots of observations and insight on Anglo-Irishness, concluding section linking New England history and her family in Ireland

60. Matthee, Dalene, Circles in a Forest, Penguin, 1985, first published in South Africa 1984, 368 pp I have had this for a long time and I think I got it in Vartry Books finally read it July 2007 and enjoyed it very much


2. Emperorp left...
Wednesday, 25 July 2007 9:27 pm

Janet, Isn't it fun to read other people's reading lists ? :) I was particularly struck to see Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson on your list and that you enjoyed it. It has been on my mind since I read about it in a clipping Ian sent from The Irish Times. I've subsequently heard about it from a couple of other sources too. I see myself reading it in the not too distant future. Lance Armstrongs books are also on my reading radar, for the same reasons as you really. It's always more compelling to read something when there is a personal connection-like James and Christian. I also loved reading the details of where and when you bought them, etc...I also thought of you tonight when speaking with my friend Linda. Her son recently worked with Ivan Doig, who recorded some nature clips for the nature radio program that he works on. I'm a little fuzzy on the details but understand that there is a website link where they can be heard. Linda will pass it on to me and then I'll send the link to you. (Linda loves Ivan Doig's work too.)