Yesterday, June 9th, I sat and read under this little piece of sky–one of those skies that appeared still, the clouds unmoving.
It looks like a sky that might be over you at the beach or in a meadow where you might be ripping a piece of baguette to go with a piece of brie.
But no. I was sitting against the cement wall of a car lot, as the beepbeep of locking and unlocking went on all around me, as cars arrived and departed. My car was being serviced, and I was finishing The Vagrants.
I know it seems like I’ve been reading The Northern Clemency and The Writer’s Notebook for a looong time, but I’ve had to interrupt my reading twice for two other books, The Earth Hums in B Flat because of a review deadline and The Vagrants because of a chat deadline.
So I’m happy to be back to only two books. I wonder where I’ll find myself reading today.
Where are you reading today, and what?
Sounds like you created a lovely haven for yourself in a parking lot!Usually I sneak in my reading time after hours…and then I’m exhausted the next day! But, it’s worth it. I’m reading the Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. Very interesting – are you familiar with it?
Yes, usually my reading is at night as well. Somehow it feels decadent during the day unless I am trapped somewhere waiting for something. I had not heard of the Gargoyle but just googled it–sounds way out there. Do you like it?
It got so much fanfare here in Canada. Before it was even published it was compared The Name of the Rose and Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient. He also received one of the largest advancements ever given. I was curious of course, but when I began it, I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish the book. I didn’t even know why I had begun it, yet I hing on. Now, I cannot put it down. The beginning is crude description (the narrator being a coke addicted porn star/producer who suffers severe burn damage – sounds lovely, doesn’t it??) But turns out to be a beautifully rendered romance. It would not call it fantasy, perhaps I would put it in the same category as the Time Traveler’s Wife and Never Let Me Go (two of my favorite books, and also happens to be the group I would throw my first novel in with:)
Thanks, I’ve added The Gargoyle to my list!
One of the books I’m reading right now is very heavy – an art book, one of those huge, coffee-table-sized tomes. Reading it is really making me conscious of the places in which I read, since many of them (the office, the bus stop, the park, the doctor’s office) don’t really accommodate such an unwieldy volume. It makes me realize how many little bite-sized portions of reading I sneak in during a normal day.
I love to see people reading as they go about their day, sneaking in those “bite-sized portions of reading.” I’m always turning my head upside down trying to see what they’re reading. So are you lugging the art book around with you?
Oh, heavens no; I’m interspersing other books as my “travel” reading, and just picking up the art book at home on the couch. Kinder to my back!
Darn, I’ve been visualizing the art book at the bus stop!
I tend to have several books going at once. Not because of my love of reading, but because I’m lazy. I have a book in every area of my house. By my bed is Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picouli. In my car is Sin and Syntax by Constance Hale. On my coffee table is The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, and on my favorite chair is She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb.
Now if I misspelled any names or titles it’s because I’m too lazy to get up and look at them
I used to do that too–have different books in different places, but it started to make me feel scattered, and out of control. So, at least for the moment, I carry them from my chair, to the bed, and back downstairs again.
Oh, and The Bean Trees–I loved that book!
I was reading Mystery and Manners by Flannery O’Connor, but then I started Oral History by Lee Smith. And I had The Pact by Jodi Picoult from the library, but had to return it unread.
More books than time.
“More books than time.” Isn’t that the truth?
I’m reading Jodi Lisberger’s book Remember Love and hoping to sit on my sunny deck later to take in each short story. I’m also reading another book on teaching composition
A sunny deck sounds perfect for Sunday. We have rain here.
I had never heard of Remember Love or Jody Lisberger, but I just checked it out. A first book–a collection of stories. It looks wonderful.