reading — Page 76

Reading Rules, Frigid Weather & Sick Husband Update

January 24, 2013 at 9:21 am by Claudia

coldriver

May I say one thing?

It’s friggin’ cold here!

Yesterday I had to run an errand or two and I thought I just might be walking around with a frozen face. I wondered if everyone was looking at me and thinking, “Poor girl, her face is totally frozen…how sad.” Right before I left to run those errands, Scout had been hopeful that my putting on my coat meant she might get a walk, so when I came back home I figured I would walk her around the property. Let me tell you, that was the fastest walk we’ve ever taken. I couldn’t wait to get back in the house.

Too cold.

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A curious thing has been happening. I think I will now call it a ‘rule’ of my reading life. I often reserve books through our library’s loan system. We have a little branch here in town but the loan system covers several counties. I put three popular books on reserve quite a long time ago – I’m talking months.

A Wanted Man by Lee Child: On the waiting list for a few months. I finally broke down and asked for it for my birthday. Received the present on November 21st. A week later, I got a notice from the library that the book was on hold for me at my local branch.

Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young: Don’s a big fan of Neil Young and we had talked about how much he’d like to read this book. I signed up for the waiting list a few months back. Nothing. So I gave it to Don for Christmas. A week later, I received a notice saying the book was on hold for me at my local branch.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: On the waiting list for the longest span of time. Figured I’d never get it. Broke down and bought it last week. This morning I received an email from my library saying it was in the library waiting for me.

You see? This is the rule: If I want the book I’ve reserved to appear on my local library’s Hold shelf, I have to buy it first.

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Don is still sick. For some boneheaded reason, the theater doesn’t have understudies during the main season, only when the Shakespeare Rep is going on over the summer. This decision was apparently made several years ago. When I worked there, the MFA students routinely understudied all roles throughout the year. There are MFA students in the cast of Pygmalion. So on Sunday when he came down with the flu, the theater had to cancel two performances. Don’t get me started on that. Why a huge theater doesn’t ensure that a performance can go on if an actor is sick is beyond me. No actor should have to feel guilty about being ill.

On Tuesday, the powers-that-be decided to rehearse one of the MFA students in the role, just in case. Don was sick but prepared to go on but those same administrators thought he should take one more night off and see a doctor the next day. The MFA student performed that night, script in hand. (Audiences usually love that sort of thing and they cheer the understudy on.) Don went to the doctor yesterday where it was confirmed that he had the bad strain of flu that is going around. (Don calls and says: I’ve officially got the flu. Says me: We already knew that.) He’s been on antibiotics since Sunday and the doctor gave him some Tamiflu yesterday. He went on last night.

He’s getting better, slowly but surely, but he says this is the worst flu he can ever remember having.

For those of you who are also dealing with this deep freeze, stay warm. I’ve been taking a break from quilting to crochet some scarves, but I may go back to quilting today just to have those three extra layers on my lap!

Happy Thursday.

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What are you Reading??

July 14, 2012 at 8:15 am by Claudia

Reading a book = almost the best thing ever.

I’ve been an avid reader since childhood. Nothing seemed as exciting to me as cracking open a new-to-me book from the bookmobile (which stopped at my elementary school parking lot every Thursday.) Or, be still my heart, a pile of Scholastic Books that were ordered just for me through my school. My very own books!

I have a regular feature on my sidebar that shows what I’m currently reading and what I’ve just finished reading, because I think you might like to know about that. I love to hear what others are reading; it tells me a lot about that person and, bonus, I just might find something I haven’t heard about and would love to try for myself.

Reading is always an escape for me, unless it is the kind of reading you have to do for classes and homework which is not an escape. At this moment in my life, I really need an escape, so I grabbed some Daniel Silva thriller/espionage books from my local library. That magazine you see under the book is called Secondhand Treasures – all about collecting and vintage and flea markets – and is one of those special editions that cost too much money. What was I thinking? Escape.

So tell me on this Saturday: What are you reading?

Mail Order Book Clubs: Are They Still Out There?

June 28, 2012 at 7:55 am by Claudia

Love the late afternoon sun shining through the plants on the porch. I managed to make my way out of my chair to take this picture yesterday afternoon. I’m having a hard time, my friends. Riley can barely walk, which means I have to lift him all the time – all 60 pounds of him. Even though my back went out yesterday, I still have to tend to Riley because Don is away. I’m in pain, Riley’s in pain; it’s not a pretty picture here at MHC. Scout, as evidenced by the brief video I posted yesterday and which is now deleted because my blog disappeared for an hour this morning and I’m deleting anything questionable!!!, is back to her feisty, funny self.

Whatever your own particular method of meditation or prayer, will you send some thoughts our way? I so want Riley to improve a bit, as he has drastically worsened ever since Monday, when I had to be away for several hours. I need healing so that I can take care of him. I’d so appreciate a shot of your positive energy sent across the miles to our little cottage.

And now, on to another topic. Remember this book that I found on Monday in that marvelous used book shop? I’ve always loved mysteries and in my early teenage years, Mary Stewart’s romantic suspense novels were my favorites. I read and re-read each one of them. Her heroines were British ladies who were intelligent and sexy in that understated, cool British way and they smoked because that was the accepted thing to do in those days before pesky government warnings. Stewart was a wonderful writer; snappy dialogue, beautiful and detailed descriptions of the setting, and a great plot. She’s still alive, by the way. She’ll turn 96 this year. This Rough Magic takes place on Corfu and Stewart’s vivid descriptions of the island make me want to hop on a plane and go there. Now.

On the inside of the cover: Book Club Edition. I believe my original copy was a book club edition. Do you remember book clubs? Are they still out there? I bought a lot of my books through book clubs because they were extremely affordable and I could keep up with all the newly published books out there in those days before I was able to drive to a bookstore on my own. If I had any babysitting money in my hands, it went to books and records. Certainly, this was well before the Internet made book buying fairly easy, before mega bookstores pushed out independent booksellers and well before e-readers came along. The landscape has changed dramatically. I am still a fan of the actual book; the kind you can hold in your hand, with pages you can turn and paper you can feel.

I know there were a lot of book clubs out there. Many of them were specialty book clubs – science fiction, mystery, cooking. I belonged to The Literary Guild and The Book of the Month Club. It was a big deal for a book to be chosen as the Book of the Month. Then there were Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. They were very popular, though the purist in me doesn’t like the idea of ‘condensing’ a book. If I were the author, I surely wouldn’t like it. There was a book club for every literary taste.

Here’s my question: Did you belong to a book club? Are there any more book clubs in existence? Or have they gone the way of the dinosaur?

Happy Thursday.

Reading Rules, Frigid Weather & Sick Husband Update

What are you Reading??

Mail Order Book Clubs: Are They Still Out There?

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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