More Words...

Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons,
It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth.

--Song of the Open Road, Walt Whitman

via Bean

If you have time to read the whole poem, I highly suggest it. Definitely a spirit-lifter.

Words I Need to Remember

"At the worst, a house unkept cannot be so distressing as a life unlived."--Rose Macaulay, via The Writer's Almanac, August 1.

Mini Book Reviews

The Long Embrace? Ugh! Let me go! I read about twenty pages and it was laughably bad. Maybe I should have given it a little longer, but I have little time left in my summer reading season before school kicks in. It will be shoved into a book shelf until I have one of those "I have nothing to read" days.

Rabbit, Run? This one has me so thoroughly sucked in. It's a struggle for me to put down this book at night when it's time for bed. The characters are not particularly likable, but they are real. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series but I think I'll take a little break and hit something else on my list first. Probably a little Moomin (I can review this one already...brilliant! Fantastic! The illustrations are amazing!) followed by The Time Traveler's Wife...

Summer Reading

From top to bottom: One Hundred Years of Solitude--Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Rose Garden--Maeve Brennan
Becoming a Writer--Dorthea Brande
New Moon--Stephanie Meyer
Rabbit, Run and Rabbit Redux--John Updike
The Time Traveler's Wife--Audrey Niffenegger
Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip, Vol. 4--Tove Jansson
(not pictured, as it is in transit) The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved--Judith Freeman
(also not pictured, as it was forgotten) In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed--Carl Honore

My stack is tall, but what has been actually read so far is more along the lines of the short stack.

One Hundred Years...I read this book about a dozen years ago and about all I remembered was that I liked it well enough. I never kept the names of the characters straight but that doesn't feel wrong. It's a very dreamlike book so I felt fine floating on through. The last 50 pages are worth the price of admission, to be sure.

The Rose Garden...I've stammered and stalled with this one. It's a collection of short stories and I think I've started the second one three times now. On the New Yorker Fiction podcast in December (if I remember rightly), I heard a brilliant story authored by Brennan. I think I just need to get in the mood for snooty wealthy folks.

Becoming a Writer...Ummm...it's a dream I've had since about 3rd grade but I'm lacking on the talent side. I ordered this online and now that I've done a quick flip through I think I may have owned this about 25 years ago, the last time I thought seriously about writing. Ha ha.

New Moon...I thought Twilight was mediocre (it all has to do with that "Becoming a Writer" thing; I feel I could do better). However, I decided to just go along for the ride (a nice, fluffy ride) and enjoy it. This book felt like a giant lead-up to the episode, which I'm sure I'll zoom through sometime this fall.

Rabbits...When Updike passed on while I was doing my research on women's roles in the mid-20th century, I realized these might be a fun read. They are coming along on vacation and I'm excited.

Time Traveler...I actually know nothing about this book but when I was seeing buzz about it in bloggyland, I wrote it down on my massive list of "to read". I hope to start and finish it before school starts (oh!).

Moomin...Can never go wrong with dear Moomin. I need to be more Moominmamma-like: unflappable, kind, and wise.

The Long Embrace...How am I going to get through all these books this summer?! I'm hoping this one arrives before vacation since I'd like to be able to switch it up with Updike. I adore Chandler and this has been on the aforementioned "to read" list for about a year and a half now. This sorta-kinda biography gets mixed reviews but I think I'll still like it.

Slowness...Hmmm...this book is not quite what I expected. I'm about 80% finished and it is the most breezily written book. It races along from snippet to snippet, which I find quite funny for a book about slowness. I was hoping for a book that was more about techniques for finding space in one's day. I guess every book can't be a winner, eh?

What are you reading? Can you add to my "to read" list?