Hi everyone. I hope you are enjoying your summer immensely. I’ve been supervising a lot of this:
And cracking up at this sort of thing:
And introducing Cormac to new adventures:
And generally feeling very busy.
And what have I been reading lately? Well, I wrote a review of Vanessa Blakeslee’s short story collection Train Shots, which you can find here. Also:
- Anthony Trollope’s Can You Forgive Her, which was satisfying long and great.
- Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, which was a reread for me, although my first read was decades ago, so it was practically new. I loved it. Both the Christies I’ve read in the last few years have been fabulous.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, which I liked very much. It felt very … shall we say … loosely structured, but still, the story was good and the commentary on American and Nigerian cultures interesting.
- Erle Stanley Gardner’s The Case of the Glamorous Ghost, a Perry Mason novel which was just okay, kind of formulaic.
- Iris Owens’s After Claude, which was darkly, satirically funny and sad at the same time.
- Justin Hocking’s The Great Floodgates of the Wonder World, a memoir about surfing and Moby Dick. I liked it, even though those aren’t subjects I’m particularly interested in. Hocking makes them interesting.
- Richard Yates’s Revolutionary Road on audio, which was devastating. In a good way.
I hope your summer has been full of good books too!
So nice to hear from you. Busy, busy, busy, that’s what summer is all about.
Me too, I am busy — but mostly from work, and then from being tired AFTER work. Tonight I only had time for a sort of “summary” of what I have read lately, much as you have done here. I get it. I get it.
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Summaries of responses to books are great and the busy blogger’s best friend, right?
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I heartily concur!
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And Then There Were None is my favourite Agatha Christie book, I recently read Hickory Dickory Dock after many years and thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Well, I’ll have to give that one a try! I’m certainly ready to read more Christie now.
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Been busy? 🙂 Anyone with a toddler stays busy!
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True. Very true. 🙂
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I was just thinking about you the other day! Cormac is getting so big and is as adorable as ever.
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Thank you! I’m not going to argue with anyone who calls him adorable! 🙂
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So glad you are still alive and well. The Bears were ecstatic to see pictures of their baby – except he isn’t a baby any longer is he? Where does the time go to? Have you managed to get moved yet or is that still an ongoing project?
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He’s definitely a toddler now. Unbelievable! Yes, we moved, and that’s part of why I’ve been so silent here. Moving is such a ridiculous amount of work. Plus moving with a toddler and a new puppy. Insane.
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Yes, we noticed the puppy. What’s his/her name?
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He’s Finnegan, and we’ve taken to calling him Finn. He’s a great dog, except for the fact that he tore apart one of my favorite shoes today….
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Ah well, The Bears would tell you that this is one of the perils of having a dog and the major reason I’m not allowed one – although it’s not my shoes they’re worried about 😉
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Nice to hear from you. Good for you to have managed to read that much with a toddler at home!
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The toddler is an amazing sleeper, thank God, so I have most evenings to myself to read for a couple hours. It’s lovely and it keeps me sane. Plus I listen to audio books whenever I can, and that helps.
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Wow–look how big he is! And what a cutie! I see you have a new dog, too. It looks like you are having a really good summer which I am happy to see! I want to read Armericanah, too, and the Yates…. Hope all is well with you otherwise. I miss reading your posts more often but hopefully you’ll keep us updated on your reading and share more photos of Cormac. I see he likes books, too! 🙂
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We got a puppy about a week after moving to our new house, which was … crazy. And today he just ate a shoe of mine. Sigh. But yes, we are having a good summer and all is well. I hope to post more — I miss blogging! Cormac likes books, but not necessarily sitting still and reading them 🙂 He likes to move them around, throw them, open and close them. Eventually he will enjoy reading them I’m sure! I hope you are doing well.
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