There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away.
Emily Dickinson
Wrote half my new post this morning with a promise I'd finish it this afternoon. Got caught up in a book and I couldn't stop. I'm very excited.
Pleasure reading, my favorite past time, has escaped me for the past few months. When looking for a job, I couldn't concentrate. When working, my eyes ached at night and I couldn't bear the thought of opening a book. Went back to the days with young kids when I only managed three paragraphs at a time. Seemed each page weighed a ton as I turned it. You may have noticed, in my reading list I've been as far as EIGHT New Yorkers behind. Even the newspaper has eluded my daily repertoire.
Today, I became ensconced reading my first book by Doris Lessing, the Nobel Prize winner from last year. Hooked. What a lovely feeling.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday - I'll get back to that post about hanging sheets on the line. Much more interesting than job hunting, yet doesn't compare to a good read.
Please comment, and if you want, let me know what you are reading.
Which Doris Lessing book are you reading? What a joy to be lost in a book. My favorite past time as well. I'm reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. I'm not far into it, but I like it so far. Lisa See is the author of one of my all time favorite books - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Have you read it? I highly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteI have all kinds of trouble sitting down to read these days. If it's not one distraction it's another. I have at the top of my must-get list Christopher Buckley's book, Supreme Courtship. I heard it's fabulous and witty, which you know is right up my alley. I'll be getting ready for my NOLA daughter and my grandson to come stay with us for a month. She arrives on Wednesday, so I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! :)
ReplyDeletePam: The Sweetest Dream is the book. I have read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Very touching book of friendship. I think See has one out with Peoni in the title as well.
ReplyDeleteLiar: And you are fabulous and witty. Save it for me. Have fun with that grandson and daughter. Sounds very busy. Take a breath.
I was going to say I'm reading nothin but I got all excited about Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The history that that book offers, the insight, ugh, loved that book.
ReplyDeleteOK, ya, I'm reading nothin. Oh, oh, oh, blogs.
Same here... mostly blogs. I just finished a big Neil Gaiman marathon -- Coraline (didn't see the movie), American Gods and Neverwhere. Loved that one. Oh, and Twilight. Go ahead and throw the tomatoes at me everyone -- not a big fan of that one.
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad you won't be able to enter this contest, maybe the next. I'm sure I'll have another one just for the heck of it. Please do pass the word along to other romance and paranormal writers. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteLynnette Labelle
http://lynnettelabelle.blogspot.com
WITW- I hear you. Blog reading takes a great deal of time. And always want to give each writer his time due.
ReplyDeleteWendy - I can only imagine how many you've been reading. Your count now up to 600 some? Most impressive. You'll hve to let me now what you really think of that. And, no, you are not the only one I know who hasn't like the TWILIGHT books.
Lynnette: Romance and paranormal aren't my areas but I have heard they are huge. Massive audiences. Best of luck with your contest.
It's funny to me how blog reading has interfered with my life as a book whore. I ADORE reading, and have several books always at the ready on my beside table.
ReplyDeleteMine, however, are full of trashy, trashy, trashy trash. I love them....
i adore your pic.......
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling. I have been known to start a book, become so engrossed that I am out of contact until I reach the end. At the moment I am reading The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer. I highly recomend it. It is done in letter form which I didn't think I would like but it flows beautifully.
ReplyDeleteMargaret
Vodka Mom: What kind of trash. I like trash sometimes if it has really good smut. Especially in the summer.
ReplyDeleteMargaret: I've seen that book. Will add it to my list.
I'm taking note of all the books mentioned here... I've always loved a good read, but like you, with the job search and blogging and trying to get better with my photog, I find I have no time to sit down and luxuriate with a good book. I hope to remedy that soon!
ReplyDelete(The only thing I've read recently are photog books!)
Love the picture. I just watched "Indochine" with Catherine Deneuve. Thank God for Netflix... this picture is a scene right out of the movie. My children have been to Indonesia and Thailand several times, this also looks like their vacation photos. It makes me want to go, too.
ReplyDeleteI am cheating these days on my reading. For the umpteenth time I am reading/listening to "Eat, Pray, Love" to remind me... of a million things. I listen to the book in the car and my iPod when cleaning the kitchen, and read it at night before I go to bed.
I'm ready for that vacation now!
I totally understand what you say. That is one of the reasons why reading David Copperfield took me five months... I couldn't manage all, plus my studies, and all the books required to be read...
ReplyDeleteWhich book are you reading now? Because the author sounds pretty familiar to me...
Cool blog! Check out on mine: http://jazzqueen.blogspot.com
http://maryeastmacott.blogspot.com
http://everyday--stuff.blogspot.com
I find it hard to squeeze the "me time" in my daily routine as well. I'm so far behind, I'm still reading the 7th book in the Harry Potter series. Excellent reading. I'm also in the beginning of an oldie but goodie, The Joy Luck Club. I love that books can whisk you away into another world. They are great diversion from the hustle and bustle of every day life.
ReplyDeleteNothing compares to the comfort and joy of a good book. Besides Kat Magendie's Tender Graces, the book I loved best most recently is Twenty Chickens for a Saddle by Robyn Scott. It's a memoir about growing up in Africa told with such gentle humor and love that I hated coming to the end.
ReplyDeleteOh, I just know I would love you in person, the same way I adore you as a blogger. I, too, have periods where I neglect my reading...and then when I get back to it, I get to swoon all anew.
ReplyDeleteYour Dickinson quote--speaking of falling in love with writers--takes me to the book WHITE HEAT, which I read a few months ago. I am now all abuzz with her crazy genius. And I just finished THE BAD MOTHER by Ayelet Waldman and promptly had to loan it to my next-door-neighbor, who's currently trying not to throttle her preschooler.
Hey Julie...nice to meet :) Thanks for exposing yourself :) I hope it continues....
ReplyDeleteI'm not reading anything at the moment which is weird for me...life takes time at the moment and that's about it. Though I did receive an anthology of poems from Grandpa over at Word Mechanic. He's a brilliant writer....
Sounds familiar: read three paragraphs and fall asleep. I'm currently reading The Gate House by Nelson DeMille, my favorite author. He is a smart arse, go figure. I love everything he's written. I just hope I can pick up the pace as I borrowed it from the library and it's due back next weekend.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog. Reading eh! Where would we be withoutit. I find Doris Lessing a brilliant writer by hard going. Have you read "The Wind Blows away our Words." ? I am just about to start reading Anita Brookner's "Strangers" - I love her books and eagerly await each new one, then savour it for a while before I open it. Call again.
ReplyDeleteCurrently reading "John Henry Days" by Colson Whitehead. A brilliantly conceived riff on racial issues and the making of legend in America. It's a fun, engrossing read. But I'm like the rest of you -- too many distractions -- and I don't make as much progress as I would like.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog and becoming a follower! I am currently reading "Jesse's Girl" by Gary Morganstein. Gary contacted me by email and asked if I would be interested in reading and reviewing his book - and so far, it is an awesome read! I am planning to finish it today so a review should be coming soon. :)
ReplyDeleteJulie, I'm jealous! I'm so scattered these days, I can understand exactly what you mean by the pages feeling heavy.
ReplyDeleteThank you for leaving a follow up comment on the GM post.
Lately, all I read are Buddhist or psychology books, but I think I'd like to get back to pleasure reading. BTW, is that a pic of the Napali coast?
ReplyDeleteHello! First time on your blog after following Pam of Pam's Perspectives over....I'm sure I will be back. BTW, I am reading Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, a rather strange but very interesting book. Have you read it?
ReplyDeleteThe only time that I really get to read is when I go to bed. At the moment I am trying to catch up with my professional journals some of the time. How sad is that! I am also trying to read Eric Clapton's autobiography.
ReplyDeleteOh how I love to get lost in a book. And I do mean lost!
ReplyDeleteI love getting lost in a book. I am almost done with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Always have a stack of books on my night table, but rarely have enough time to get to all of them!
ReplyDeleteWhere is that photo??? Finished work yessterday and have a reading list a mile long for this summer. First up is A Thousdand Splendid Suns. I'm coming back to make note of some of the books in your comment thread.
ReplyDelete