I was very sensible this year, and took only 5 books along on vacation. To my horror, I read only one. I can't remember the last time I read only one book in that long a time! It's the knitting, I tell you -- it's ruining me as a reader.
What, you ask breathlessly, was the lucky book? It's a book I'd read before but didn't remember completely: The Year of Pleasures, by Elizabeth Berg. (Sounds like it should be soft porn, but it's nothing of the sort.) I like her work a lot; this one is not the book I remembered and thought I had with me, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
What did I intend to read? Well, War and Peace, and Nicholas Nickleby, of course! Because those are always on my list, even though I let them stay home this year. And To Kill a Mockingbird, which I last read over 40 years ago. That stayed home, too, by mistake. I treated myself to Ann Patchett's new book, State of Wonder, after Maureen Corrigan waxed rhapsodic over it on NPR, and even that never got out of the crate. I plan to start that one tonight.
Everybody else? What are you reading (or planning to read) in the vacation frame of mind? It doesn't have to be "respectable."
Next on my list in hopes of getting slightly more respectable after indulging the guilty pleasure of a complete Harry Potter re-read this spring are Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand and Kim by Rudyard Kipling (both to be accompanied by heat, humidity, and gin and tonics for the proper ambiance). Also, more in the beach reading vein, Bloodroot by Amy Greene. My office just moved to within walking distance of the Harvest Book Outlet two weeks ago, so no doubt I will soon find many others to add to my pile!
ReplyDeleteI'm taking "Life" by Keith Richards to Vermont in August. Debating what else to take.....
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