Skip to main content

Melting Reading Watching

Sunset from the deck

Want to know the best way to bring on a heat wave? Blog about the lovely summer weather you are experiencing...

Melting

A week of heat is just breaking here and I've fallen back out of love with summer. I think I may need to move Iceland if I have any hope of truly embracing the season. 

The good thing about being locked up in one's house for a week, fans carefully organized around oneself, air conditioning blasting, is that you get a lot of reading done. Since this is the year that I'm working on becoming a better writer, I've been reading more. I credit the fact that I can write to my insatiable reading habit. If you read any book about the art of writing, reading is usually touted as one of the ways to become a better writer. I patiently explain this concept to my husband and daughter whenever they find me in the middle of the day, draped over a couch, iced tea in hand, reading (instead of doing laundry or making their lunch). I'm working I announce. And I'm working exceptionally hard lately. I finished three books last week alone.

Heating and Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly

Reading

In the hopes that you are also whiling away the summer reading (I mean working.), here's what I've been loving lately:

Heating and Cooling by Beth Anne Fennelly

My blog pal, Nicole, recommended the book and I loved the cover (yes, I DO judge a book by it's cover) so I got it from my library. Absolutely loved it. I realized: 1) I love micro-fiction and 2) I really love to read memoirs by my fellow Gen-Xers. Seriously-we of the "sandwich generation" need to stick together. And while we're talking about Nicole be sure to read her post, Cart Karma. She's a great writer. Probably because she reads so many books!

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

I became a fan of Emily St. John Mandel when I read Station Eleven. I read it way before a real pandemic was anything I thought I would live through. I loved the book, thought it was dystopian literature (That would NEVER happen in real life!), then went on with my life. Needless to say, I thought about it often as the pandemic wore on.

Next I picked up The Glass Hotel. I loved it too. Her ability to bring seemingly disparate characters and story lines together once again amazed me and now she's pulled it off again with Sea of Tranquility. It's another pandemic book but there's time travel and she even pulls in a character or two from her previous novels and inserts self as a character who is an author, who once wrote a pandemic book, and then had it regain popularity once a real pandemic hit. While the book can absolutely stand alone, I think fans like me feel  she left those little breadcrumbs just for us.

Lovely Dark Deep by Joyce Carol Oates

Summers are made for short stories. I always forget how much I adore reading short stories. There's something about reading them, as though you were dropped into the middle of a novel or (if the author is good enough) into someone's life just for a bit. Lovely Dark Deep is filled with Oates' usual gothic undertones.

Streaming

When I'm not reading, I'm exploring Apple+ streaming. We got a free trial and I'm enjoying a few new shows. It counts towards my "work" because Apple+ seems to adapt a lot of their shows from books. (just nod your head in agreement.) Here's what I'm watching:

The Essex Serpent I LOVED the book by Sarah Perry (See? WORKING!) and the series was an excellent adaptation. All dark and mysterious, cold and damp. Gives me chills for those hot summer days.

Physical So many 1980s memories! When I was in my early years of high school and thought I was fat (oh to be that 'fat' again), I would work out every morning by watching The 20 Minute Workout. I think of those days every time I watch the series. The costumes, hair, and sets are pure early 1980s. Sadly, I may also be thinking of those days because that's pretty much when I started hating my body. And that's really what the show is about-a look at how women mix-up health, appearance, food, and life satisfaction into one big, heaping mess.

Servant M. Knight Shyamalan's thriller series. I think about this show a lot and can't wait to finish it. I like that everything has a reasonable explanation but there's just a little undercurrent of creepy supernatural there too. I've only watched the first season so far, so don't ruin it for me.

So that's how I am spending my summer. What are you reading or watching? Remember to keep your recommendations bookish. It helps me convince myself I'm working.



 





Labels:

Comments

  1. MG Doodle StudioAugust 2, 2022 at 11:59 AM

    I love this post! Reading is one of the best things in life. I just finished "Of Mutts and Men" by Spencer Quinn. I love, love, love the Chet and Bernie mystery series. It may be too fun to be considered as work though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laura BrayAugust 9, 2022 at 8:54 AM

      I just looked up the Chet and Bernie series-how cute! A dog and his human solving mysteries!

      Delete
  2. SarahAugust 3, 2022 at 1:11 PM

    I also put Heating and Cooling on my list after Nicole recommended it - I've read Station Eleven, and your review makes me want to read Emily St. John Mandel's other books too. I'm usually a big summer fan, but this year it has been oppressive with all the heat waves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousAugust 9, 2022 at 8:55 AM

      Heating and Cooling is the best. And I loved Emily St. John Mandel's other books as well.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousAugust 3, 2022 at 4:38 PM

    Despite being a book hoarder I'm terrible about reading consistently. I wish I came across more books that make me want to drop everything and read. I can't force myself to read something that I feel meh about. To be fair those books I'm hoarding are still waiting for me to to give them a shot. I did like The Glass Hotel. I couldn't get into Station Eleven though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dana BarbieriAugust 3, 2022 at 4:38 PM

      That's my comment above.

      Delete
    2. Laura BrayAugust 9, 2022 at 8:56 AM

      If you liked The Glass Hotel, I think you would enjoy Sea of Tranquility. A few of the characters from The Glass Hotel. It's a short read too.

      Delete
  4. NicoleAugust 3, 2022 at 5:55 PM

    Laura, thank you so much for your kind words! And I am so happy you enjoyed Heating and Cooling. It was such a wonderful read and the author is so talented (as are YOU!). I like the thought of reading as work - I agree that a good writer is also a big reader.

    Your heat wave would make this Canadian flower wilt. I think you should come to Calgary - I don't know if it has ever once been 100 degrees, let alone DAYS in a row of 100 degrees!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laura BrayAugust 9, 2022 at 8:57 AM

      Packing my bags now. My husband (and therefore my daughter as well) are Canadian citizens. Do you think they would consider sponsoring me?

      Delete
  5. SueAugust 5, 2022 at 7:18 PM

    It's hard to explain the joy of a good book to a non-reader. I suppose that begs the question...why would I even hang out with a non-reader, but that's for another day. :) What a fun post. I love all your recommendations and will check them out.
    More heat coming this weekend. Iceland is looking good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousAugust 9, 2022 at 8:58 AM

      I am often surprised by how many people say they don't read!

      Delete
  6. Little Dorrit does...August 7, 2022 at 7:19 AM

    I'm having a reading renaissance. I was a card-carrying bookworm throughout my childhood and early twenties, and then parenthood, work, and a self-imposed book-buying moratorium (I struggle to get rid of books and was running out of room on my wall-to-wall shelves) put a serious dent in my reading habit for a couple of decades. I took early retirement 18 months ago, rejoined the local library, and am once again experiencing the joy of losing myself in a book for an hour or three at a time. Recently discovered Catherine Chidgey - started with 'The Wish Child', went on to 'Golden Deeds', and have 'In A Fishbone Church' and 'The Transformation' on order. I can't quite put my finger on why I like her so - maybe it's the unusual perspectives she writes from, or maybe she's just a Really Good Writer - definitely worth a try if you haven't already encountered her.
    I also hate (HATE!) summer heat, but do love the long, light evenings, wandering around the garden with my watering can, eating raspberries straight from the bush!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laura BrayAugust 9, 2022 at 9:00 AM

      I looked up Catherine Chidgey and her books sound really interesting. I'm putting a few on my list! Thanks for the recommendation.

      Delete
  7. Michele FawcettAugust 8, 2022 at 12:02 PM

    There is a quote I always reference that said a writer is working when staring out the window. The truth is I have often sat with my eyes closed only to then jump up (well, stand with great enthusiasm) and begin writing or creating. We need that spaciousness for the worlds to be created don't you think?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laura BrayAugust 9, 2022 at 9:02 AM

      I do think we need quiet time in order for our creative muse to find us. It's so easy to get distracted these days. Lately, I've been trying to spend more time being bored. Like you said, it usually ends up being just the thing I need to jump start my creativity.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Building a Cookbook Library

I collect cookbooks.  I know I could look-up just about any recipe online, but I can't give up my cookbooks. I love sitting down with a stack of cookbooks and planning a holiday meal or dinner party. Sometimes, if I'm feeling bored or anxious, I'll pull a favorite cookbook off the shelf and just read it. I love the photos. I love to daydream about making the dishes. Sometimes they inspire me so much I get up and bake something. To me, cookbooks are so much better than cooking blogs. Is it just me or have they gotten impossible to navigate? First there's the pop-up ads that always seem to crash the website at the very moment I'm rushing to check how long the brownies are supposed to bake. By the time I reload the website, I have burnt bricks of chocolate. I also hate the long, drawn-out stories before I get to the actual recipe. Don't get me wrong. I love a good story behind a recipe. Heck, when I share my recipes, I usually give you a story. What I hate about mo...
20 comments
Read more

On gardening, reading, and dreaming

Yesterday was a spectacular spring day. After getting dumped on with a late snow in mid-April, and then days and days of cold wet rain, the sun and 70-degree weather was a welcome respite.  Gardening We headed into the garden early, just after breakfast, with carrot, radish, and lettuce seeds in hand. All cool weather crops, we usually have luck planting them early. If all goes well, we’ll be eating from our garden in mid to late May. The rest of our plantings will have to wait until Mother’s Day weekend or later, when the chance of frost is long past.  Cooking As we poked around the garden, we were able to harvest some kale and parsley which somehow survived the winter. To celebrate, I made a big bowl of tabbouleh which will take care of a few lunches this week and made creamed kale to go with the shrimp and grits my husband made for dinner last night. I don’t know why I feel so much happier when I’m eating food directly from my garden, but I do. I know it’s all in my head, ...
18 comments
Read more

A Year of Food Memoir

  Last year, when I decided to turn my creative attention to writing memoir, I knew I had to read it as well as write it . Looking at my reading journal, it looks like I read over twelve memoirs, each bringing me a different view on not only life, but also how to write one's personal story.  This year, I'm turning my attention to food memoir. If you have spent any time reading my old blog , you know that I love to cook and I've played with the idea of writing a cookbook or a food memoir for a long time so I thought it might be fun to read food memoirs and cookbooks this year to get inspired and learn how authors share their lives through food. Looking at my shelves, I realize that this interest isn't new to me. There's Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, who single-handedly ruined going out to eat for me. Isabelle Allende's Aphrodite is one of the most sensual books about food I've ever read. MFK Fischer's description of eating an orange that sa...
11 comments
Read more

Witcherature

  There I was in my family’s half-finished basement, surrounded by my friends. It was the mid-1970s at the end of October, in a small town in Ohio and my mom was throwing me an epic Halloween party. We had just finished a game where we sat in a circle on the old rug that barely protected our bottoms from the cold linoleum basement floor. My mom started telling us a scary story that involved body parts and, as the story went along, she would pass the ‘body parts” around the circle. It was pitch dark in the room and we could only use our hands, not our eyes. Ice cold hands (water that had been frozen in rubber gloves, a heart (peeled tomato), and eyes (peeled grapes) were solemnly passed around. My friends and I were around eight years old at the time, so we tried to laugh off our fear, tried to remind ourselves it wasn’t really body parts that were being passed around, but I think we were all relieved when the story was over, the lights turned on, and cupcakes started getting passed...
2 comments
Read more

How to Stay Friends without Social Media

How do you stay in touch with people once you leave social media? This one of the main concerns I hear from people when they find out that I’ve quit social media. To be truthful, you will fall out of touch with some people. But you know, that’s not always a bad thing. At least it wasn’t for me. According to anthropologist Robin Dunbar, the number of people humans can sustain relationships with is 150. He based this number (called Dunbar’s Number ) on the size of the human brain. The thesis is that primates are wired to be in group sizes that will assist with survival. While there are arguments about the validity of this theory, I know I feel stressed-out when I have too many relationships going on and not enough time to nurture them.   Being a good wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend is very important to me. It brings me joy to take care of the people I love. I cook for them, check-in on them regularly, and give them my focused attention when I am with them. But I mus...
12 comments
Read more

The Garden Through the Years-June

This is our sixth year gardening. It's been a journey, every year we learn a little more. The garden has not only taught us how to grow plants, but also how to have patience and hope. It's taught me the healing power of nature. It has helped my husband and I grow our marriage through planning the garden and working side by side. It's inspired me creatively. Every year, I usually share a monthly update of my garden during the summer months. I'll continue the tradition this year, but I am also planning to share the garden's growth over the past six years. I'll show you what it looked like each month over the years. We started our garden in 2017, about 10 months after we moved to the Pacific Northwest.  My husband built our raised beds and we put up temporary fencing around the perimeter to keep the deer out. It was cumbersome to get in and out of the garden and it didn't deter the deer or the bunnies. They found a way in regardless. We grew tomatoes (too many)...
24 comments
Read more

A Slow Holiday Season

It is Christmastime at our house. We have pulled our trees and ornaments out of storage just in time for the darkest days of the year. It is an unusually wet season (even by Pacific Northwest standards) and most days it seems the sky is under a large piece of dark gray flannel. The sparkling fairy lights strewn over the mantel and the lights of the tree illuminate the house in a way that lamps cannot. The light fades just as I leave to pick-up my daughter from school. Before I go, I walk through the house, lighting the trees and all the fairy lights. It is a small, festive way to welcome her home from a wet day out in the world. When we get home, I make a simple snack. Apples and peanut butter, cheese and crackers, or, for a special treat, hot cocoa and popcorn. We sometimes turn on the gas fireplace.  We settle under quilts my mother-in-law made and watch Dash and Lily on Netflix . It is our second year watching it. We greedily look at the dreamy holiday interiors.The holiday soun...
4 comments
Read more

The Seed Library

I am standing in front of the old, wooden card catalog of the Washougal Library and am reminded of the card catalogs of my past. The first was in my elementary school library where we learned how to look up books using the Dewey Decimal System. I remember the sound the drawers made as I slowly and carefully pulled them out-a quiet creak of wood in a silent library. Then the smell would fill the air. It was the smell of old paper and the typewriter ink the librarian used to carefully catalog the books.             Now, I look up my books on a computer but today I am, once again, standing in front of the card catalog. I pull out the drawer and am surprised that the sound and the smell are still there, even though I am standing in a library 2,455 miles away from the one in my memory. The drawer no longer holds cards listing a multitude of books to be read, instead it holds small packets of seeds.      ...
13 comments
Read more

The Top Five Posts of 2022

  A favorite family cookie cutter.                                          It snowed just before Christmas, then we got freezing rain. You too?   Me on Christmas Day   My daughter and I love to go to our old, downtown theater to see Christmas movies from the 1940s. Before we start the new year, I wanted to take some time to say goodbye to 2022. While I don't get hung up on checking my blog statistics, I do like to see what your favorite posts were and then maybe refine what I will write in the next year. So are you ready to see what the top posts of last year were? Top 5 Posts of 2022 5. Roasted Tomatoes and An Empty Nest   Well, it seems many of you are in the same boat I am, slowly counting down our days to an empty nest and dealing with all the feelings that come with sen...
7 comments
Read more

Tuesdays are for Writing

I was thinking about how much I enjoy reading about other people’s days. Do you? I hope so, because I’m going to share some of my days with you over the next few weeks. We’ll start with Tuesdays since they are my favorite day of the week. I set Tuesdays aside to write most of the day. No loads of laundry. No errands. Morning The day starts like all my days lately. I wake up at 7:00am. My husband brings me a coffee in bed while a journal for 30 minutes. I recently started setting a timer for my morning journaling because I could spend hours going round and round on the page, ruminating. By setting a timer, I get what I need to release out, but don’t circle down the drain. After that, I get up and immediately go and exercise for 20 minutes. Right now, I’m loving Pahla B’s workouts. They are quick and meant to be for 50+ women. After the workout, I do a 10-minute mediation and am ready to start to my day. I dress and shower and then head to breakfast. Breakfast is the only meal I...
18 comments
Read more