Lost Weekend, the movie link
This past weekend, I was “cat sitting” … don’t ask.
The Cat Lady’s computer … has a processing system that would frustrate Job, so I was off the internet.
She is also one of the two dozen people left on the planet that only has the “basic cable” she gets for free from her community.
Therefore I had … no DVR … no Ted Turner Channel and not much going on PPS this month. I could not lose myself in my customary two hours of taped movies. I brought no crafts or crochet projects.
Just me, my WIP on a flash drive, three books, my Kindle and the cat. . No checking my two Etsy shops, reading or commenting on blogs … no Facebook or answering emails. Since most of us read to write, it was a most perfect lost weekend.
I started with a book I purchased from The Friends of the Library, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, by Amy Tan. I then moved on to a cozy mystery, Prime Cut, by Diane Mott Davidson. I also read half of two cozy mysteries on my Kindle which I got for free. They shall remain nameless. I ended the weekend with John Sanford’s book, Hidden Prey, a Lucas Davenport story.
Nothing compares to the feeling you get when you come to the last page and wish there were more.
My dad used to come into my room and find me reading at all hours of the night. He warned me that I’d never wake up on time for school if I didn’t get some sleep. I’d smile at the poor man. How could he know, I had three more chapters and sleep is so overrated?
Someone once sent me the Top 100 Books of All Time, published by the New York Times. I was embarrassed to admit that I had only read half of them.
Barns & Noble; Goodreads, and USA Today, also have Top 100 Books of All Time lists. The Times for instance, doesn’t usually include genre fiction.
Goodreads leans towards genre fiction. I must admit I’ve never gotten around to marking off all the books I’ve read on my Goodread’s page. Then I’ve read hundreds that are not on their site.
The Cat Lady has a book called, 1,000 Places to Visit Before You Die. She is a born traveler, a wandering soul who has been to the four corners of the globe and back and will not stop until nature and gravity ground her.
I have a list of at least that many books I want to read before I die.
It pleases me to read three books in three days. It pleases me to be immersed in the new novel and the frantic submission stage of another, to talk out loud to my characters and ask them what’s going to happen next. And it pleases me the most that when I am quiet or riding down the road, the answers to what I have been seeking are there … like they were waiting for me to be still to find me.
Of course, when I am not pleased or when my brain needs a rest, I brew a strong cupper of decaf and kick back to refuel.
Naturally, this is the perfect moment to add to my TBR list. Please leave me a recent title in comments. I have Laura, Christi and another half dozen of my readers in my “already read” pile, so give me new fodder for my curious mind.
What say you, reader?
What good books have you read recently?
fOIS In The City
Note: My book club had to cancel the selection for May because our facilitator is stranded in Manhattan. We are going to choose a new selection and begin our list for the Fall. I’ll start the list with my three suggestions for May and carried forward to October.
Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline
And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hassein
The Luminaries, Eleanor Cotton
fOISinTheCity 
Good morning, Florence. I finished a crime book for an author interview and loved it. But can’t say right now. I’m struggling through a Hundred Days of Solitude. And for book club, Vanishing Smile-about the theft of the Mona Lisa.
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Thanks, Vikki. My daughter wants me to read a Hundred Days of Solitude. I will add Vanishing Smile to my list 🙂
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Oh what a wonderful weekend of no technology to distract you from your first love…books 🙂
Right now I’m supposed to be reading “The Round House” for my book club, but I’m stuck at the computer all day and long into the night, so I fear I won’t get to it in time for the discussion meeting *hangs head in shame*
We’re going to read “The Scarlet Letter” over the summer, which has been on my bookshelf, untouched, for far too many years so I’m eager to get started on it.
Happy writing!
Christi Corbett
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Ah yes, Christi. I did indeed enjoy the solitude. I’ve never heard of The Round House. I’ll look it up. Nathaniel is not one of my favorite nineteen-century writers. I read Scarlet Letter a lifetime ago in high school.
BTW, isn’t it grand that us writerly folks not only love to read, most of us also belong to book clubs. Thanks for the selection 🙂
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Florence – I’m joining in here. I published a review of The Round House on my blog in 2012. It’s an interesting read but it’s truthful fiction and hurts to read (at least that’s how I felt). Louise Erdrich is definitely a literary writer IMO.
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I keep trying to make a weekend for myself like that. I’ve even thought of taking off for a motel where I’d have no distractions at all and nobody could find me. I need to get back to those fantastic times of total immersion in a book. It’s been years. I grab a chapter here and a paragraph there, then forget what it was about and pick up another one. I need to go cat sit!
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Thanks, Anne. I told the Cat Lady and she said you should try it. Good for the feline and very good for us 🙂
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Barbara Delinsky’s A Woman’s Place. I just “re-found” her a few weeks ago and love her books.
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Yes Patti, I love Barbara Delinsky … I will add that one to my list 🙂
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Three books in three days! OMG, I remember those days with deep affection, nostalgia and a little melancholy. Yes, it’s time to rediscover them. Like Anne, I find this paragraph, page (or if I’m lucky, chapter) here and there stuff completely unfulfilling. Thank you, Florence, for reminding me of something so important.
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It’s so true, Debra. I was in heaven. Cut off from the distractions that rob our time, I was able to revisit my old habits. I doubt I’ll read three books in three weeks now that I am back home 🙂
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A weekend, eh? Try losing an entire month…
Right now I’m reading Lysey’s Story, a Stephen King book I hadn’t heard of but was drawn to the cover. Reached the halfway point yesterday and wouldn’t you know it, another King novel is infiltrating my sleep!
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Sherry, I think most of King’s novels infiltrate our sleep. Thanks for the selection. I hope that you at least got some good reading and thinking done during your lost month 🙂
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Florence – I’ve mentioned The Pieces We Keep by Kristina McMorris. It’s a first rate read and her research is impeccable and her growth as a writer is beyond description. A book I pulled from my TBR stack is Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio. Not only is it a first read but Jio breaks every rule I’ve ever heard in a writing class either on line or at a conference. Her writing has also grown leaps and bounds and I’ve added her to my top 50 authors along with Kristina. A pleasant surprise was Summerland by Elin Hilderbrand. I pulled the trade paperback out of a bargain bin in haste and I couldn’t stop reading. I’d read her novels years ago and then they seemed to be more or less formula and stopped reading her especially when she started publishing in hardback. (My hands won’t hold a hardback when I read in bed and that’s where I do about 80% of my reading before falling asleep). She’s another writer that writes so much more than an island summer novel. The characters are deeply woven and as the reader, I felt the true intimacy and understood the angst as I turned the pages. And, finally, The Consequences by Colette Freedman. I read this book as it’s in 3 parts and comes in at slightly over 300 pages. I’ve read and marked and the book is covered with notes from top to bottom. I learned so much by reading that will help my WIP deep editing.
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Sheri, I know I can always depend on you to give me great suggestions for my TBR list. I also love Kristina’s writing. I will find the other books you talk about, If I tried to read in bed, I’d get to the third line and conk out. I read sitting in the living room or in my office 🙂
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I’m an insomniac and often get in 3 hours or more of reading. I do my best to stay in bed to read because Tom does much better if he’s not up and down checking on where I am.
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