I borrowed a stack of books from my niece and then got two in the mail. One of the books I borrowed from the niece had been on my hold list at the library for months. I was tired of waiting. It is weird reading physical books since I am firmly into the Kindle app and on a no buy book ban. The better-half received a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble so that is how I ended up with two books in the mail.

We’re trying to figure out if we can slip down to the Outer Banks for a long weekend in September. We haven’t been in years, well, just to Duck. We’re missing our favorite spot. We’ll see how that works out. I need to figure out how many more vacation days I have this year and then we can make a firm decision. I should have plenty, but our system is so weird that it is hard to get a firm handle on that.

I just finished watching The Game on BBC. Pretty good twist at the end, but a bit formulaic. Although, that formula is more than made up for it by the hair and cheekbones of Tom Hughes.

I’m a third of the way through The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. I loved his Cloud Atlas and so far I’m enjoying this book too. I have to keep reading not only because the story is compelling, but I only have the book out from the library for 14 days. It’s a long book and I’m at the point where I need the characters to start overlapping because you know it’s going to happen. I find it interesting there are tie-ins to his other books.

The snow has tapered off so we cleaned our sidewalks and my car. I think the better-half is scraping his truck. I think he really just wants to be outside in the cold and wind because he is part polar bear. I’m content to warm myself and hunker down on the couch with a cat or two, a book and a blanket. Perhaps it is time for some hot chocolate.

My texts are in blue. Niece 1′s texts are in grey.

And, when we wrap it up (Anna and Fuzzy are her cats):

Bwahahahaha.

A bit ago I amused him with my hair. I believe it is sticking straight off the top of my head. We took a long walk on the beach this morning and I had on a ball cap. My hair is a tad unruly anyway, but the combo of hat head, a breeze and beach humidity makes it hilarious. I do what I can to amuse and delight…a tough business.

I started reading Lydia Davis and I was amused by some of her very short stories at first. Then it became an endurance test. While showering this morning, I decided her writing, at least in Varieties of Disturbance, is like performance art. You are pulled in for the first few minutes and by the time the piece has run its course you are just annoyed. You don’t care if the artist has a vision and you beat a hasty retreat to another section of the museum or gallery.

I really felt like some of her pieces are how it must be for creative writing professors to read class assignments. Smartypants students writing on a theme and using their brilliance to shine a light on one trope (key words: smartypants, brilliance, trope, boring). The title story is a circular piece about the variety of disturbance each member of a family felt when an adult son offered to help elderly parents. By the time I got to the third paragraph about who was more disturbed, I decided NO ONE could be more disturbed than I was and I tossed the book on the table. Today I tossed the book onto the book return cart at the library. The next book had better not vex me.

The book I read before the annoyance was riveting and disturbing on an entirely different level. In the Garden of Beasts is the story of Ambassador Dodd and his family in Berlin during Hitler’s rise to power. I read the book using the Kindle app and I had a short loan period from the library. When I first loaded the e-book, I was worried the loan period wasn’t long enough, but I don’t think there was a way for me to read the book any faster. Larson has a way of hooking you immediately and not letting up until the story runs out. I can’t say that I was a fan of any of the characters (characters is the wrong word since this book is non-fiction) and I actually found myself sympathizing with one Nazi. Good grief. I never thought those words would ever come out of my mouth–read the book and tell me how you feel about Rudolf Diels. A moderate man amongst the beasts.

The local branch isn’t very big but it is pretty and is laid out nicely. When I used the self-check and saw the return dates come up on the screen, I laughed to myself. I had forgotten what it is like to take out books from a regular library. I mean, it’s been awhile on my part (see the above paragraph). I’m used to taking books out of university libraries when you have either staff or graduate student privileges. In other words, you take them out for practically forever.

I’m most excited about the access to the e-library. I didn’t want to look like I was cruising for my fix so I did check out two physical books. I’ll probably do that on occasion in the future, because, as we all know, physical books are pretty awesome. E-books? Stellar. I didn’t think I’d be like that but it’s like sucking down a Slurpee and getting a brain freeze. It hurts so good and I can’t wait for the next brain freeze. I’ve had my iPad since May 11th and I’ve read four books so far. You can see why I needed to go with a free option. I told the better-half last night that I can’t transfer my $60/week lunch budget of my working life to a book-buying habit. The piddling amount of money I’m making now would not sustain this habit.

(first pub. Weird Tales, 16, No. 3 (September 1930), 322.)

I encourage you to read it as it is well written and carefully lays out the reasons why gender equality is very important for how we will move forward as a people. Or better yet, as a species (so no one gets hung up on geographical, political or religious lines).