The weather has been uncooperative for the past week, so my hobby time has been dedicated to reading (which is really no surprise, since my reading time is before bed and I'm almost always willing to sacrifice sleep to read into the wee hours). Rain and frequent thunderstorms, combined with a bunny infestation of Watership Down-like proportions has me so far behind in my gardening that I'm now looking at tomatoes and whatever I can get out of a fall cool-weather planting as my only real home-grown produce this year. I have seriously considered learning how to make rabbit snares after everything but the tomatoes was consumed by those damn rabbits. I am frustrated and disappointed by the small scale of my vegetable garden, but I have to remind myself that it is an increase from the total production of absolutely nil from last season. Still, when you start to consider purslane and lamb's quarters from the flower garden as legitimate "veggie" crops, you know you are desperate. Even then, I have to find ways to sneak the wild greens (a.k.a weeds) into my suspicious family. The dogs are not as discriminating, and since we've started making their food again, I've been feeling quite satisfied by my ability to make use of a free and abundant food source.
So what have I been reading, to keep myself sane? I finished the first installment of Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crime series last week, and I have to say I was surprised to find I found the second book in the series to be much better. I've often found that mystery/genre series can suffer from a sophomore slump, but I think the second airing of Jack Spratt et al was much more successful.
I've also moved on to my second 1% Well-Read Challenge choice, Cider with Rosie, by Laurie Lee. So far I love it, and I look forward to curling up with it tonight. I've also been sequestering my local library's copy of A Grave in Gaza, the second of Matt Beynon Rees' Omar Yussef series. I really should return it, since I don't think I'm going to get to it before it is due, but I can't quite give up hope yet. I loved The Collaborator of Bethlehem, and can't wait to devour the sequel. I may try to also find Cain's Field (you know, for that light summer reading).
Speaking of summer reading, we'll be heading to Maine in the not-so-distant future, and I will have to amass my collection of books to take with me. We'll be visiting my in-laws, and they always have a wonderful collection of books I've been meaning to read. Invariably I haul along 3-4 books, and then read none of them, having spent every spare moment trying to make it through 1-2 of their books before we have to leave. I will also bring more knitting projects than I could possibly finish. I accept this, and hope it will fit in just one bag. I have made no progress on the second half of the Clementine Shawlette, though, and I really should finish that project before moving on to anything more interesting than a dishrag.
So I have my choice of good intentions to follow up on. Different varieties, but all quite tempting. What I have not found time for is sewing, but until Miss T can really walk on her own, I may be out of luck. Either that or the snow needs to fly to get me inside and away from the garden.
July 21, 2008
It's All About the Books
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