Life: It Goes On - August 8

Happy Sunday from sodden Omaha! We had very, very heavy rain last night and parts of Omaha flooded that I have never seen flood in the almost 36 years we've lived here. Water was rushing downhill so fast that it was pushing parked cars up against each other. Can't imagine coming out from a dinner out only to find that you couldn't get into your car because it was pressed up against another car! Glad that we did our carryout/picnic dinner earlier and that we had kept an eye on the forecast and not decided to spend the evening in downtown Omaha...or run to the grocery store about a mile from us! Definitely not our usual very dry August. 

Last Week I: 

 Listened To: The Maidens, by Alex Michaelides, after I finished J. D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy. I'm really enjoying the readers of The Maidens. 

Watched: Pretty much only the Olympics. I stayed up until after 1 a.m. last night to watch the women's volleyball gold medal match. Three former Huskers play on the team, including Jordan Larson (who is from a small town in Nebraska), who was named MVP, and Justine Wong-Orantes, who was named best libero of the tournament. 

Read: Timothy Schaffert's latest, The Perfume Thief, which is now my favorite of his books. Or maybe tied for favorite because I still think about Coffins of Little Hope (it's one of the books that lives on my might-read-it-again-someday bookshelf - which holds very few books). 

Made: Pretty much everything we ate last week had tomatoes in it - it's that time of year! BLT salad, tomato and basil pasta, BLTs. If we couldn't work the tomatoes into the main course, I sliced them and ate them with a little salt. 

Enjoyed: Dinner with two of The Big Guy's siblings and their spouses Friday evening. It's the first time the six of us have been able to be together since before CoVid and it was so nice!

The Old Market district in 
downtown Omaha Saturday night

This Week I’m:  

Planning: Last week I started working on my office "inch by inch." Turns out that project is going to take a whole lot of smaller projects. I spent the better part of the week working with the proofs from our wedding photographer; for 38 years I haven't been sure what to do with them. Suddenly this week I figured it out. But, as with all of the projects I start, it took more work than I expected. I finally finished it this morning. The proofs included pics of almost everyone who came to the wedding going through the receiving line so it was fun to remember all of those people. This week I'm planning on a new inch-by-inch project in the office - it will also have to do with organizing pictures. 

Thinking About: A nap. I've been battling headaches all week and they are exhausting me. I need those hot, dry August days we usually have!

Feeling: Unproductive (see above), which is frustrating when there are so many things I'd like to be doing. 

Looking forward to: A quieter work week. My boss is on vacation this week so no visits to my desk with questions or "deliverables" she needs from me. Love my job and really like my boss but it's been crazy and I'm hoping this week is quieter. 

Question of the week: I'm told viewership for the Olympics is way down because young people don't have cable tv. Have you been watching? If so, what's been your favorite moment?

Lit: Uniquely Portable Magic

Well, here's some bad news, for me anyway. Thanks to Google, some of the functionality of Blogger has been deleted. This makes editing things in my sidebar all but impossible. For the time being, I'm looking to see if there's a work around that doesn't require me to spend money on a platform that continues to become more and more archaic. I may have to delete and re-add some of the buttons every time something changes in them which will be a massive pain and not likely to be something I'll do for long. More than likely, I'll need to change the sidebar. And then, after 12 years of blogging on Blogger, it may be time to decide if it's worth my time to move this baby to Wordpress. Can I just say that I wish I'd done that nine or so years ago when I spent a lot more time working on the blog and had a lot less information to transfer?!

Enough about me. Here's the good news:

• We still have six weeks to finish reading all of the books on the Booker Prize long list before the short list is announced on September 14th. If you're like me, that means you have 13 books to read between now and then. Yeah, that's not going to happen. Maybe one? 
• On the other hand, I have read two of five of the finalists for the Women's Prize for Fiction. But there's only three days to read the rest before the prize is announced on September 8th. Oh, well.
• Now here is something I am succeeding at: tsundoku - the practice of buying more books than you can read (Treehugger). 

"Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity." – A. Edward Newton, author, publisher, and collector of 10,000 books.

• If any of you needed an excuse to stop cleaning and pick up a book, Inc. wants you to know Why Reading Is the Most Intelligent Thing You Can Do.  
• And if that weren't enough, Inc. also wants you to know Why Reading Books Should Be Your Priority. 

There now - I've given you some things to think about, calmed down some about my blog, and successfully put off writing a review that I don't really want to write off for another day. 

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

Read by Jonathan Pryce 

Published in 1951

Source: audiobook checked out from my local library

Publisher's Summary:

Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, a man who will love his grand home as much as he does himself. But the cosy world the two construct is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries - and there he dies suddenly. Jealous of his marriage, racked by suspicion at the hints in Ambrose's letters, and grief-stricken by his death, Philip prepares to meet his cousin's widow with hatred in his heart. Despite himself, Philip is drawn to this beautiful, sophisticated, mysterious Rachel like a moth to the flame. And yet... might she have had a hand in Ambrose's death?

My Thoughts: 

Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca has long been a favorite, one of the few books I've read more than once; I've both wanted to read more of her work and been afraid that nothing could live up to that book. My Cousin Rachel doesn't. Which isn't to say that this isn't a terrific book. It is, made all the better by Jonathan Pryce's reading of the book (he may be my new favorite book reader). 

Did she or didn't she? 

Philip has been raised on an estate that women rarely breach and Philip has spent his life being the lone person to whom Ambrose shows real affection. So it comes as no surprise that Philip is jealous when Ambrose announces that he has married their cousin, Rachel and no surprise that Philip suspects foul play on Rachel's part when Ambrose dies suddenly. But Philip seems to be the only person who suspects Rachel of causing Ambrose's death; others mostly tut-tutting him because of his youth and jealousy. 

But letters that Philip has received from Ambrose that more than hint of Rachel's hand in the decline of his health and discoveries Philip makes when he arrives, too late to help Ambrose, in Florence reinforce his certainty that Ambrose did not die from natural causes. Philip isn't the only one who has doubts - du Maurier makes certain that readers do as well. Rachel's friend, Rainaldi, practically twirls the ends of his mustache as he looks down his nose at Philip (and Ambrose) and anytime he appears in the picture, we are convinced that he is involved. But is he manipulating Rachel or is he her partner? Or is he, while maybe trying to help Rachel benefit from her marriage to Ambrose, entirely innocent of complicity in Amrose's death? 

When Rachel arrives unexpectedly in England, she quickly wins over the staff of the estate, Philip's guardian, and, before long, Philip himself who falls in love with Rachel. Philip is set to inherit Ambrose's estate on his 25th birthday. But when he discovers a letter from Ambrose that reveals the existence of a will that had never been signed leaving everything to Rachel during her lifetime, Philip becomes determined that he should do the same. Blindly, he overlooks all signs that Rachel is not the person he thinks she is and refuses to listen to the one person who suggests otherwise. 

But did she or didn't she? 

du Maurier keeps readers wondering throughout the book. I never trusted her but then I'd read Rebecca and had some idea the kinds of characters du Maurier created. I wanted to slap Philip again and again for being so quick to be taken in by Rachel and so stubborn about seeing the truth. But was it the truth or perfectly innocent coincidences? Just how long can someone keep up the act of being kind and caring if she's not, in fact, kind and caring? Who just who is the most cold-hearted person here?

If you like tidy endings, du Maurier is not for you. Those last twenty-five or so pages are the payoff for the patience readers have shown. In the end, du Maurier circles back to where the book started. Yet the question remains. 

Did she or didn't she? 

The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson

The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson

Published August 2021 by Berkley Publishing Group

Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary:

Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up. Shy and reclusive, the thirty-year-old would rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world. But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the place that holds the dearest memories of her mother.

Joining a band of eccentric yet dedicated locals in a campaign to keep the library, June opens herself up to other people for the first time since her mother died. It just so happens that her old school friend Alex Chen is back in town and willing to lend a helping hand. The kindhearted lawyer's feelings for her are obvious to everyone but June, who won't believe that anyone could ever care for her in that way.

To save the place and the books that mean so much to her, June must finally make some changes to her life. For once, she's determined not to go down without a fight. And maybe, in fighting for her cherished library, June can save herself, too.

My Thoughts:

Poor June has lived most of her life hidden away from the world, maybe not literally, but most definitely figuratively, although she once had dreams of a bigger life. She has always been bookish, withdrawn and not like the other girls. She's grown up feeling like her mother was her only real ally and when her mother died, June was left adrift and with paralyzing grief. Years after her mother's death, June has not changed a single thing in the home they shared. She goes to work, she gets carryout from the Chen's takeout, and she spends her evenings at home alone, apart from her books and a dog who doesn't really like her. 

Let's see if you recognize June: she's the girl that goes to a hen party (aka bachelorette party) dressed as Hermoine Granger while all of the other young women are dressed up as sexy characters. When they play "never have I ever," June never has to take a drink, not even when one of the ladies cruelly throws in "never have I ever had sex." But she's also the person who helps an elderly gentleman sign into his email account every single day because he can't remember his password; she steers a bright young boy to the books that will challenge and entertain him; she treats the patron who complains about every single book she checks out with the same kindness as she does every other patron. You cannot help but cheer for her; she's a good person who deserves good things. 

You and I both know that a book that begins like that is going to end up with June finding her voice and her own life by the end of the book, probably a boyfriend and maybe even the family she didn't even know she'd had all along. Knowing that is one of the reasons I picked up this book - I needed a book that was going to give me exactly the ending I expected. Well, maybe not exactly the ending I was expecting. Sampson gave me just enough sadness to save the book from being too syrupy and threw in a couple of twists that kept things from becoming too predictable. It's light fare, to be sure; but sometimes light fare is just what you need.

Life: It Goes On - August 1

Happy Sunday! I'm moving slow this morning which won't do - my list of things that need to get done today is much too long for me to lounge around. And yet, if my body is telling me to rest, I should probably pick up a book and listen to it, right?

I moved my desk a couple of weeks ago and now, instead of looking at a wall while I'm working here, I'm looking out the windows that flank it. It's quite lovely right now - I wonder how I'm going to feel about it when the lilac branches are bare and the winter winds are blowing. But let's not jump to that just yet and enjoy these last few weeks of summer. Seriously. Stop trying to make it fall or start talking about Christmas already!

Last Week I: 

 Listened To: I finished My Cousin Rachel and started J. D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy, which, of course, will have me watching the movie adaptation of both as soon as the Olympics are done consuming my every television moment. 

Watched: See above. Sad that the swimming is over - by far and away my favorite events of the summer Olympics. But you all know that I'll watch any sport that's part of the Olympics!

Read: Timothy Schaffer's latest, The Perfume Thief, which I am loving. 

Made: A new pasta recipe with roasted tomatoes, shrimp and a creamy cheese sauce; Asian chicken salad; red velvet cake; homemade ice cream. 

Enjoyed: So many things this week: pizza and summer beer on the patio (before the heat wave hit), our first real Friday happy hour since before the pandemic, a weekend with my girl here, getting to meet our dear friends' grandson, my niece's baby shower. 

This Week I’m:  

Planning: On knocking out several small projects using the "inch by inch, life's a cinch" method. My "office" has turned into a dumping ground and needs to get pulled back together, for example. 

Thinking About: The amount of "stuff" we have. As I talked to my niece's mother-in-law yesterday, who recently moved from the home she's lived in for a very long time, I thought about what it would take to pack up and move our home. It's more than a little terrifying to contemplate!

Feeling: Like the summer is flying by much too quickly. I love these long days!

Looking forward to: Going to my first book event in a year and a half. 

Question of the week: What are your plans for the week?