Sunday Salon: heatwave, the re-emergence of prizes, and impending vacation

-
Happy Sunday! Des Moines, like so much of the country is in the midst of an excruciating heat wave. One perk to this miserable weather: I'm reading even more than usual because I never want to leave home. Even the walk to the car makes me woozy. As it doesn't look the heat will break anytime soon, all I can hope for is a summer of great reading and an early fall!

I'm really looking forward to a short week of work. I'm heading to South Florida on Thursday. Words I never thought I'd say: "I can't wait to get to South Florida in late July. It will be so much cooler!" I'm looking forward to a fun, long weekend with friends. I haven't finalized which books I'll take with me for the plane, pool and beach because the Booker Prize longlist will be announced Wednesday. Although I vowed to stray from prize lists, I find myself getting more and more excited about which titles will make the longlist. I won't promise to read the entire longlist, particularly as many of the predicted titles are not yet published in the U.S. or not even scheduled to be published in the U.S. I don't make predictions for the Booker Prize, but I do enjoy following the speculation. As I did last year, I plan to chime in with my thoughts Wednesday once the longlist is announced and share my plans for which titles I'll read.

Now tell me: how are you surviving the weather? Or are you lucky enough to be somewhere without sweltering heat?

As an affiliate, I receive a small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you for helping to support my book habits that bring more content to this blog!

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 22, 2012 at 9:12 PM

    LOL...I'm leaving for Oregon next Saturday and I can't wait to get out of this fog and into the heat (it should be be nicely warm but not sweltering up there).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Heather LeighJuly 23, 2012 at 3:55 PM

    You would think one of the perks of moving to Canada would be not worrying about the heat, but no such luck here! (Although I'm still adjusting to the radio saying "It's gonna be a scorcher at 35 degrees today!") I too have been surviving with books and movies in the AC (and lots of flavoured water!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. nomadreaderJuly 24, 2012 at 10:00 AM

      I think the shift to Celsius would really throw me off too! Hope all is well in Canada!

      Delete
  3. TiJuly 24, 2012 at 5:30 PM

    Everyone is heading to Florida. Have a wonderful time!!

    I am reading a lot but this hand injury is causing my reviews to back-up. I may have to resort to other types of reviews. Still considering my options.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. nomadreaderJuly 25, 2012 at 3:46 PM

      Hope your injury improves soon, Ti! At least you can still read.

      Delete
  4. EmilyJuly 30, 2012 at 9:34 PM

    I spent the heat wave the same way you did – hiding inside with a book! I also spent a lot of it watching and re-watching Sherlock :) Hope you had fun in Florida!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. nomadreaderAugust 1, 2012 at 2:04 PM

      Ooh--Mr. Nomadreader and I have only watched the first episode of the first season of Sherlock. We need to get caught up!

      Delete
    2. EmilyAugust 1, 2012 at 7:03 PM

      Oooh, you really do. It's fantastic.

      Delete
    3. EmilyAugust 1, 2012 at 7:04 PM

      You really, really do. I'm so hooked on the show it's ridiculous :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Happy reading!

Popular posts from this blog

book review: A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

-
Image
The backstory: A Dangerous Place  is the eleventh historical mystery featuring Maisie Dobbs. My reviews of the other eleven (plus Winspear's stand alone historical novel) are in my Book Review Database . The basics: Set four years after the last Maisie Dobbs novel, Leaving Everything Most Loved , in A Dangerous Place , we meet up with Maisie in Gibraltar in 1927 during the Spanish Civil War. She gets off her England-bound ship in Gibraltar because she's not quite ready to return. Note: this review contains spoilers about what happened in those four years of Maisie's life between books, all of which are revealed in this novel's first thirty pages.  My thoughts: Sunday I wrote about the Maisie Mail I received. These postcards appear in the book itself, along with many others. After setting the stage in Gibraltar in the opening pages (Maisie stumbles upon a dead body), Winspear recounts the last four years of Maisie's life in the form of postcards, letters, an
Read more

book review: Run by Ann Patchett

-
Image
The backstory: After loving State of Wonder  ( my review ), I set out to read all of Ann Patchett's books. The basics: Run  is the story of the Doyle family: Bernard, an Irish Catholic ex-mayor of Boston, his deceased wife Bernadette, their adult son Sullivan, and their two adopted college ages sons, Tip and Teddy, who are biological brothers. My thoughts: I'm beginning to think Ann Patchett is my soul sister. Her writing reaches me deeply, and I've adored everything she's written. It was a special treat to read Run , the novel of hers I knew the least about going in. Although I had the framework of two of her novels and one memoir, I didn't know what to expect. Run  isn't as universally loved as some of her other works, so I was particularly curious to see how it measured up. Admittedly, Run  started off slowly for me. It took two chapters to really get into the heart of the story, but once it happened, I was hooked. One of the things I love most about
Read more

book review: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

-
Image
The backstory: Gilead  won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2004, and was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2006. The basics: As Rev. Ames nears the end of his life in the 1950's, he begins a letter to his young son because Ames realizes his son is too young to really know him. Gilead  is that letter. My thoughts: Gilead  is a novel I'm been meaning to read for years. It's a character-driven, Midwestern narrative by one of our best contemporary writers. It should be a novel I love, yet I struggled to finish it and admit I was wowed by neither the story nor the writing. Gilead  seemed almost stream-of-consciousness at first. I appreciated that Robinson jumped right in: this novel is a letter from father to son; the reader's ignorance of these two characters is not the focus. As the novel progressed, more details began to be filled in, and the reader begins to understand the characters, setting and purpose. I enjoyed the fir
Read more