At the very least I have two weeks of freedom. Wow. That’s pretty incredible. I am still in my Spanish classes until May if I wuss out on the translation test, but honestly they take up about 7 hours of week for class time and homework time. That’s just not hitting my radar compared to what I’ve been doing for uhm years. My job is to take care of Shanna and do at least my share of housework. If I do more than my share of housework then Noah has more free time to spend with me and he’s in a generally better mood–which is a pretty damn good trade-off in my book.
I started off this freedom by cleaning up the garage to the point where we can now put our car in it! I’m thrilled because putting Shanna in and out in the rain really blows. I also cleaned the bathtub. Today I will putz through more cleaning and laundry. I also want to do cooking and prep stuff for meals for the week because we eat better when I do that.
My projects for this week include: putting furniture together, more house cleaning [we have a lot of cobwebs, finish dusting, finish cleaning the bathroom, maybe vacuum the living room, do a real scrub down of the kitchen], read more books to Shanna, start sorting Christmas stuff [I’m so excited about Christmas this year it isn’t even funny. I’m not doing the major decorating stuff till after Thanksgiving, but I can get a head start on stuff like Christmas cards so that I don’t feel much pressure in December], and enjoy the fact that I don’t have to read anything I don’t want to read! Do you know how many years it has been since I had no pressure about what to read?! For the past five years I have always had it hanging over my head that I needed to do reading for the exams. I haven’t always done it but the pressure was always present.
That said: what books do you like that I should add to my reading list? I may read a summary online and decide oh hell no but feel free to make suggestions. 🙂 I don’t even know what is out there past the canon…
Oh! and posts I want to write: “Ok snarky bitch, here is why I use cloth diapers despite your snotty article you sent me”, “Why are some books included in the canon while others are excluded”, and “Why I’m feeling some unpleasant feelings about the constant barrage of requests for money.”
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, by Fay Weldon, changed my life, as did The Witches of Eastwick. (Just read the new sequel, which was pleasant enough – nice to spend time with my old friends again and all that – but not revelatory like the original.)
I reread most of Larry McMurtry every few years – Lonesome Dove is the best from a literary standpoint, but I actually prefer the contemporary stuff, especially the Danny Deck novels (All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers and Some Can Whistle – he also puts in brief appearances in Moving On and Terms of Endearment).
Lolita is part of the canon so you’ve probably already read it, but have you tried Pale Fire? – I go back and forth about which one I like better.
In terms of memoir, really my genre of choice, I loved The Liars Club, The Boys of My Youth, Lucky, Name All the Animals, Hunting Mister Heartbreak…
And, of course, the collected essays of E.B. White, once a year or so.
not sure it’s up your alley, but
Andy Roddick Beat Me With A Frying Pan
by Todd Gallagher
http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Roddick-Beat-Frying-Pan/dp/0307352803/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226348627&sr=8-1
just because it’s funny and silly and it has no relation whatsoever to anything you’ve HAD to read.
ooh, cool
In light of current freedom, I shan’t recommend anything literary that will expand your mind, instead I have a couple of recommendations for trash! 🙂
Two authors I have discovered recently, Lisa Kleypas, and Julia Quinn. First I should point out that their books are hit-or-miss, and some of Julia’s books end unsatisfactorily (how’s that for a unconditional ringing endorsement?). That said, here in Chinese-land, I appreciate a good trashy historical romance novel, and Lisa’s Wallflower set of 4 is good, and Julia’s Bridgerton (8 siblings) series is fun to get through as well.
Lots of love,
Debs
I’ve never read any Nick Hornby, but I think you’ll find this short piece by Sarah Vowell amusing – http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2008/11/12vowell.html