Bookish --------------

Many friends are sharing their Summer reading lists lately.

So many wonderful books, so little time to read them all.

I'm mostly a 'read in bed before putting out the light' person,

however these torrid days have me worn to a frazzle by

 mid-afternoon. Grabbing a book, a cool drink such as a 

tall glass of elderflower cordial, (or sometimes a cup of tea

 despite the heat), and my ever present readers, I pick a place

 to sit before prepping dinner, and lose myself between the

pages for a while.

ICE - just the title brings shivers and the cover art is fascinating.

Life on a group of tiny islands off the coast of Finland is cold and 

hard much of the year. Translated well from the original Swedish 

prizewinning novel, this is the prefect story for the heat of 

summertime here in the southeast.

Thank you again dear friend Ruth in England - your book gifts

are always surprising reads and very special.

Where do you find your books?

Above are the ones I'm currently reading, or will be 

reading soon. I usually have two or three on the go and

the same number waiting in the wings.

My fascination with Nature, in all its glorious seasons, is why I read

 and thoroughly enjoy British author/farmer John Lewis-Stemple's

remarkable stories, each centered on a specific place in the 

British landscape. I have started The Running Hare and will 

follow soon with Still Water.

Oh yes, about finding books. The other two here were found on

 that always untidy, tucked away shelf in the Dollar Store!

 I hope you have one near you and check it often because for just $1

 there are often great hidden books. Of course it's hit or miss but last

 visit I picked up these. Have started on

the Mockingbird Next Door and love learning more about

Harper Lee.  The Bones of Grace I know nothing about yet,

but feel it may be a wonderful story.

Any special books on your nightstand or coffee table you would like

 to share for these hot summer days and nights?

Meadows and memories. . . . . . . .

I first shared the cover of this book with you last month, along with others I am reading this hot, humid and unusually wet Summer in the southeast.  Last Saturday evening, into the late night hours, we had a tremendous storm which dumped 4 inches of non-stop drenching rain on the city of Raleigh and surrounding areas. I can honestly say I don't remember getting that much rain in just a few hours ever. Fearful the cottage would float away, there was nothing we could do but watch much of the back garden relocate to the front, a moat form, and a river rush down the driveway turning the cul-de-sac into a lake. We are now way over the average rainfall for the year, with oppressive days close to 100F and extreme humidity. Where can I move to? A safe place with perfect weather doesn't appear to exist!

Anyway, back to the book which is helping to keep me sane these days. I seem to always have two or three books on the go at the same time - but this particular beauty I'm finding hard to put aside even with other exciting ones waiting in the wings. 

It's somewhat difficult for me to describe Meadowland. If you, unlike me, didn't grow up in England and spend much of your childhood playtime in the countryside, in all honesty this book may not be your cup of tea. Unless of course, you, like me, love rolling country fields, farmland, animals both domestic and wild, sweet birds and their songs, and everything growing underfoot, in hedgerows, woodlands, along river banks etc. John Lewis-Stempel's eye for detail and the poetic imagery of his sentences are brilliant as he charts a year in the life of a field on his farm located on the Herefordshire/Welsh border. Meadowland is somewhat folksy and funny at times, but books have been written about entire countries that contain less interesting facts about flora and fauna in just one English meadow. I learned so many interesting new facts about so many creatures. When it comes to grass, now knowing more about the amazing stuff going on beneath it, a whole new world, I decided perhaps we should stop mowing because, as Lewis-Stempel says, "a lawn is a meadow in captivity."

Are you enjoying a good book during these hot Summer days?  

Summer reading - after Ireland and Surgery. . . . . . . . . .

How lucky can I get!

No cancer, so very thankful. 

No major housework.

No lifting and bending.

No traveling, oh NO - just for a while though.

BUT. . . . . . all the time in the world to read wonderful books this week and next. 

These, waiting to be opened and have their pages turned, are full of promise.

Since coming home from Ireland a couple of weeks ago, I have been eager
 for the mailman who has showered me with new books. . . . . . . 

. . . . . . other than FALLEN by Lia Mills, a Dublin writer, which tweaked my
 curiosity when I photographed this Dublin street banner, and which
 I was able to purchase later at a tiny Killarney bookshop, my books have come
 to my mailbox. FALLEN is set in Dublin at the time of the 1916 Easter
Rising and is an historical story of a young woman coming of age amidst
 violence and loss.

MEADOWLAND - The Private Life Of An English Field
by John Lewis-Stempel somehow appeared online when looking for something else.
 I had to have it!

"In exquisite prose John Lewis-Stempel records the passing seasons in an

 ancient meadow on his farm."

That singular sentence was enough to tweak my appetite for learning more
 about my much loved English countryside - the fields of Devon were my
 playground and I will always remember and love them for ever.

ON AN IRISH ISLAND - The Lost World of the Great Blasket 
by Robert Kanigel. 
The story of Great Blasket Island is a must read because I'm now besotted by
 the history of this Irish island (the largest of a group named The Blasket Islands
 off the Dingle coastline) which was inhabited until the 1950's.

The House on an Irish Hillside by Felicity Hayes-McCoy is the
 new book I've decided to read first.
 It is so wonderful I plan to do a full post on it later.
 Just know I'm really happy to have found this book by this amazing author - and that
 I have been fortunate to have just visited the Dingle Peninsula where she lives
 for much of the year.

. . . . . . lastly, a new book about the extraordinary record-setting woman aviator,
 Beryl Markham, caught in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter
 Denis Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen who, as Isak Dinesen, wrote the
 classic memoir Out of Africa.
Circling The Sun by Paula McLain.

My read and reread dog-eared copy of West With The Night was written by Beryl
 herself and published in 1942. It has always been one of my favorite books
 about adventurous women and life in Kenya back in the 1930's.
Hmm, Kenya, Africa, Masai Mara, Safari, Big Five. . . . .some day!!!

All photos by me - thankfully a small camera is not very heavy!