reading
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 8:26AM 
-My Dearest Friend---He's the ultimate business tripper, she the quintessential faithful wife. They're parents, sweethearts, farmers, thinkers, counselors and supports for each other, dreamers, lovers, friends. The book is a collection of their letters to each other while he was away (which was a lot, for weeks, months, and sometimes years) during his career as a lawyer and during the founding years of our country. As I read I fall in love with their humanity, ache for their loneliness, and am made to think by their discussions. They are, by turns, so much like me, and so much like I want to become.
-Three seed catalogs-(because why just read one?) Baker Creek, Teritorrial, and, always, Johnny's. If the last frost date is supposed to be in mid-March, and we're supposed to plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc. indoors 6-8 weeks before that, well, it's time to be reading seed catalogs! That is, if...you ever...quit.
-Free Range Learning: How Homeschooling Changes Everything---No photo of this one because I'm reading it, in between the rest of life, on my phone. I'm simultaneously encouraged, chastised, patted on the back, and overwhelmed by this book. I find myself saying, "Yes! Precisely!" to a lot of the explanation of why we (the author and I) homeschool, but so many suggestions are offered that I feel very small and limited in what I can actually do. Maybe when I finish I'll go back through the suggestions slowly and it won't feel like drinking from a firehose.
-Plutarch's Lives--Plutarch deadpans the wacky doings of famous men. An oldie (couple millenia) but goodie. I say, to the cold, black words, "REALLY?" and there is no one but Plutarch, lips pursed, not explaining, waiting to continue on with the story.
Finished recently:
-Hunger Games--Good story, a bit too grisly to recommend to my oldest reader (at ten years old). I hear the trilogy goes downhill after this, becoming less of a good story and more of a preachy treatise on why war is bad.
-The Giver--Read by me, oldest son, and husband simultaneously on three different Kindles on Christmas day. Haunting, and lovely to discuss whilst lazing around during those cozy holiday days. What if nobody had to make any serious choices?
And you? What words are filling the empty corners of your mind these days?
~MB~
Reader Comments (12)
This may seem like a dumb question, but why exactly do you buy seeds from a seed catalog and not from your local gardening store? Are they better quality? I imagine there's more selection?
- Snuff, by Terry Pratchet. Lighter reading, satire, made some interesting fun of Jane Austen.
- Persuasion, by Jane Austen. It's for a book club, and I'm finding that I like the movies better than the books, as they movies are less full of people who are just NOT going to learn any kind of lesson because that's just not what Jane Austen did very much. Also, the class issues are irritating to me.
- Just Write That Book! - because I need yet another whining voice in my head, telling me what to do.
I like going over the heirloom seed catalogs online, because there is better variety and because I don't want to take my kids with my for any shopping unless I have to - they are.... exuberant.
I'll take it a step farther. I...hate...shopping...at ALL. There's so much input my brain eventually shuts down and shudders in a corner. And I think slowly. I decide on each type of seed over days of research and back-of-my-mind mulling, and then when I've got my list I go online and do it in one fell swoop. If they don't have a variety of seed I want I have the leisure to research a new variety instead of NEEDING to to make a decision NOW or leave the store without it. That and I've found that Johnny's seeds have a high germination rate and more seeds per packet than the generic types that are generally in stores. I suppose my local store might actually have Johnny's seeds, which would nullify that part of the argument. But the children. Yes, the children have a lot to do with it also. Hi, Shauna!
Amber-why do you read books that whine and irritate you? I try not to read anything about how to write because I find all the "rules" immobilize me. Which is why I probably make all the "mistakes". Sigh.
I see. It's like my kids and the Toys R Us catalog at Christmas.
I checked out the websites you linked to. Maybe I'll try something new this year. I love heirloom tomatoes.
Oh, this one isn't how to write, it's more what to do after you write. How to publish, as it were. And sometimes it helps to have an outside source to get angry with and focus upon rather than the whining considerably closer to home and much more dear. Also, it was free for my Kindle. Kindles are another thing. Clinton took the initiative and purchased us each one for our anniversary, and I do like it, but I don't think I would have purchased one at all. I miss the smell and sort of tactile sensations of reading. And I'm afraid of the Kindle. I can't get it wet. It would die. So no more reading in the shower or bath. Not that I EVER did that, because it would be ever so wrong.
Shauna-Yes, I imagine it's very, very much like that. Good luck with your garden! (And when I say that I mean it.)
Amber-You can't get real books wet either. And I have to say I love pages too, but I also hate owning/cataloging/remembering/shelving/tidying/finding *things*, so if I can put a whole bunch of things in one place, like...many books live in this one Kindle, I can pull out less of my hair, hopefully. Didn't hate all that so much before I had kids. I wonder if there's a connection...hm...
Oh, books can get a little wet. Not library books, or otherwise borrowed tomes, but mostly it just makes the pages wrinkly. I do love that the county library loans out Kindle books, though, so I am slowly getting over some of my issues. And the Gutenburg Press gives me such nice, free, classical books.
There are advantages to Kindles, I admit.
Grudgingly. :)
Do you know of a reputable place to buy a tree on-line? For some reason I can't find any citrus trees in Utah. I want a lemon tree I can keep in a pot by my front window.
I don't have any actual experience ordering trees by mail, however, if I were to need to, I would use the Dave's Garden Garden Watchdog site to tell me which company to use. It's a directory of mail order plant sources with ratings from gardeners everywhere. Good luck!
Thanks!
I read The Giver last year for the first time. I then read Gathering Blue and The Messenger as they are considered a very loose trilogy. My oldest and I really enjoyed them. Oh, and I like Lois Lowry's blog. She's is someone I would like to be friends with.
Hey, I still need to hire you for a farm consultaion! Totally serious! Wanna come over next week?
~Shonda