Happy Monday, friends. Are you enjoying a long holiday weekend? After a quick trip to New York City on an apartment hunting adventure (for our daughters), we are back home. Unfortunately, the deal fell through and it appears Daughter #1 will stay put for another 6 months until Twin A officially joins her. We still had a great time in the city... a walk in Central Park, an art galley, delicious dinners, and the best doughnuts ever.
Current reading//
It has been all Trollope, all the time this week. After listening on my morning walks, I really wanted to continue reading The Small House at Allington on my kindle... and so I did. I did not realize the book was so long (I'm on page 473 of 776) and may need another week to finish. Trollope continues to enchant me.
In the meantime, I have decided to wait on Fates and Furies. It seems like it will be an intense reading experience and I don't want to lessen its impact by dividing my attention. The book is due in a few days, so I will return it to the library and put my name back on the hold list.
I'm still hoping to squeeze Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman in before the end of the month though.
On the blog//
Book Brief: Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
Tuesday Intro: Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
That's it for me. My husband is at work today, so I plant spend much of the day reading. What books have caught your attention this week?
It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. While she is taking a break, check out the twitter hashtag #IMWAYR.
Fates and Furies came for me this weekend from Book of the Month. I'm really looking forward to diving into it. Sooner rather than later. Let's hope it's not still sitting on my stacks in a year...but no promises. --Andi (signed into the Dewey's account)
ReplyDeleteAndi - Oh, I know how that goes! So disappointed I didn't get to Fates and Furies before it was due.
DeleteI bet hunting for a place to live in the city is the adventure. I'm glad you had a good weekend.
ReplyDeleteKathy - New York City is alway an adventure! Too bad about the apartment, but I think everyone's situation will be clearer in the spring anyway.
DeleteSomething that I discovered while reading The Small House at Allington, each book in the series gets progressively longer. The Last Chronicle of Barset is enormous. I found it to be well worth it however.
ReplyDeleteWithout giving anything away, that unlike the other books in the series, Small House lends itself to wanting to start the next book right away so it may be a really long read :)
Brian Joseph - It seemed like I was reading so many pages and the % read on the kindle never seemed to change... was shocked when I changed it from % to page number! I'm afraid to check the page count for Last Chronicle ;-)
DeleteI didn't realize it was so long either, but fortunately it's so good! :) I'm glad you had a good weekend, New York in the fall sounds especially appealing.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm literally LOL because I just noticed that my Kindle edition says this book is 236 pages long. Not! :)
DeleteAudrey - Are you sitting down? I just checked The Chronicle of Barset and it is just under 900 pages!!!!!!!!
DeleteBut if you read it on your Kindle it's only 773. :) Oh, my. We said November and December; maybe we meant by November and December of 2018??
DeleteI certainly hope not! ;-)
DeleteFor fans of the Big Apple, just finishing "House of Thieves" by Charles Belfoure. A picture of Old New York at the turn of the 20th century, contrasting the lifestyle of the Knickerbockers and the street people of the Bowery. Definitely a page-turner and a really good read.
ReplyDeleteJudyMac - I love an Old New York setting! There is a new book out called City on Fire that is set in 1970s NYC... it sounds fascinating, but is 900 plus pages long.
Delete900 is definitely too many pages for me. Three books at 300 pages or even two at 450 suits me much better. :-)
DeleteJudyMac- I can count the number of 900 page books I've read on one hand... will have to preview City on Fire before deciding to add it to the list ;-)
DeleteDarn - I was interested to hear your thoughts on F&F! Guess I'll have to wait on that too...but I can see why you can't fit it in with the other 770 page chunkster.
ReplyDeleteSarah - I thought I was going to finish Small House last week, but just kept reading and reading with seemingly little progress on the kindle. The page count came as a shock! I still want to read Fates and Furies, but am afraid it can't be now :(
DeleteThat's to bad about the deal falling through but it sounds like you still got a good deal out of it. I'll be curious to see what you think of Neverwhere. I've been wanting to try Gaiman's books but am not 100% sure of him. And of course the Trollope sounds fantastic. I'd really love to try him. They sound like such lovely stories.
ReplyDeleteKatherine - In the long run, it may be better that the deal fell through (at least I can tell myself that now). Both daughters have precarious living situations at the moment and it will be a much clearer picture in six months.
DeleteNYC sounds fun. Love Central Park! Your Trollope seems like good reading. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteSusan - I am enjoying Trollope more than I ever expected... definitely a nee favorite!
DeleteMmm... doughnuts. I'm ready for some pumpkin donus at this point... fir fall, you understand. :) Can't help it!
ReplyDeleteGreg - We got a half dozen doughnuts to share... a delicious pumpkin topped with toasted seeds among then. So, so good!!!
DeleteI, too, thought the page number on my kindle couldn't possibly be right. And yet, there it was, and with each page I became more enamored of the characters and Trollope's intermittent sense of humor. It was indeed a most worthy read, and now I "fear" I shall have to buy Book 6 to see what happens with Lily. And John Eames, a personal favorite.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I have a son home with me again, at 24, and it really is pleasant. So much better than when he was 16, and in true hobblydehoy-hood.
Bellezza Oh, I do hope you will consider reading book 6 with us!I love Trollope, but it has been even more enjoyable having you tweet along with us this month :)
DeleteI'm sorry to hear that Lily and John are not 'resolved' by the end of the book, but I'm already looking forward to The Last Chronicle of Barset.
Don't yo love being able to pop to NYC? We are trying to do this more and more.
ReplyDeleteI am really loving The Swans Of Fifth Avenue...by Melanie Benjamin.
I read City On Fire...I both liked and disliked it...I read the actual book...almost too big to hold comfortably! Now I am hungry for doughnuts!
Patty - I love that our daughter has given us an excuse to visit often! She's been there for 3 years now and another daughter will be moving in this summer.
DeleteLove the cover of Swans of Fifth Avenue and am very interested in City on Fire, too. Would NEVER be able to read the physical book... definitely an ebook for that one ;-)
NYC will be my next travel destination, fingers crossed, and I'm afraid not any time soon. But yes, that will be my preferred destination. While in MA during my road trip, I visited the Edith Wharton Home at The Mount and bought her The Custom of the Country. Later learned that Julian Fellowes was much influenced by Wharton and this particular title. Glad I got it. ;) (Trying to post this comment again. Glitch again. Hope this time it goes through)
ReplyDeleteArti - I'm so glad you got to visit The Mount... and it makes perfect sense that Julian Fellowes was influenced by The Custom of the Country.Once you meet Undine, you will never forget her!. Hope you love the book as much as I do.
DeleteGlad your comment went through the second time. Blogger can really try my patience...
Vicki - The Doughnut Plant might be dangerous...definitely the best I've eve had!!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry the house deal didn't go through. I hope the alternative arrangement is not an inconvenience. One of these days, I need to read Lauren Groff. I have her Arcadia but wasn't too fascinated by its premise.
ReplyDeleteAthira - I think the apartment deal falling through is probably a good thing. We'll try again early next summer when both girls will hopefully be a little more settled in their careers.
DeleteBummer on the apartment -- but fun to be in the city. And doughnuts!!
ReplyDeleteBeth F - NYC is always an exciting treat... even if I do breath a sigh of relief when I get home!
DeleteSorry the apt didn't work out, but happy you had your nice time there. I have a couple NYC books on the shelf I am looking forward to: Manhattan '45 by Jan Morris, and New York in the 50s by Dan Wakefield. A while ago I saw the documentary of the latter, in which he said, what music was to the 60s, books were to the 50s.
ReplyDeleteNan - Now that it's been nearly a week, I can see the good in the apartment deal falling through. We had a few reservations about the place under consideration and I'm confident they will find something even better (maybe even in the same building) next spring/summer.
DeleteI enjoy reading books set in NYC and am grateful our oldest daughter reintroduced us to the city. There was a time in the mid80s when I declared I never wanted to visit again. When she got her first internship there in 2010, I was amazed at how much it had all changed. Now it feels exciting and exhilarating to be there!
We head to NYC next week for a visit with our son--I'm hoping the colors are still out working their magic. High on my list is a walk through Central Park! I'm open to restaurant recommendations, if you have any.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of a Small House at Allingham as not a long book--maybe because of the word Small in the title! Probably won't read it until 2016, but looking forward to it.
JaneGS - I'm sure there will still be plenty of color in NYC next week. Central Park will be gorgeous. My restaurant recommendations are all in the Chelsea area if you will be that far downtown. Small House was wonderful, 5 stars! I finished yesterday...
DeleteLove the Chelsea area--we are staying at 29th, so that is definitely walkable.
DeleteJaneGS - My favorite Italian is Eolo Sicilian Kitchen on 7th Ave btw 21st and 22nd. We had Vietnamese at Omai on 9th btw 19th and 20th (fairly close to High Line), Markt for Belgian cuisine (mussels and more) and beer on 6th at 21st. Something different is Raymi "high end Peruvian cuisine with a twist" on 24th St. btw 5th and 6th. I'm making myself hungry now and want to go back to NYC! Let me know if you try any of these :)
DeleteThere wasn't a lot of color yet when we were there, so you should have a nice show.