Hello, friends. It's Sunday again, and what a week it's been! Hurricane Milton blew through Wednesday and Thursday causing damage up and down both coasts of Florida. Our gulf coast barrier islands bore the brunt of the storm. We were incredibly lucky and did not have flooding in our home, but friends and neighbors on our island were not as fortunate. Just to our north in Captiva and Boca Grande, things are pretty bad and it gets worse as you move north toward Sarasota. Tornados wiped out neighborhoods in North Fort Myers and caused fatalities on the east coast. The cleanup and recovery continue this week and we hope to have power and water back within the next few days.
Meanwhile, we will remain in Connecticut...
RECENT READING
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
Elizabeth Strout is my favorite living author and reading her latest novel was like a satisfying visit with old friends. I've known these characters for years, feel invested in their lives, and really enjoyed catching up with their latest activities. Best of all, Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge finally meet! You can certainly read and enjoy this book without having read Strout's earlier novels, but I think you'll have a much richer experience if you already know Lucy, Olive, and the rest of the crew.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann
I love a good dysfunctional family drama and have read quite a few over the years, but the Briscoe family of Olympus, Texas takes dysfunction to a whole new level. I can't recall ever coming across a family as messed up as this one! None of the characters are particularly likable, not a single one of them seems capable of making a good decision, and yet I was completely engrossed as their story played out over the course of one week.
The novel also features several clever parallels to Greek mythology. My knowledge of mythology is embarrassingly deficient, so most of them went over my head. But since Olympus, Texas is the October selection of the MMD book club, I'm sure the discussion will clue me in.
This was a read/listen combination for me and the audio edition narrated by Karissa Vacker added to my overall enjoyment. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
CURRENT READING
A Guest at the Feast: Essays by Colm Tóibín
I enjoy having an essay collection to pick up occasionally and have read about a third of this one.
The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
This is another long term read, but I was just too distracted to pick it up last week.
In addition, I plan to start another novel tonight.
Later today//
We've been babysitting our grandpup, Winnie the Whippet this weekend. It's been fun having a dog around again... and I might have even caught myself calling her Zelda a couple of times! I'm sure she'll be happy to see her parents when they arrive later today. We'll all have pizza for dinner before they drive back to NYC.
The week ahead//
We'll take a brief hiatus from the bathroom remodel (which has taken much longer than planned, of course) to go to NYC for a few days. I have tickets to a couple of author events at Symphony Space, including Elizabeth Strout in conversation with Meg Wolitzer! I'll also spend a day occupying Winner while her parents move into their new apartment. It should be an exciting trip!
How was your week? What are you reading today?
The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.
How great that you will get to hear Elizabeth Strout soon after finishing (and loving) her latest novel.
ReplyDeleteI am also glad to hear that you are safe with no damage to your Florida home, but sad to hear about your neighbors and friends' problems.
Helen - At this point, I'm counting the hours until the Elizabeth Strout event!
DeleteI'm glad your home didn't have any damage! Ours didn't either and we were only without electricity for a short time, not the expected 2 weeks or more. There was a lot of flooding in town and many houses/roads had a lot of water damage...roads and downed electric lines under water etc.
ReplyDeleteVicki - Fingers crossed we've just seen the backside of this hurricane season!
DeleteGood to hear that you didn’t have severe impact from Milton. (I still can’t get used to that name for a storm. My stereotype is that Milton is a very mild-mannered unprepossessing middle aged man with a dull job).
ReplyDeleteNice reading list… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Mae - Milton is kind of a silly names for a hurricane... it doesn't sound very fierce, lol. They retired Michael 4 or 5 years ago.
DeleteI'm currently listening to Tell Me Everything and loving it.
ReplyDeleteGlad you didn't have any damage to your home! Our town had some flooded roads and houses but thankfully our house is in an area that is higher than others.
My son and daughter in law just remodeled their bathroom and it took them more than twice as long as they thought it would. It was worth it though, it looks beautiful
Vicki - Kimberly Farr narrated Lucy by the Sea, too, and did a great job! I'll bet the audio of Tell Me Everything is excellent, too.
DeleteI'm glad that you have Connecticut as a safe haven, but it sure is a lot to be worried about. That's great that you'll get to see Elizabeth Strout just after finishing her book.
ReplyDeleteJoy - We are so fortunate to have this place in CT! Sanibel was our only address until just a few months before Ian (two years ago) and that was one of the best decisions we ever made!
DeleteSo glad your house didn't flood! Still waiting to hear about ours near Hudson Beach. Olympus Texas book sounds good!
ReplyDeleteJinjer - Keeping my fingers crossed for you place in Hudson Beach. Hope you hear something soon!
DeleteI’d lik to find the Strout book but the dysfunctional family one sounds very complicated.
ReplyDeleteMystica - I've loved all of Strout's books. Those Briscoe's have some major problems though, lol!
DeleteI can't wait to hear about going to hear Elizabeth Strout speak. I was fascinated with how she was able to pop all her characters into one book in a completely believable way. I enjoyed her book a lot.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you did not have damage from Milton! That was an awful storm.
Deb - Strout is just so talented! Having Lucy and Olive finally meet each other was pretty memorable. Will report back on the event.
DeleteI'll add my gladness that you guys didn't have big damage from Milton. Two storms that close together has been such a challenge, right? Take care and hope your friends and neighbors are able to get repairs, etc. before long. Enjoy your author visits!
ReplyDeleteKay - There was still a lot of debris around after Helene and that is making Milton clean-up even more difficult...I'll be so glad to see this season end. NYC should be a lot of fun though. Hope all's well with you.
DeletePoor Florida, & North Carolina from Helene. It's been a terrible few weeks there. I'm glad your place held. What a relief. Those photos of the coast & damage are so tough to see. It's good you're taking a fun few days to NYC ... I am looking forward to the new Strout novel & Olive & Lucy meeting! It must be like two halves of the author herself meeting together. And Bob Burgess too!
ReplyDeleteSusan - The meeting of Olive and Lucy was really something! And Bob Burgess... The Burgess Boys is next on my Elizabeth Strout rereading list. I just love these characters!
DeleteI'm more than ready to put this hurricane season behind us. Sure hope this is the end!
I didn't know about A Guest At the Feast, I want that one! Still far down the list for the bird book. My reading has slowed. I think it's the storm watching that has me weary. Hoping that picks up soon.
ReplyDeleteThat's fun to babysit Winnie!
Tina - So far Guest at the Feast is pretty interesting. I just finished part 1 (of three) and there were essays about his recent cancer treatment, his childhood, and his time as a journalist. The anxiety surrounding these storms has really worn me out this year... it's been really bad since Ian, but these back-to-back storms were too much!
DeleteI’m glad to hear you didn’t experience flooding or any other horrendous damage from these hurricanes. It must be so stressful having a home in the hurricane zones. Have a great trip to NY!
ReplyDeleteJodie - It has been especially tough this year. Glad we have the trip to NYC to look forward to!
DeleteI hope the remainder of hurricane season is calm so folks can recover, physically and emotionally. What a terrible season! I'm glad your house is safe & sound. It would be heartbreaking to have to go through all the repairs once again.
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited about the new Strout novel. Definitely going to spend a month reading all of her books, many for a second time. I was trying to think of who my favorite living author might be and I think it has to be Stephen King. Every book I pick up of his pulls me in from the opening paragraph. I appreciate that his more recent novels aren't scary (in a supernatural sense, that is).
It's nice that you're able to take care of your grandpup, Winnie. Do you think you will ever get another dog? Rod would love to have one again, but it's not convenient for us with an unfenced yard (not allowed in our HOA) or our long rv road trips.
Enjoy the author event with Strout & Wolitzer!
Les - Reading multiple Elizabeth Strout novels back-to-back sounds wonderful! I may do that at some point, too.
DeleteIt was really great having Winnie here. But I doubt we will get another dog any time soon, at least not while we are traveling so much. We're in the same boat as far as fences go, too. It was so easy in NY, we could just open the door and let Zelda out into a fenced area... she loved it. We can't have a fence in either place now.
Will report back on the author events!
The effects of the storm are really horrible in some areas. I feel terrible for everyone. CT is definitely a better place to be right now. I hope you have a great week!
ReplyDeleteYvonne - After my FIL died, we sold his Sanibel condo and bought the place here in CT. That has turned out to be an excellent decision... and the transaction happened only a few months before Ian hit!
DeleteSo glad to hear you and your home in FL escaped damage. So much tragedy from this current season--hopefully, the region can recover and prepare for future storms.
ReplyDeleteI never warmed up to Elizabeth Strout the way you have (but I haven't read most of what she's got out there), but I totally get absolutely loving an author and the characters/world they create and that we can share.
Olympus is appealing from the connection to Greek mythology, but over-the-top dysfunction might be too much for me. The Greek Gods are not good role models, as a rule :)
JaneGS - We're back from NYC and both author events were excellent! Loved seeing Elizabeth Strout, and Meg Wolitzer did a great job steering that conversation. It sounds like Strout is already at work on another novel... and I'm already looking forward to it.
DeleteI'm so glad your FL home didn't sustain any damage. I've enjoyed everything I've read by Elizabeth Strout and this one very much appeals to me as does the Amy Tan. I hope you've had some calm this week.
ReplyDeleteKatherine - We had a wonderful week in NYC. It was just what I needed to after a tense few weeks of hurricane worry.
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