Escape Tactics…
I’m terrible. I like to withdraw when things get tough. My mind just races and whirls around the negative. When it gets that way it seems the best way to combat it is to withdraw into worlds of fiction - books, movies, and television.
I finished Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger last Saturday night. I swear his books get better and better. Then again it may just be that I feel more and more invested in the characters which each book. This is the third in the Cork O’Connor series so once again is set in the small town of Aurora, MN in northeastern Minnesota. A lot of this book takes place on Lake Superior and involves lots of action from scuba diving, to bombs, protests, and even kidnapping.
My mom finished this just slightly before I did and the one thing both of us have noticed is that the first half of his books are kind of slow, but once we cross that half way point, don’t talk to me, don’t call me, don’t ask me if I’m hungry. I *must* finish the book! LOL! It was kind of fun to have our own personal book club.
Speaking of book clubs, the library book club that I have attended three our of the past four years is starting up again next week. I’m undecided whether to go. It conflicts with SnB every 6 weeks. I didn’t go last year because of that conflict but also because for whatever reason I couldn’t make it to the first meeting where we nominate and vote on the six titles we’ll read and what got picked was of no interest whatsoever to me.
I’m all about book clubs stretching your boundary of reading tastes, but the books were all either very heavy tomes or political non-fiction. I like when there are one or two sprinkled into the mix, but last year’s listing was over the top. Plus, I have found that when the titles are ones that I don’t have much interest in they take me the entire six weeks to get through and I don’t have time to read any titles that I *want* to read. I’m tempted to go on Monday to see what gets chosen. That meeting nearly always results in a handful of titles to add to my “must read list” that maybe wouldn’t have crossed my path otherwise. But, if I do go I have to nominate a book and I’m not sure what to nominate.
Anyway, SIL3 and DH patiently went to the library with me on Sunday afternoon and I came home with three more mysteries - another Diane Mott Davidson, a Stuart Woods, and my first Faye Kellerman. I decided to dive into the Kellerman novel that blogless Shelley recommended - Ritual Bath.
I only got the first chapter read on Sunday night before I had to give in to my nodding head. But I still got the book done yesterday morning. Now, it is a fairly slim book, but that was one of my fastest reads this summer. This one is a suspense/romance. There was a wonderful balance between the suspense and the romance and I loved that there were multiple mysteries in the book. That added a different element that you don’t often see in the mysteries. Part of me wanted to ignore the other two books I had checked out and go check out the next book, LOL! I can’t wait to see what happens with Peter and Rina and what sort of mysteries they find themselves wrapped up in next time.
I have to thank Chris profusely for pointing her readers to Stop, You’re Killing Me. I ended up copying down in my purse notebook the next several books in the series of some of my favorite authors so I can just browse the library shelves and choose whichever series has the next book that I need to read. I suspect it’ll come in handy when hitting the used book stores and/or thrift stores before my next trip Minnesota (I dislike traveling with library books for fear of loosing them and since they are often hard cover and heavier to tote around in a carry on). It has also been helpful for my mom as I can assist her in formulating her request list for the NLS for books on tape so that she can get the books in proper order. So, does anyone know of a similar sort of web site to SYKM that is for romance books??
Now I’m reading the third Diane Mott Davidson novel, The Cereal Murders.
There has also been some catching up on summer television series (The Closer, Psych, checking out the new Three Moons Over Milford etc.) and a little bit of movie watching going on. Last week we enlightened our friend, John, on the amusement that is Saved! It stars Jenna Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, and Eva Amurri. It has a great supporting cast of Mary-Louise Parker and Martin Donovan as well. It is a humorous look at what self-righteousness gets you. I am always amazed at how well they walk the fine line between being anti-religion and just being anti-fundamentalist religion. It is very pro-spirituality.
This weekend we decompressed on Saturday night by watching The Bridcage on-Demand. I had forgotten how hillarious and brilliant Hank Azaria was. We had also forgotten that Calista Flockhart was in and was surprised to see Dan Futterman who later played Vincent in Judging Amy and more recently Danny in Related. It was a fun blast from the not too distant past.
What are your favorite ways to escape stressful events happening in your life that you have no control over?
Despite the lack of posts on knitting there has been knitting going on around here. It hasn’t all been baking and spinning. However, it has been rather boring knitting that has taken place so I haven’t been showing it off. With the heat and the on-the-go schedule of summer I’ve been mostly knitting socks. I have two completed socks, but I’m afraid they are not mates.
