We’re back from Daytona and what an experience!  Even a non-race fan like myself was thrilled and amazed by how visceral the experience was — the noise, the colors, the smells…  I highly recommend it.  And if you do have the chance, be sure to rent a scanner and listen in on the conversations between the drivers and their crews — fascinating.

Beyond the race, I was also able to read!  At first this was in jeopardy, since our luggage — and my two library books — was delayed 24 hours upon arrival.  I had filled my carry-on bag with magazines (which I finished on the plane) and Oprah’s new pick.  So, Tolle’s New Earth was my only choice until the luggage arrived Saturday afternoon.  This was just fine — my father-in-law’s garden is a small paradise, and the weather was perfect — warm sun, light breeze, a profusion of pink azaleas, an inspiring read.  And I am still enjoying Oprah’s pick immensely.  Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from chapters three and four:

The particular egoic patterns that you react to most strongly in others and misperceive as their indentity tend to be the same patterns that are also in you, but that you are unable or unwilling to detect within yourself…  Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists…don’t be concerned with how others define you.  When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it’s their problem.

Once my library books arrived (whew!) I first read Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson.  While recently researching for the kit on Gilead, many reviewers sited Robinson’s first novel as even better.  I do not agree with this belief, but I did enjoy it.  The setting was even more prominent and present in this novel, but the characters did not work into my heart the same way the folks in Gilead did.  Here are a couple of great sentences, though:

A number of dogs began to spend most of their time at the ice.  they were young, leggy dogs, affable and proprietary, and exhilarated by the weather.  they liked to play at retrieving bits of ice which sped fantastically fast and far across the lake.  The dogs made a gallant and youthful joke of their own strength and speed, and flaunted an  utter indifference to the safety of their limbs.

For another perspective — check out Heather’s review (from Book Addiction)

Coincidentally, my second read this week was also about orphans — A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.  I am only half-way through Egger’s first novel, but will easily finish it by Friday simply because I am enjoying it so much.  I know I’m behind with this one — it came out a few years ago and received a lot of publicity.  But I was afraid it would be too self-consciously clever, too much of a “first novel.”  However, in his preface he addresses these concerns outright and admits that, yes, it will be self-conscious and flawed.  Well, it is (self-conscious), but it is also very funny and endearing and extrememly readable.  Highly recommended, if you haven’t read it yet.

My last work in progress is for the kit I am creating this week — Anne Enright’s The Gathering.  You may remember that I gave up on this a few weeks ago.  Well, a custom kit was requested recently and I am actually looking forward to trying it again.   

There you have it!  Happy Reading!

Feel free to check out my guest post today on the Positivity Blog…  Not exactly related to reading, but isn’t everything related to reading somehow?

Welcome back!