She Is Too Fond of Books: My Summer Reading

I haven’t read as much as I typically do this summer. I’ve had other things on my mind.

In fact, I have not been able to settle into summer this year, and I feel the loss of it. Instead of enjoying the moments here at the cabin, I've continually looked into the future, to our return trip and a new house.

While I was peering anxiously ahead, the future crept up behind me. We leave tomorrow.

I still fit in some reading and have a few noteworthy titles I can pass along to you:

• Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen, by Mary Sharratt
• The Last Runaway, by Tracy Chevalier
• A Man of Means and A Damsel in Distress, both by P.G. Wodehouse
• The Charming Quirks of Others, by Alexander McCall Smith
• And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini
• The Storyteller, by Jodi Picoult

Two books I attempted to read and just couldn’t (nothing against the books; it was just me):

• The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling
• The Burgess Boys, by Elizabeth Strout, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge

Mostly, though, I’ve been perusing decorating magazines and ripping out pages that appeal to me. I have a whole house renovation awaiting me when I get back home. To the home I’ve never seen, that is.

Perhaps that’s why I haven’t been able to focus on reading for pleasure this summer. Duh.