I auditioned and was cast in a play by a local theatre.
It’s “Sylvia” by AR Gurney and I’ve had a wonderful time, not having done theater since the - ahem - 1990s. It rekindled a passion for acting that I thought was done for, but I’ve really enjoyed doing it. It’s been great therapy to work with people and totally focus on making something together.
I'm back to Middlemarch (plan to finish this year), am in the middle of Alice (about Alice Roosevelt Longworth by Stacy Cordery), and am slowly re-reading Wendell Berry's This Day poems.
Yes, yes, to Hannah Coulter! And after reading one or two of Berry's novels about Port William's families and friends, a must-read is the collection of five short stories Fidelity (also the title of one of the stories). It is the best!
He is a remarkable writer. I enjoyed Hannah Coulter even more than Jayber. I like to read Berry's books and poems slowly to savor the magnitude of their expression.
I've gotten back into origami. I've forgotten how much it relaxes me. Also drawing and, of course, writing. Got George Saunders' first collection half way through, and then I'm aiming for a book on the history of the notebook.
Oh yes. I've been doing origami for close to 30 years now. I pretty much fold whatever catches my eye as I flip through my books. Elephants and owls are my favorite to fold. I'm in a giraffe phase now. 😊
I just finished The Hallmark Man by Robert Galbraith which was a 31 hour long book. The books in the series are always released in the fall which makes for great reading for this series and length of book. I am enjoying the end of fresh corn on the cob and garden cherry tomatoes. I am gearing up for apple season and loving longer walks in the park with my Golden. And of course fall wouldn’t be fall without a pumpkin latte.
Corn and tomatoes — just the best when they're fresh. I've only read one or two of those Galbraith books, and it was when they were new. I may have to revisit sometime.
You're in Duluth! I'm in Madison and have always wanted to go up there but have yet to. Apologies!
Having just visited the UP for the first time, I'm very much into the Great Lakes. Currently reading Jerry Dennis's "The Living Great Lakes" while listening to Gordon Lightfoot croon about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Oh nice, if you make it up here let me know! That book is high on my list as well. And there’s a new Edmund Fitz book coming in November that’s really good. Keep an eye out for my review.
Reading a Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara right now. Fantastic read but it's screwing me up a bit. haha. Also reading Eric Foner's, The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution. Great read and very timely!
After fleeing the states to London, we are spending time each weekend exploring this great city. We've also planned a trip to Krakow, Poland at the end of October. My wife is polish and had ancestors that died in the holocaust and wants to visit Auschwitz.
I’m en route to Maine for a week and then a tour of Nova Scotia. I brought along A Midwife’s Tale which is a biography of Martha Ballard who is the heroine of the novel The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Luckily, the book takes place in Maine! Just finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. An amazing book dealing with so many themes that I haven’t completely processed. Highly recommend it.
Ever since I was a teenager I’ve really been intrigued by Post-Apocalyptic stories, and I’ve read most of the big well known stuff at this point and am enjoying finding hidden gems. One recently is an old out of print novel called “No Blade of Grass” by John Christopher
Related is praise to quality USED bookstores. Too many used bookstores near me are glorified goodwills. Which, is fine, but a good used bookstore with wide selection? Unbeatable
I'm a busy editor right now, too, but I enjoyed reading Sex of the Midwest by Robyn Ryle. It's a novel in linked stories. Made me laugh, fume a bit, and shake my head a few times.
I'm turning to casseroles again as the temps drop here in Washington state. Got three meals out of a chicken/veggies/rice & stewed tomatoes. Cooked for hours in my Wonderbag while we sailed!
I'm getting back into shape on the organ. I've agreed to sub at a local church for a series of five Sundays this fall, and I have some work to do learning new rep and preparing more interesting registrations than I'd normally do for a one-off Sunday. It should be fun! I've got lots of practice ahead of me, though...
I've been listening to audiobooks while working. St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, Orphans of the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein, and The Searchers by Alan La May are a few I've finished recently.
I'm writing a review of Leif Enger's "I Cheerfully Refuse" (a book you wrote about here). It's part of a larger project - I've been noticing a Great Lakes Apocalypse trend, which seems to have taken off in the last few years. It's an intriguing development.
Also reading Stendhal's "The Red and the Black," part of catching up on some 19th-c. essentials I've missed thus far.
I actually noticed this when I was finishing up my own book "Social Distancing" which deals with this topic. I think it was kicked off by "Station Eleven" last decade, and I discovered a novel called "News of the Air" (Jill Stukenberg, 2022) about fleeing to the Great Lakes and encountering a slo-mo climate apocalypse. Then came Enger's book (and mine!) and suddenly it seemed like a trend. There's also been a recent trend in ecological writing about the region.
Great photo of the swans at Pattison Park. I hike there frequently and have photographed them over the years, but I have never been lucky enough to catch them in flight.
This summer, I enjoyed the novel "Two Nights in Lisbon" by Chris Pavone. The 2022 story resonates with a major political scandal currently going on in the US.
For the next two months this is the time of year I earn about 80% of my income. So my reading is lighter in nature. I'm reading Chevalier" "The Glassmaker". She is one of my favorite authors and does in part deal with the plague. Seems like one of the themes on this tread. I finished Disney's Andor which is outstanding. I'm still reading a number of substacks on various topics. At some point this fall start reading books by Ted Gioia as I am intrigued by his knowledge of Jazz.
I broker dried fruit and nuts around the world. My business cycle revolves around religious holidays, Christmas, New Years, Asian festivals, and Ramadan. Everything has to be shipped 60 days ahead of the holidays.
I’m really enjoying Joan of Ark by Mark Twain. It’s fantastic!
Nice! I haven’t read that one yet myself.
This book was mentioned in "My Life with the Saints". I did not even know it existed but I did enjoy Twain's take on the subject.
I’ve been looking for a good copy of that for years at used bookstores… still haven’t found it. The search continues, slightly more enthusiastically.
I auditioned and was cast in a play by a local theatre.
It’s “Sylvia” by AR Gurney and I’ve had a wonderful time, not having done theater since the - ahem - 1990s. It rekindled a passion for acting that I thought was done for, but I’ve really enjoyed doing it. It’s been great therapy to work with people and totally focus on making something together.
Oh that’s so fun! Good luck!
Thanks! One week of shows behind us and folks seem to like the show. We close this weekend but I’m already eyeing other auditions
I'm back to Middlemarch (plan to finish this year), am in the middle of Alice (about Alice Roosevelt Longworth by Stacy Cordery), and am slowly re-reading Wendell Berry's This Day poems.
Wendell is high on my list to read more of - I’ve only read Jayber Crow, which was fantastic.
Yes, yes, to Hannah Coulter! And after reading one or two of Berry's novels about Port William's families and friends, a must-read is the collection of five short stories Fidelity (also the title of one of the stories). It is the best!
He is a remarkable writer. I enjoyed Hannah Coulter even more than Jayber. I like to read Berry's books and poems slowly to savor the magnitude of their expression.
I've gotten back into origami. I've forgotten how much it relaxes me. Also drawing and, of course, writing. Got George Saunders' first collection half way through, and then I'm aiming for a book on the history of the notebook.
Oh how fun! Are you venturing beyond cranes?
Oh yes. I've been doing origami for close to 30 years now. I pretty much fold whatever catches my eye as I flip through my books. Elephants and owls are my favorite to fold. I'm in a giraffe phase now. 😊
I just finished The Hallmark Man by Robert Galbraith which was a 31 hour long book. The books in the series are always released in the fall which makes for great reading for this series and length of book. I am enjoying the end of fresh corn on the cob and garden cherry tomatoes. I am gearing up for apple season and loving longer walks in the park with my Golden. And of course fall wouldn’t be fall without a pumpkin latte.
Corn and tomatoes — just the best when they're fresh. I've only read one or two of those Galbraith books, and it was when they were new. I may have to revisit sometime.
You're in Duluth! I'm in Madison and have always wanted to go up there but have yet to. Apologies!
Having just visited the UP for the first time, I'm very much into the Great Lakes. Currently reading Jerry Dennis's "The Living Great Lakes" while listening to Gordon Lightfoot croon about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Oh nice, if you make it up here let me know! That book is high on my list as well. And there’s a new Edmund Fitz book coming in November that’s really good. Keep an eye out for my review.
Reading a Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara right now. Fantastic read but it's screwing me up a bit. haha. Also reading Eric Foner's, The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution. Great read and very timely!
After fleeing the states to London, we are spending time each weekend exploring this great city. We've also planned a trip to Krakow, Poland at the end of October. My wife is polish and had ancestors that died in the holocaust and wants to visit Auschwitz.
Sounds like you have some good plans lined up. And Foner is always good! He has a new book of essays that published just this week.
I’m en route to Maine for a week and then a tour of Nova Scotia. I brought along A Midwife’s Tale which is a biography of Martha Ballard who is the heroine of the novel The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Luckily, the book takes place in Maine! Just finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. An amazing book dealing with so many themes that I haven’t completely processed. Highly recommend it.
Enjoy the trip! A Midwife’s Tale is great.
Ever since I was a teenager I’ve really been intrigued by Post-Apocalyptic stories, and I’ve read most of the big well known stuff at this point and am enjoying finding hidden gems. One recently is an old out of print novel called “No Blade of Grass” by John Christopher
Super enjoyed it
Ooo, also a genre I love! Haven’t heard of that one so I’ll definitely check it out.
Related is praise to quality USED bookstores. Too many used bookstores near me are glorified goodwills. Which, is fine, but a good used bookstore with wide selection? Unbeatable
Yes, definitely! For being a town of about 85k, Duluth has a handful excellent bookstores for me to choose from.
I'm a busy editor right now, too, but I enjoyed reading Sex of the Midwest by Robyn Ryle. It's a novel in linked stories. Made me laugh, fume a bit, and shake my head a few times.
I'm turning to casseroles again as the temps drop here in Washington state. Got three meals out of a chicken/veggies/rice & stewed tomatoes. Cooked for hours in my Wonderbag while we sailed!
I'm getting back into shape on the organ. I've agreed to sub at a local church for a series of five Sundays this fall, and I have some work to do learning new rep and preparing more interesting registrations than I'd normally do for a one-off Sunday. It should be fun! I've got lots of practice ahead of me, though...
Into the fall/winter music season!
I've been listening to audiobooks while working. St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, Orphans of the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein, and The Searchers by Alan La May are a few I've finished recently.
I’m listening to Chesterton too! Orthodoxy, for me. It’s very good - very meditative.
Orthodoxy is on my list.
I'm writing a review of Leif Enger's "I Cheerfully Refuse" (a book you wrote about here). It's part of a larger project - I've been noticing a Great Lakes Apocalypse trend, which seems to have taken off in the last few years. It's an intriguing development.
Also reading Stendhal's "The Red and the Black," part of catching up on some 19th-c. essentials I've missed thus far.
Intriguing indeed! What else is out there on the niche subject?
I actually noticed this when I was finishing up my own book "Social Distancing" which deals with this topic. I think it was kicked off by "Station Eleven" last decade, and I discovered a novel called "News of the Air" (Jill Stukenberg, 2022) about fleeing to the Great Lakes and encountering a slo-mo climate apocalypse. Then came Enger's book (and mine!) and suddenly it seemed like a trend. There's also been a recent trend in ecological writing about the region.
Just picked up and read 4 books by Joe Ide , a new author for me to read
Nice! I’ve heard good things.
Great photo of the swans at Pattison Park. I hike there frequently and have photographed them over the years, but I have never been lucky enough to catch them in flight.
This summer, I enjoyed the novel "Two Nights in Lisbon" by Chris Pavone. The 2022 story resonates with a major political scandal currently going on in the US.
For the next two months this is the time of year I earn about 80% of my income. So my reading is lighter in nature. I'm reading Chevalier" "The Glassmaker". She is one of my favorite authors and does in part deal with the plague. Seems like one of the themes on this tread. I finished Disney's Andor which is outstanding. I'm still reading a number of substacks on various topics. At some point this fall start reading books by Ted Gioia as I am intrigued by his knowledge of Jazz.
That all sounds great! What do you do for work that it's so seasonal?
I broker dried fruit and nuts around the world. My business cycle revolves around religious holidays, Christmas, New Years, Asian festivals, and Ramadan. Everything has to be shipped 60 days ahead of the holidays.