Instead of doing the things I need to do, should do, must do, I have just been reading. Escapism, I guess. The Book Group selection for this month is "Miss Benson's Beetle" by Rachel Joyce. A very good book, funny, sad, scary, well written. I enjoyed it a lot and it reminds me to read her earlier book "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" which has been on my "To Read" list for a long time.
I usually finish a book once I start, but sometimes I find one that is just too much for me. This time it was "The Woman in the Window" by A.J. Finn. About a woman who has a trauma in her life and becomes agoraphobic and, of course, paranoid. Too heavy for me at this point in my life. The writing is very good, but I can't take the story.
Then I read "Still Me" a memoir by Christopher Reeve (Superman). He wrote it in 1998, three years after the riding accident that paralyzed him. There is a lot of detail about what happens when one is confined to a wheelchair and on a ventilator, more medical info that I can comprehend. But he talks about his whole life, family, stage and films. The title comes from his wife Dana who told him when he offered to release her from their marriage that "You are still you and I still love you". He died in 2004 from a heart attack. I'm glad I read it.
A friend gave me a few books that she had read. One is "The Keepsake Sisters" by Lori Wilde who is the author of 91 books of romantic fiction. Not something I usually read, but it was there on my table and the subject of twins separated at birth who are reunited at age 35 sounded interesting. This was REALLY escapism for me, interesting plot, but a little too goody-two-shoes. (I think my friend's adult bunny tasted the cover of this book!)
From that to a real "downer", but I didn't find it so bad. All during the pandemic when I drive on streets with no other moving cars I think of Nevil Shute's "On the Beach", a book about the end of human life on Earth due to nuclear war. I had seen the movie sometime in the early 60's, but never read the book. Now I would like to see the movie again. As always, the movie changes things around, but the story remains pretty much the same. Very well written. Gripping, even if one knows the ending.
My current read is "Samurai's Garden" by Gail Tsukiyama. I've read most of her books, starting with "Women of the Silk", but somehow I missed this one from 1994. She writes well and her research seems sound - I am enjoying it and will finish tonight.
And then I think I need to get responsible and do the things that I keep avoiding.
Joan Hutter made a comment on yesterday's post that Sycamore trees are protected and can't be cut down. But that applies to the California Sycamore (Plantanus racemosa) native to the area. The trees in my neighborhood are Plantanus occidentalis, planted about 60 years ago too close to the sidewalk, which is badly lifted. I hope they are not cut down, but I can understand the problems. Thanks for your comment Joan.
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