summer reads

Last week I was inspired by posts on Micaela's and Claire's blog about what they've been reading and what they plan to read this summer. My most epic summer read ever was getting through the amazing 2666 by Roberto Bolaño in a month and following it up with Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. That was an intense few weeks, but also some of the best reading that I've ever done.

If you've been following the book club, you know that I recently read Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Definitely not my favourite book of all time, but I'm glad I read it, too. I realize that I like reading books that tie into one another. Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea. 2666 and Blood Meridian (Blood Meridian could be the prequel to 2666).

The last book that I finished was Phillip Connors's Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout. It made me want to be a fire lookout in another lifetime, visit the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico, and read more about the Continental Divide Trail. In fact, I kind of wish it had more in it about the people who visit the fire lookout throughout the season. Those were the best parts.

Right after school finished I was really into comedy memoirs for a bit. I'd recently read some Sarah Vowell and wanted light, entertaining books to help me take life down a notch after school. Jeff thoughtfully picked me up a copy of Tina Fey's book, Bossypants, after which I immediately read David Cross's book I Drink for a Reason. Tina Fey's book was more interesting to me in every way: more personal details of her life and career, funnier, and much more relatable for me. She's amazing and her book is pretty great, too.

And before all of these, while I was finishing up grad school, I read Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion. It was such a timely read for me about confidence and passion. I have to thank my distant friend and reading idol, Camilla for both introducing me to this book and Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea and Goodreads (where I've been keeping track of my reading for four years).

The book I'm reading now is, without a doubt, amazing. Cormac McCarthy might be my favourite writer right now, just because of this book. I'm reading All the Pretty Horses, which thankfully is the first book in a trilogy. Here's a passage that I would marry if I could marry sentences:

By early evening all the sky to the north had darkened and the spare terrain they trod had turned a neuter gray as far as eye could see. They grouped in the road at the top of the rise and looked back. The storm front towered above them and the wind was cool on their sweating faces. They slumped bleary-eyed in their saddles and looked at one another. Shrouded in the black thunderheads the distant lightning glowed mutely like welding seen through foundry smoke. As if repairs were under way at some flawed place in the iron dark of the world.

Finally, I'm looking forward to our next book club read (better get started soon!) and a few other things that I picked up in Portland at Powell's Books, pretty much my favourite shop in the Pacific Northwest. What are you reading right now?