A Cup of Coffee and a Book

It's Been a Long Time

I can't believe it's October already. Life has been very full for me and for my family, and this year has simply flown by. I've been reading steadily though it all, but writing blog posts....not so much. I write blog posts in my head, and then the moment passes. Or I begin a draft of a blog post, and it simply withers on the vine (I have so many drafts of posts just hanging out in various stages of unfinishedness....).

So I felt the need to post something, no matter how incomplete and imperfect, to talk about where I am in my reading.

I'm on Library Thing now, finally. I wish I had done this long ago. I'm bibliolisa; look me up and friend me. I signed up to be an early reviewer, and lo and behold, a book arrived. How cool is that? I requested The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro from Algonquin Press. This book is pretty much a perfect fit for me: it is set in Boston, where I lived for about a decade. The main character is a painter (I studied art and worked as an artist and art reviewer). And I worked in some of the main settings of the novel (a Newbury Street art gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). As soon as I finish reading I'll be reviewing both here and on LibraryThing.

I've been really lucky lately with review copies and ARCS....the books that have arrived at my doorstep have been deeply enjoyable. I loved The Whipping Club by Deborah Henry, and I loved, loved The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam.

In between review copies and reading for school, I've been reading Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens, which I love, love, love. I should finish this novel some time this century. Actually, I'm on page 421, and, without footnotes, the novel runs to 800 pages, so I am past the halfway mark.

School is going really well this year, but I am deep in the mire of grading, prepping, reading, grading. It's sad, because I am reading so much, yet I don't post reviews for some of the best books I read. I will do better at thsi.

Oh, and I am seriously into yoga. That happened this summer, and so I'm reading up on that too (and taking workshops on meditation, and going to kirtan performances, and all kinds of groovy yoga stuff).

And then I'm reading around in all kinds of books, dipping in and out again, for the classes I teach, My courses this year are the best ever, and the year I'm having is pretty much the best ever. I have just two preps (teacher types will understand how dreamy this is). Creative Writing (two sections) and English II Honors (sophomores) and I just love it. But I still have gigantic piles of papers to grade (sad face).

Right this minute I should either be sleeping or grading (I don't do enough of either) but I will tell you about the review copies I've gotten recently that I can't wait to read:
Bloodmoney by David Ignatius from W.W. Norton
The White Forest byAdam McOmber from Touchstone
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton from Newman Communications

So that's a little bit about where I am in my reading. I hope to get a really good Sunday Coffee post up this weekend, with updates on challenges and my aspirations to the Classics Club. But this is enough for now, a post, at long last.