wanderlusting

It wasn't too hard to give up on "The Postmistress" since I picked a fabulous book to move on to, "A Year In Provence" by Peter Mayle.  Any book that has to do with France or french- I love.  Even if the book sucks, I still like it because it has that element in it.  It's true.  There is a whole shelf in my book case that has only these kinds of books on it.  It just has a special place in my heart and soul.  I'd say it all started because my grandmother (my Dad's mom) spoke barely any english and the one thing I remember most about her is her thick french accent.  That sparked my interest in learning the language, I wanted to understand what she was saying to me.  Sadly, I never got that opportunity to have a true conversation in french with her before she died, but I continued learning it through college.  My senior year I spent a semester abroad and was living my dream.  I was immersed in the language and culture and loved it.  I lived in a town called Nancy.  I am hoping to go back for a visit sometime this summer (Darcey, I'm serious!).  The book I am reading now takes place in a completely different location, Provence, but it's still France.  Each chapter is a month and I'm already on July (it started in January).  I love this author's style and attitude, very clever.  The way he describes things makes it feel like I am right there next to him and provides me with lots of food for my imagination.  He spends five pages talking about truffles and it's absolutely fascinating... all about the mushroom!
Normally, I have little sticky-tab things that I use to mark a page that has something I want to remember and/or go back to at some point, but for this book there are so many that I just gave in and used my highlighter.  It's already going dry.  I hate when that happens, it's usually and indication to me that I am too highlighter-happy, but I can't help myself... I was deprived from marking books up in high school because we had to return them, so now I am making up for it.


The other book came in from the library, "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving.  A friend I share a love for books and scrabble with read it a few months ago and she said it reminded her of me.  It also was on one of those must-read-before-you-die lists.  It's a big one, over 600 pages.  Now, if I had a kindle, I wouldn't be able to have to satisfaction of holding that fat paperback and turning each page.  But, if it I did have a kindle, I wouldn't have to switch to my bigger purse just to tote that bigger book around in.  If someone gave me a kindle, I'd be very happy.  If someone gave me a book I'd be very happy.  Both have their ups and downs.

I was lucky enough to be able to read two days this week outside on my porch.  It's time to make some iced tea and put on the sunscreen!  It really is blissful to sit out there.