Currently, I’m a bit scrambled with weather-whiplash. Until last week, I would have said that this “spring” was a chilly one; slow-to-arrive. But then – overnight – summer arrived. For a whole week. Today? It’s snowing. (And I am completely serious.) So . . . from the 40s to the 80s to the 30s. All in 7 days. It’s a scramble.
My garden is exploding! My closet’s a mess. (Because it’s obviously too early to switch out the sweaters.) (But I also need shorts just in case.) My garden is exploding! JoJo is uncomfortable. (It got too hot too quickly for her to adapt — plus she hasn’t shed her winter coat yet.) And did I mention . . . my garden is exploding!
It’s seasonal whack-a-mole here.
How am I distracting myself?
Well, currently . . .
I’m reading . . . like it’s my job. After years of thinking about it, I finally “applied” to receive advance reader copies (ARCs) of books through NetGalley. If you’re selected to read a book, the publisher sends you an unproofed version of the book prior to the publication, and your “job” . . . is to read it and write/publish a review. I know a lot of you already do this, but I’ve been a hold out . . . until now. I’ve just started receiving ARCs, so . . . I’m reading like it’s my job!
My first ARC . . . was The Covenant of Water (coming out in May) by Abraham Verghese, and I was really excited to read it — because I adored his earlier book, Cutting for Stone. This one, though? Not as good. And really long, to boot. Then, I got to read Ann Patchett’s new one, Tom Lake (coming out in August), and oh, my . . . it’s wonderful.
And . . . I have a couple more waiting in the wings. (It could be a far worse “job” . . . )
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And I’m watching some TV. Tom and I usually get together every night to watch some TV before heading to bed. Like pretty much everyone we know right now, we’re eagerly waiting for the latest Ted Lasso episode to “drop” every Wednesday night. And we loved Daisy Jones and the Six. We’ve also just started watching Tiny Beautiful Things – although I’m not sure that one is hitting the right notes for Tom (we’ll see. . . ).
One show we both really liked, though, was Shrinking. We gave it a try because it’s written/produced by some of the Ted Lasso group (including Brett Goldstein, who plays Roy Kent). It’s good . . . with that same great-characters, tight-writing, refreshing-dialog, feel-good-vibe “thing” that Ted Lasso has. Plus Harrison Ford. Really worth watching. We highly recommend it!
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And I’m listening to some music. Several years ago, Tom stumbled onto a series of three albums (Under the Covers Volumes 1, 2 and 3) on Spotify while he was looking for something else. Under the Covers . . . is, as you might guess by the title, a series of covers “covered” by Matthew Sweet (of Girlfriend fame) and Susanna Hoffs (formerly of The Bangles; you know . . . “just another manic Monday” . . . ). Anyway. Volume 1 contains songs from the 60s, Volume 2 from the 70s, and Volume 3 (you probably are seeing the pattern here. . . ) from the 80s. The albums are really fun – and Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoff as a duo really works. We listened to these albums quite a lot for a while, with Volume 2 on particularly heavy rotation.
Well. Last week, I stumbled onto them again as I was looking for something to listen to while weeding. And then . . . all three volumes became the soundtrack of my week! If you like good covers, you might want to give these a listen.
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And today? Well. I guess today I’ll just try to catch up on some inside chores . . . because gardening in the snow is just not very fun, y’know?
How about you? What are you up to . . . mid-month?
We haven’t hit 50 degrees yet so 80 must have been wonderful! We have so much snow here with more to come this week. I was over winter weeks ago but it just keeps on coming. I’m reading The Winners by Fredrik Backman and knitting socks and a shawl which is great fun but I have quarterly reports to do at work which I never enjoy. How can it be mid April already?!?
I’m officially envious that you got approved for Tom Lake and my request is still just sitting there, ignored. But reading isn’t a bad job (unless you’re slogging through Covenant of Water)! I’m reading a pre-pub nonfiction about owls and waiting for yarn so I can finish my Hitchhiker and knit some socks. I’m also watching four of my niece’s kids today while she takes the fifth for her shots. I think I agreed to that in a weather-whiplash-induced delirium when it was 90 degrees!
Our weather pattern has been similar but without the snow, thank goodness! What’s that saying? The temperature dropped from 80 to 40 like a driver spotting a state-y on the highway! I’m so glad you are using NetGalley now and I have Tom Lake, too, but I haven’t started it yet. I’m glad to here it’s wonderful, I was hoping it would be!
The 80’s just left us and now we’re living with drizzle. Boone did NOT do well with the heat at all and was really out of sorts. Sitting here watching the marathon, considering a workout and packing for a vacation adventure! Thank-you for the music recommendation!
I’m knitting on that sock. Going pretty well with that.
AND …I’ve started a new book. The ladies at the Toad Hollow podcast recommended “The Measure” by Nikki Erlick. It grabbed me from page 1.
The weather just can’t decide what to do anywhere, it seems. The end of last week was brutally hot and even somewhat humid here. Then Saturday and yesterday were spring. Today and tomorrow are fall temperatures. Then back to summer. Ugh. I’m just glad some of our plants and flowers are even still hanging in!
Our weather has been the same, 80s to 30s in just a couple of days!
I was a bit disappointed to read your review of the new Verghese book, but I plan to read it when it comes out. I started reading Stone Blind and am thoroughly enjoying it!
I was amazed that I was seeing blooming magnolias on my way out to Ali’s yesterday!! (And everything else, but… magnolias!!)
We’ve had the same wild dip in temperatures here — it was in the mid-80s for several days in a row and this morning it was 41 when I was having breakfast. I’ve got my wool socks back on and am waiting for a cup of tea to steep to warm me up after lunch (something I haven’t done since early March; it’s my usual winter afternoon ritual). I’ve just requested Tom Lake on NetGalley, so we’ll see if I get approved. In the meantime, I’m still working on my Women’s Prize list!
How weird i this? I just started NetGalley too! I like it but I feel the pressure!
How fun to be previewing books – although I am such a slow reader lately, I don’t know if I could handle the pressure 😉 So glad to hear you’re enjoying Shrinking. We LOVED it. Spring is coming slow and steady here – but I rode my bike to meet a friend for coffee and return a library book today, for the first time since October (which seems terrible but true – the October part.) That was hopeful in lots of ways!
I was delighted to stumble on Ann’s airport outpost of Parnassus recently during a Nashville layover. Can’r remember which Terminal it was in. I had kind of roved around. Too bad Tom Lake hadn’t come out yet. I would have bought it on the spot given your review, plus the sheer souvenir-ness of it. I really liked the Dutch House (partly because of Tom Hanks’ audio version) but could never get into Bel Canto. I tried. I really did. Maybe after Tom Lake I will try again. Mostly, these days I like VERY light fiction and well-written non-fiction. It’s a stage in life, as we all have every now and then.
I have requested Ann’s new book… fingers crossed! I am *finally* nearing completion on The Covenant of Water… yes, it is long… but there is so much to like about it… and yet, it is no Cutting for Stone. (But perhaps that book just set the bar so high for anything else to get near!)
I have been sewing… all.the.things! Some overdue repairs and yes… some new things! I am glad to see the bottom of the sewing pile though! Ha!
(and yes… still weeding… always weeding!)
We have had weather whip-lash around here although we didn’t get snow with this last temperature drop from 85 to 35 overnight. My closet is also a mess. I haven’t broken out the shorts but a few short-sleeved t-shirts have seen some wear. Although I enjoyed Cutting for Stone, I thought it could have been more tightly edited. I am looking forward to Patchett’s new book.
I’m delighted to read your short review of Tom Lake (and I am still refusing to sign up for Net Galley) – thank you for the Shrinking tip – we just finished Daisy Jones last week (so good!) and are waiting to watch Ted Lasso until it’s done. We’re finally getting back to Magpie Murders, which we tried last October when it was originally airing … and I realized I had NO bandwidth to begin to keep up with the story while I was keeping up with a puppy. Happy to report we are enjoying it! I introduced Karen and Lydia to Coastal Grandma playlists while we were in the kitchen together cooking … it’s great music to sing along to … together!