’twas a slow month for reading, with these hot summer days consumed largely by steep learning curves for everything to do with the house reno.
Hardwood is better than engineered flooring for us for various reasons, so now what type of wood and stain colour do we want it?
And what look of tile goes best beside that?
And what kind of material is best for tiles?
What are the best rated dishwashers and why, and which among the best will fit everything we need it to and is also (please, please, please) affordable? Oh, and also a stove. And a fridge.
What the hell do you mean water can stain granite counter tops? It’s stone. Well, okay, shows what I know, so what are some other options…?
The list at times seems endless. To say nothing of trying to stay ahead of the curve on when our architect/contractor needs all of those items in-hand. Which has the added twist of, Oh and by the way, everything coming into the country from anywhere else is way backed up these days because of Covid and what’s already here is selling out, so things have to be ordered extra, extra ahead of time.
It’s fun*!
All of which is to say, what should be lazy, hazy days of summer are instead exhausting, hazy days of summer that pack one’s brain to overflowing with volumes of information that one has never needed before but now needs to know, quickly, and can then forget utterly in a few months’ time.
Which doesn’t rhyme nearly as well.
So while I’d normally be reading more these days, there’s simply not enough time to get to more than usually a few pages at a time.
Here’s the resulting wee list:
Read
The Map to Everywhere – Carrie Ryan & John Parke Davis
Started and stopped
The Hero’s Guide to Saving the Kingdom – Christopher Healey
Reading
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky – Kwame Mbalia
The Map to Everywhere was a pretty fun story. Enough so that I’ll likely read the sequel that’s also sitting on the bookshelf.
Tristan Strong is one of the newest releases in the Rick Riordan Presents series, where the wildly popular Riordan uses his juice in the publishing industry to bring attention to other, international writers who would otherwise not have gotten nearly as much focus on their books. I know nothing about Rick Riordan’s personal life, so can’t speak to my take on him as an individual, but that’s a really cool thing for him to be doing. I’m looking forward to the book.
Hopefully more squared away and more time to read (and write and play and just be) next month.
*no, it’s not.
We’ve read a couple of Rick Riordan Presents books, and they’ve been quite good. My daughter informs me that Tristan Strong is well worth my (severely limited) time, so I’m looking forward to it.