Summer. Reading...
it's that time
Here in Portland, Oregon the heat has arrived, full force. Gardening consists of watering to keep everything alive. Baking is nil. The sewing room is shut up with air conditioning turned off in there to conserve. Writing ... I'm writing my weekly newsletter, drafted a few essays. That's it. Which leaves reading.
Summer is a good time to read. I've been reading in my chair hammock, an hour or so at at time. I always read at bedtime, at least a few pages before I fall asleep. Sometimes I read in my writing chair. I keep a book on writing on the side table, and right now I also have a graphic novel I'm reading. It's Nancy by Olivia Jaimes. I grew up reading the Nancy and Sluggo comic books, and when I saw there was a graphic novel, I (wrongly) assumed it was a collection of some of those old comics. The comic strip character Nancy first appeared in the strip Fritzi Ritz. She was Fritzi's niece. Creator Ernie Bushmiller planned to keep her for a week, then drop her. But Nancy has endured for nearly 100 years with her sassy and grump self. When Jaimes took over the strip, she updated Nancy, but kept her personality. Reading Nancy makes me wish I'd kept my old comics. I had a couple of Nancy's, but several Little Lulus, which was my favorite comic book character.
Do you, or did you, have a favorite comic book character? Tell me about them.
I read Kate Kasten's new book Banners about people who ban books, and those who fight back. It's satire, and I loved it.
I started Lucky by Jane Smiley, and I'll get back to it soon. I love her writing.
I read The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds, a play by Paul Zindel. It's about a lousy mother to two daughters, one a "convulsive" and the other a bullied nerd. It contains some animal abuse and murder, and the content about the mother and her daughters hit way too close to home for me. I thought about the movie that starred Joanne Woodward, and how woefully miscast she was in that role. At least in my opinion. Geraldine Page could have done a better job. I should watch the movie again to see Nell Potts as the nerd daughter, because she won praise from the critics. She is the daughter in real life of Woodward and Paul Newman (who directed). I have to mention that the playwright Paul Zindel claimed to find this script fully written alongside his typewriter when he awoke one morning.
On my stack, with Lucky, are Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver, Edith's Diary by Patricia Highsmith -- which I've started, and Hunting Gold by Ann Aptaker. On my new Fire tablet is E. J. Kindred's Family Secrets. I'm about 100 pages into it. Books I own (like Aptaker's and Kindred's) get set aside for library books I've checked out. So, by my count I'm currently reading four books. Yikes. I need to spend more time in the chair hammock.
What are you reading? What's on your nightstand? Do you read electronically, on paper, by audio? What's your favorite and why?
I remember as a child my dad used to bring home a comic from work on a Friday. It was the Beano and my favourite characters were the 'numbskulls' which were a bunch of tiny people who lived inside someone's brain. I loved the idea that the brain was worked by tiny people, I guess it's a little like that film Inside Out. I love reading now and I've just joined a book club which I'm loving. At present we are reading a very British Book, The Trial, by Rob Rinder. But we have a real mix of books to come in the next few months. The last book we discussed was Yellowface by Rebbecca F.Kuang. (oh and I love my audio books and kindle which are helpful because I own 5 bookshelves which are already heaving! )
Living in the English East Midlands and with an interest in politics, my time has been consumed reading about the General Election campaign and the outcome for close on seven weeks. I get my news and comment from the BBC and The Guardian, a liberal leaning newspaper. I have read nothing else, apart from a few substack posts, including you Sandra.
Despite being a member of the Labour Party for 64 years, I have been described, fairly at times, as a maverick, an anarchist, left-wing and ‘too green for the Party’. And last Thursday I voted Green because, knowing Labour was going to win my constituency (Broxtowe), I could vote where my heart is, and has been for fifty years. It was a wonderful feeling. Friends and family voted Labour holding their noses. No one I know trusts Keir Starmer, but he is a lot better than any Conservative. The total number of votes Labour received in 2024 to win with a fantastic majority was a lot less than Corbyn got in 2019, when Labour was hammered, such are the vagaries our voting system. I hope I have another five years in me so I can experience the U.K’s next general election. I think the political landscape will be different, thanks to Reform, the right-wing party who got the third most votes but only five MPs, whereas the Liberals, who got far fewer votes, won 72 seats! The saddest thing of all was the turnout. Just under 60%, which means 40% didn’t vote, including a good few I know who refuse to believe their vote matters and believe ‘all politicians are the same’.
I have written every day and typed zilch, then there is the garden. Thanks to days and days of rain, there is a lot to do, then there is being tired.
I suspect you have been thinking a lot about Biden. I am not sure what to make of it. Your take would be interesting. 🐰