Saturday, June 27, 2015

June 28: Pre-trip Saturday

Well, we're getting ready to depart on Monday, and of course I'm a bit cranked up, so I spent a chunk of this early early morning reading vs. sleeping. . . . so I have another book review to share!


The Lost Art of Keeping SecretsThe Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a pleasure to find an absorbing read to usher in summer vacation and to keep me busy as we prep for a two week trip away! Lost Art is a charming, involving, cheerful nothing of a book--reminds me a LOT of "I Capture The Castle" but is much more developed. Would love to read a sequel/more of her writing. Highly recommended for Anglophiles and/or historical fiction buffs: it's set in post WWII England, a time period I haven't read much about.

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Thursday, June 25, 2015

June 25: Aaaaaaat Lasssssssst!

We are on vacation! Though I was done 4 days earlier than last year and missed one of the two Saturday makeup days, it was still a long and demanding year on many levels. On Saturday, June 20, my two ninth grade classes had exams, so Sunday (which was also Confirmation Sunday at church, and I was a mentor) was mostly correcting and doing grades, and then Monday, June 22 was "Tie Up Loose Ends and Clean" Day, and then Tuesday I had Learning Area Leaders frm 8:30 - 11 and then. . .  my beloved husband and I headed out to Brownfield, Maine and the Stone Mountain Arts Center to see this guy:

Keb' Mo', June 23, 2015
and spend the night at this place:
The Inn at Crystal Lake, Eaton, NH.
and generally enjoy ourselves. We ambled back across the state the long way, and got home yesterday afternoon. . . and we leave for our Scandinavian trip on Monday! Today was my first chance to sleep as late as I wanted (7:55 am, thank you very much!) and sit with my coffee and the pets out on the patio. Hello, summer. I've been waiting.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

June 14: REALLY?

Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied VictoryOperation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've been super busy these few weeks, but I also found Operation Mincemeat a fairly slow read. It got rave reviews from my sister and my husband, but I realized, once I finished it (yesterday) that I found it interesting but ponderous. There were so many details, and so many layers of deception and spies and counter spies and what exactly is a double agent, anyway?. . . . that it took considerable concentration to get through the story, fascinating as the plot is.

Interesting but slow going.

I'm going for some fluff reading next!

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Summer has finally arrived, according to the weather, but we have another week of school left, so my time has been short. Between various arrivals, departures, a somewhat-more-intense-than-normal Pilgrim Lodge weekend, the Library's Rainbow Readers' Race, etc., etc., my go-to "reads" have been audiobooks! Still, that will change soon.

And the weather is lovely.