What I'm Reading This Week (July 8, 2024)

 

As I begin to prepare this update, Hurricane Beryl seems to have finally aimed itself almost directly at the Houston area and should be arriving in another twelve hours or so. That said, this is supposed to be a Category One hurricane, so it probably won't do the kind of damage we've become so accustomed to here in the last few years. My biggest fear at this point is losing power for an extended period of time.

My reading schedule has been a little different than it usually is because of all the driving I've done in the past two weeks. I did manage to finish up one book and read another while on the road: The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh and Off the Books by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier. Both books were enjoyable enough, I suppose, but I have mixed feelings about Off the Books. I found Frazier's style a little difficult to get comfortable with, and still haven't figured out how to describe the book accurately. I suspect that a formal review of that one is going to come together rather slowly.

I found this edition of Helen Keller's autobiography in the gift shop of her birthplace and home in Tuscumbia, Alabama last week. I'm one of those more familiar with Keller's girlhood as it was represented in the movies about her life than anything else about her, so it was fascinating to walk the same hallways and see all the rooms that were so important to her during her life - especially I think, the water well pump behind the house where it finally "clicked" that the signs she was feeling in her hand signified the word for "water." I'm curious to see how Keller tells her own story.

The premise of Off the Books is kind of interesting: a recent Dartmouth drop-out comes home to Oakland with not much of a plan for what's next. She finds herself driving a limo for a company that keeps her busy enough until her grandfather buys her a vehicle large enough to cut out the middle man and keep all the cash for herself. After a while, Mei seems to specialize in driving regularly for a cast of shady characters - and then Henry and his huge suitcase come into her world and it all gets even weirder. The writing style is not nearly as interesting as the plot, though, so I'm still digesting my feelings about this one.

Leslie White's Three Years a Traveler is one of those books that seems to have come out of nowhere for me. A few days ago, I had never heard of the book; today, I'm almost done with it and have thoroughly enjoyed accompanying White on her journey of self-discovery as she grieves the loss of both parents to cancer within a few months of each other. White needed a fresh start, and she found one with her decision to purchase an RV and hit the road as a traveling histologist willing to contract her services for a few months at a time in various hospitals all over the U.S.

 I haven't been reading as many books at the same time as I usually do because of my limited reading hours, so I'm wide open to new reading choices for the upcoming days. Here are a few of the ones I'll be choosing from after I finish Three Years a Traveler and Helen Keller's book:

Homegoing is historical fiction covering 300 years of Ghanaian history, and the descendants of Ghanaians who came to America as slaves.

The Dark Wives, scheduled for August 27 publication, is book number 11 in the Vera Stanhope series by Ann Cleeves. I've been holding off on this one, but I feel myself giving in now.

I'm a big fan of the Jane Tennison television shows but I've never read one of Lynda La Plante's Tennison novels. This one kind of fell into my hands recently, and made me wonder what I've been missing.

I'm at least three books behind on reviews I want to write (and hoping that my notes jog my memory in all the right places), so my reading time will still be a little limited this week. Too, it remains to be seen how much disruption the approaching storm will cause. Hurricane Beryl seems very determined to tour the Houston area before she's done, so we'll see how it all turns out. I'm still hoping for a big fizzle from Beryl. Have a great reading week!