When the Real World Dares Intrude

The real world is starting to get in the way of my reading and blogging and there doesn't seem to be a thing I can do about it. Today was one of those days where eight hours go by in increasingly frustrating increments until the whole day is suddenly shot and little has been accomplished despite having worked at full speed the whole time. Nothing made sense or followed a normal pattern, so everything took twice as long as normal and will have to be rethought tomorrow.

Then things started to fall apart at home, requiring frustrating attempts at understanding the mechanical problems involved, and resulting in an eventual phone call to repairmen who charge arms and legs just to make house calls. The bottom line is that our electronic gate quit working properly and it is going to cost some $900 to get it doing its thing again. What a day...

Well, at least I am immersed in three good books right now and I'm looking forward to an hour or so of concentrated reading time later tonight. I'm really impressed with The Steel Wave, Jeff Shaara's account of the Normandy invasion as seen through the eyes of the generals who planned it and the enlisted men who made it work. I've read about 340 pages into it now and can't wait to get back to Shaara's account of one of the key battles of World War II (and one my father saw first hand). Then there's Consumption, Kevin Patterson's novel which is really a social history of Canada's Rankin Inlet, and will be my third book in the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge. But the big surprise is how much I'm starting to enjoy Willie Nelson's A Tale Out of Luck, a western he's written with the help of Mike Blakely. I received this ARC at least six weeks ago even though it won't be published until sometime in September. It's a little stereotypical but is great fun for shootem-up fans like me.

So it could be worse...thank goodness that books are always there to take my mind off what the rest of the world is chunking at me.