. . . Vacation! Okay, so I have three more full work days to go after this weekend, but then I'm going to have five lovely days off. This is a break that is much needed and I've been counting down for days now. Granted two of those days are weekend days that I would have off from work anyway, but I won't complain about an extended weekend. I've been plotting for a while on how I'm going to spend my time--my anticipation is that great. I'm going to take a bit of a blogging break as well. I'll be checking in and likely will post once or twice, but for the next week I think I'd rather spend time visiting other blogs. I've gotten so far behind and feel I am missing out on some wonderful discussions, and I'd rather not admit to how full my email inbox has gotten (forgive me if I owe you an email!). Along with catching up on blog reading I just want to relax, read my books and maybe do a little needlework.
I have a few books that I will be spending most of my time with--two are library books that need to be returned right after the holiday: Twilight Time by Karen Campbell and The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer. I'm making fast progress through both, so I don't think I'll have too many worries there. And I had to share Anna Karenina--notice how the bookmark has moved passed the halfway mark and now I have fewer pages at the back of the book than I did not so long ago. I love that feeling with a heavy book when the latter half of the book becomes smaller and smaller. I may not finish reading Anna K. during my mini break, but I do plan on spending some serious time with her.
And then I was thinking how nice it would be to start something new--a book from my own shelves, a book that I keep thinking about reading but never seem to give myself the excuse to do so. I'm going to give myself the excuse. There are so many that fall into this category that it's hard to choose just a handful, but I did narrow them down: The Heart of the Night by Judith Lennox (historical romance set during WWII), Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig (Orange Prize nominee set in contemporary London), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick (classic sci fi from 1968--made into the film Blade Runner), From the Land of the Moon by Milena Angus (new Europa title--WWII family saga), and The World from Rough Stones by Malcolm Macdonald (first of a series of novels set in the Victorian period). I'm not sure which I'll end up reading, but part of the enjoyment is thinking about them and deciding on one (or maybe even two...). Of course anything on my nightstand is also fair game. I think it's fair to say I won't be lacking in reading material for those few days!
In the meantime, enjoy the weekend and happy reading.