I'm back! I love traveling and it's been ages since I went away, but I was quickly reminded last night when I returned home just how disorienting and even a little jarring traveling can be. I'm not sure if anyone else experiences that feeling? I tend to throw myself wholeheartedly into immersing myself in
another culture/place that 'home' is a bit foreign for a little while. San Francisco is a really amazing place, very unique and vibrant and alive. I loved it there and think I could quite happily live there, but I have heard it is one of the most expensive cities to live in, so I will have to content myself with just visiting. I will most definitely be back.
I have photos to share, but I'll do that a bit later when I've unpacked and had a chance to upload them all. It was really nice weather-wise but much cooler (even a little brisk some days) compared with Omaha. The heat continues here unfortunately. I've come home to mid-90F temperatures. Ugh. It's back to work tomorrow and I am sure it will take a few days to sort myself out there as well. I'll be back to regular bookishness soon here and hope to get back to my normal schedule by the weekend.
I bought a number of books, which I'm guessing you might not mind seeing? I didn't manage to read very much, which I sort of expected but I am always optimistic when it comes to books, so I took more than was practical. Oh well. So this week I'll be spending time with a few books that I had hoped to finish by now. I'm nearing the end of Elizabeth Chadwick's The Falcons of Montabard. I've been enjoying it, but I am sort of ready to be done, if you know what I mean? Medieval Jerusalem has been interesting to read about, but my mood is asking for something a little different now.
It's been such a weird reading month for me (not getting much reading time in and not finishing many books) that I am hoping September will be better. Mary Stewart's This Rough Magic has been a great alternative with its mid-1960s Greek setting. I might just finish Aharon Appelfeld's The Story of a Life by the end of the week and in time for Caroline's discussion (though am guessing my post will follow
later). And I have added a new book to my current reads pile. Before I went on vacation I received a review copy of The Age of Desire by Jennie Fields, which is a fictionalized account of Edith Wharton's affair with Morton Fullerton. It looks like it's gotten very good reviews and will hopefully be a good story to get lost in--something for those post-vacation woes.
And now for a little bit of a San Francisco teaser, do pop over to A Guy's Moleskine Notebook. My sister and I had the good luck to visit a fellow blogger who has has been living in San Francisco for over twenty years. I've been reading Matt's blog almost from its inception and have always admired his taste in books. We were able to share a very delicious dinner at Limón in the Mission district. I did not have one bad meal in San Francisco (and trust me I did a lot of sampling!) by the way. Limón is a Peruvian restaurant--I had truffle mac and cheese--yum. We stopped by Dog Eared Books after, which is also in the neighborhood--one of many independent bookstores that San Francisco can boast of. You can check out photos of our visit here. It was one of the highlights of my trip. Now I can say I, too, have met up with a fellow book blogger.