It's a veritable Winter Wonderland where I live--albeit a sunny and freezing one! Doesn't Chispa know it is only 21F (-6C) outside. Cats! So nosy she would sit in front of an open window anyway. A little brisk cold air to be followed up by an afternoon curled up on her favorite kitty pedestal (and I do mean an afternoon--she literally won't budge for hours). If only we could all have it so easy, eh?
I hope my break doesn't go as fast as yesterday did. Earlier this week we got 8" (20.3 cm) of fresh, wet snow. The library closed early (fifteen minutes after my scheduled time to go home of course) and then opened late the following morning, and we are still shoveling out. Luckily the sun has been shining strong for the last two days even though the high temperature has been only at freezing (and today at 29F/-1.6C, is going to be the warmest day of the week). Winter is officially here in more ways that one. I'm glad my vacation has begun!
I did errands, baked cookies, did a little shopping, went to the gym (got in my one lone hour of reading) stopped for a latte, baked more cookies. I have discovered you cannot use 'light' half-fat butter when making pecan sandies--they taste horrible and have the most awful texture, so the first batch went into the garbage. Ate cookies (quality control you know . . . very important part of the baking process since I can't give away shoddy workmanship), did laundry, wrote out a stack of postcards (my goal is to write one card or letter each day of my break), and then fell into bed in the wee hours of the morning. Today my sister is arriving from out of town, and we're hoping to go to the Lauritzen Gardens for a little holiday cheer and then to dinner. The next few days should be more of the same.
I wasn't planning on taking a blogging break, though if I do seem to be more absent than normal don't be surprised. I will definitely be back before Christmas. And there are still three books I wanted to write about before the actual holiday. Next week I had planned to wrap things up (haven't even thought much about my favorite books yet) and share a few reading plans. My poor Christmas Carol post of yesterday wasn't meant to be published as is--I had planned to tweak it but then didn't even get to spend half an hour on the computer yesterday, so sorry about the rather vague and poorly thought out post (it was written quickly and when I was tired with the idea of fleshing it all out later . . .). And I do still want to get caught up with reading blog posts. When I was young time seemed to drag by and I would complain about being bored. That never seems to be a problem these days. Now I wish time would please slow down.
I will be squeezing in as much reading as I can, though for the next few days that may not be as much as I would like. I am still reading away on my list. Six of the thirteen books finished so far and perhaps the seventh to be crossed off later today or tomorrow. I might have been overly optimistic in making my list, but there are still nine (ten counting today) days left in the year!
Although I am still concentrating on the list, I did add Kate Simon's A Wider World: Portraits in an Adolescence to my reading pile. Many thanks for the ideas for books set in 1920s NYC. I've noted down the suggestions but for the short run turned to my bookshelves for a little inspiration. I loved Kate Simons's Bronx Primitive when I read it last year. This is a sequel which begins when she is thirteen and follows her into early adulthood. Right time and place as she grew up in New York in the 1920s and 30s. As I've not read much nonfiction this year and this looks to be an absorbing read I think it will be just the right fit for me right now.
So my last reading dilemma is to choose a good spy novel to dip into through the end of the year and begin 2013 with. It's always been unplanned but I seem to pick up a good thriller/spy novel during the holiday season/to start the new year with. What will it be this year? Another Ian Fleming? Or another John Buchan? I should really try Alan Furst since I have several unread books by him (will definitely be choosing a book already on my shelves by the way), though I have Craig Nova's The Informer and Daniel Silva's The Unlikely Spy. Isn't this a good problem to have . . . which book set in NYC in the 20s to read, and what spy novel might I curl up with on these cold (really cold) winter's nights.
I hope you have some equally good dilemmas to sort through this weekend, or at the least get to spend a nice sunny afternoon with a book. Hope everyone has a great weekend finishing up whatever tasks they have in the run up to the holidays. Happy reading and I hope to be back very soon with a few thoughts on my end of the year books I've been spending time with.