June 21: Reading (Cactus) Notes

Remember my new cactuses?  Such cute little plants?  

Here we are almost a month later.  I can't decide whether they are progressing nicely or waving their (leaves?) at me in consternation.  The jade plant is the one I am worried about.  Following the advice of the lady at the nature center I clipped the top of it off as it was leaning towards the light (as in--it was not in the best situated window and needed more direct sunlight).  The idea was that it would expand out rather than go gangly up.  So I moved him to my south facing bedroom window and he promptly has dropped a couple of leaves.  I am a little worried about him now.  It is interesting that he has lost the color on the tips of his leaves.  I want to trim that top bit off and make him a little more even, but I am afraid to mess with him.  

However my little succulent (I am not sure what variety she is) seems to be doing okay.  I think she got a couple of little sunburns?  But otherwise she seems to be reaching for the fun and getting a little taller, though I don't think she has grown any new leaves.  I am trying to err on the side of drier soil rather than overwatering.  I wish they could tell me when they needed a little water.  I have bought some cactus fertilizer that I plan on mixing up this weekend.  Maybe that will help?

Cactus woes aside, I am enjoying my reading and have finished a few books (and hope to finish a couple more this weekend), which means I have been thinking about what to read next.  I need to catch up a bit on writing about those books I have recently read, but I'll save that for next week.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Elly Griffiths novel that I finally got around to and loved Lettice Cooper.  My Japanese novel reading of Ito Ogawa's was really interesting--Japanese magical realism perhaps will give you an idea of what it was like.  This weekend I am going to spend time with Anthony Quinn's Freya, which had been set aside for no good reason other than too many books on the go and it happened to be a chunky read, but now I am totally immersed in the story.  And I fully expected to like Ruth Reichl's writing and indeed she is a marvelous storyteller.  I want to read all her memoirs and anything else she has written.  So I will be in the land of foodies, though she writes about growing up and her family and travels and studies and many delicious-sounding meals as well as 1960s London with Freya.

And next?  That is the difficult question.  The Cooper is the Persephone Books edition, so I was thinking it is time to pick a Virago Modern Classic.  I have never read Elaine Dundy's The Dud Avocado (my copy is a VMC), so I might pull that from the shelf, but since I'll be perusing my VMC bookcase, who knows what I will end up with.  (Or maybe something entirely different). 

As for the Quinn, I thought when I finished Freya I might just pick up another of his books--Our Friends in Berlin, which looks like a good spy novel, or maybe something entirely different like Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers which I have been eyeing for a couple of weeks now.  I have been thinking of picking up one of my unread Sarah Waters or maybe the last Pat Barker novel--the third of her Life Class trilogy. 

I have not even started to contemplate a new nonfiction (since I try and stick with one only at a time, it is always an almost agonizing choice--silly, I know).  I need to whittle my mysteries down (I have a thriller, and two Japanese crime novels on the go), but I did pick up the next Kinsey Millhone book.  I am up to L is for Lawless now.

Such "difficult" (but only in a good way) dilemmas to have.  What are you reading (or finishing maybe) this weekend?

Comments

[Readerlane]

Your cactuses (cacti?) look like they are doing well. I love how their colors go with their pots. I’ve seen special little sticks for houseplants that you can stick in the soil to show you when the dirt is dry—they change color, I think, but I haven’t tried them. My two plants get watered once a week, like it or not ;). So far, they do...

I’m not sure what I’m reading this weekend, but I have both The Great Believers and Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl on hold. A friend highly recommended The Great Believers, and I loved Ruth Reichl’s first two (three?) memoirs. You’ve inspired me to try Elly Griffiths, so I’ve got The Outcast Dead from the library (jumping into the middle, unfortunately). I’ve also got Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson and The Home Place by J. Drew Lanham (a nature memoir). Since those three are library books, they’ll take precedence over everything without a due date, so there’s my plan....

[LizF]

Leave the jade plant alone Danielle! If it starts to lean towards the light just turn the pot slightly and it will gradually straighten itself up. It looks quite a nice stocky little plant so I am sure it will do nicely. Don't water it too much though, and let it get completely dry between waterings, same with your other succulent which looks nice and healthy.

My weekend reading is, unusually for me, a true crime, I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara which is about a woman writer's obsession with finding the Golden State Killer. She died before her book was published but I seem to recall that they have now identified the man responsible. Not very far in yet, but I am very much enjoying it although the subject matter is grim.

I think I have a copy of the VMC Dud Avocado - might see if I can find it as I need a paperback to take to work.

[BuriedInPrint]

I hope your plants survive and thrive!

This weekend I've been dipping into a few books from the library: my stack of loans has gotten unwieldy, while I try to chip away at my hold queue attached to my card, and it's starting to weigh on me.

Oh, well: as you say, a delightful "problem" to have!

[Danielle]

I need to check out those sticks--It always seems the soil is dry to me, but then I fear I am overwatering. The weather is turning really hot here this week so I think they will definitely need some water soon. I can do the once a week watering routine with my regular plants but I am reluctant with my cacti since I have had some bad luck. It seems they should be easier....or an I just making it hard?! I really want to read The Great Believers and have it on my pile. I would read it next but I just found out Jennifer Egan is coming to Omaha so want to read her most recent book in anticipation! I will keep on with the Reichl memoirs--she tells a good story! I hope you like Ruth Galloway--she is a great character. I suspect the author will fill in with some of the backstory anyway. I want to read that Woodson book some time--the Lanham is new to me so off to check it out! I will be picking up library books later so my reading stack is soon going to be jumbled too!

[Danielle]

I really wish I had not snipped off that top row of leaves now. I have not had any more drop off so maybe it just needed to adjust to a new window. I was thinking just rotating the plant would be okay--that is what I will do from now on. The other little succulent seems to be doing okay and even looks like he has grown a tiny bit. I read that McNamara book and really liked it--she is a good storyteller. Let me know when you finish--the only disappointment was at the end of the book--I wanted to learn more about the man they caught--but maybe since the author didn't get to take part in that--they left it off with her death. The last chapter or so was pieced together from her notes and articles she wrote. I think they are turning it into a TV documentary series now. I read the other book by Elaine Dundy, but for some reason never the Dud Avocado. That said I ended up picking up Rosamund Lehmann's A Note in Music. I wanted to read some of her books this year--I wanted to read all of them together actually, but the first two were read one year and then it has been ages since I picked up another one!

[Danielle]

I hope so, too. I just need to get the watering routine down. So far, at least we are maintaining status quo anyway. I understand that pressure from library books. Lately I only seem to be bringing them home, looking at them briefly, and then being surprised that all of a sudden (!) they are due again and I cannot renew them. So, today (!) I am picking up a new little stack that includes the new Elizabeth Gilbert. It is either start it tonight (It is a longish one) or just assume it will go back as there is a long long line of readers waiting behind me! I have a lot, and I mean a Lot, of bookish problems of similar natures.