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?