SPRING INTO BOOKS

In my carry bag today:

Books

Sketchbook

iPad to read papers and watch videos

Magazines

iPhone to take pictures

Walking shoes

I try not to bring everything with me when I stay away from home. 

It never works.

This week I hauled my usual overload when we visited San Francisco for a couple of days. I ended up spending time at Golden Gate Park, an old haunt that still keeps me uplifted. Bill and I went there to the Sunday band concerts, walked through the halls of science and the planetarium, and enjoyed tea in the Japanese Tea Garden. I remember playing hide and seek with our son along the pathways around Stowe Lake. I think of the many visits with two good friends to the deYoung Museum to see artwork and to sample food at the museum cafe. This week I will mostly be on my own, so I have plenty of time to read, walk and draw.

I brought two art books by Charles Reid, a master watercolor artist whose books and streaming videos, offer anyone the chance to learn from his detailed explanations of working with watercolor. 

I plan to read George Orwell's book Why I Write. The book was first published in 1946 and as with much of his writings still rings true today.

I picked two memoirs:

A Wilder Time by William Glassley, a geologist who explores the untouched wilderness of Greenland and makes his experience full of beauty and awe for the reader.

South Path by Raynor Winn, an Englishwoman who writes about losing the farm where she and her husband raised their family. They invested in a friend's business which failed, and they became responsible for his debts (a reminder to read the fine print on any contract), and ended up homeless. They also learned that the husband had a fatal disease. (and this isn't even fiction!) Without any moorings to lean on, they decided to walk from one end of the South Path Trail in England to the other (630 miles). The memoir explores the world they dropped into as walkers and as homeless, the reaction of others to their wanderings, and their realization of what is most important in their lives.

I also needed some good fiction:

Painted Horses by Malcolm Brooks is a favorite for this year.

The novel follows a young female archaeologist who is hired to document any signs of ancient civilization in an area in Montana which would soon be flooded by new dam construction. The dam would bring water to a parched area and employment to many locals. The land is near the Little Bighorn and is part of indigenous people's sacred ground. Lots of entanglements in the story.

And some good, easy reads:

I like mysteries so I included one of Martin Walker's Bruno, Chief of Police series, The Templar's Last Secret, set in a small village in France.

I've also picked up several books in the last year about bookshops. I found Jackie Fraser's The Bookshop of Second Chances delightful.

Happy Reading!