July has been a whirlwind. I celebrated my birthday bookstore browsing, eating tacos, and making a massive IKEA run. After said massive IKEA run—and the subsequent assembly, during which I finally learned to use our power drill—the house is finally coming together.
spotted while bookstore browsing
(At least it was, until everything started breaking last week. When we moved in, I wished all the old appliances would break so the home warranty company would replace them with new ones. Be careful what you wish for.)
We went to the theater for the first time in years to celebrate my dad’s birthday. Everyone enjoyed it (especially Silas, which I thought he might be too young for) and I’m now resolving to do stuff like that more often.
I also got to rainbow my bookshelves, hit the Jane Austen Festival, have coffee with a blog friend visiting all the way from Nova Scotia, catch up with old friends, and spend plenty of evenings reading in the backyard during our unseasonably cool (aka practically perfect) July.
What I’m reading
This is my stack of (mostly) library books, and I’m stuck because I just can’t decide what to read next. In the meantime I’m plowing through Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, which is fascinating, and long, so I’m not exactly hurting for reading material. Yet.
I’ve been plowing through my summer reading list (although reading two 800-page books in one month is seriously slowing my progress). My July favorites were One Plus One, The Sea of Tranquility, and 11/22/63.
bookshelves in progress
On the blog
What to wear when it’s stinkin’ hot out.
A new page to bookmark: current kindle deals.
Best of the web
85 things you probably didn’t know about “Lost.”
Why readers, scientifically, are the best people to fall in love with.
fashionABLE is having a flash sale from 2-6 p.m. CST (that’s 3:00-7:00 p.m. for East Coasters like me). Four scarf styles are on sale for 40% off during this time (including my personal favorite, the Etanesh stripes), making them $20 or less each. That’s a great value on a product you’ll feel good about wearing, or gifting.
As always, shipping is free on orders of $80 or more. That’s indulgent if you’re shopping for one, but doable if you’re stocking up for Christmas and birthday gifts.
To get the discount, enter the code SEEYASUMMER2014 in your shopping bag.
Pinning
My kind of vending machine.
I’d love to find this dress in my closet.
This makes me giggle.
This makes me want to chop my hair.
Follow me on Pinterest here.
What were you into in July?
Linking up with Leigh Kramer to share what I’ve been into lately.
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25 comments
I recommend All Creatures Great and Small from your stack! I just finished listening to the audiobook, which is read by the actor who plays James Herriot in the BBC tv series. The audio was excellent, especially the voices he gives to different characters! But I know reading the print book will be just as good. I hope you enjoy!
I also recommend All Creatures Great and Small. I love the way James Herriot tells the stories of the people and animals in his small Yorkshire town. I promise you will laugh and cry and want to read all of his other books. Plus, there is a Children’s Collection of James Herriot stories with beautiful illustrations that all of my children loved. Let us know what you think once you read it!
Aboslutely yest to laughing and crying! I was listening on my way home from work one day, and my husband was really concerned when I stepped out of the car with tears streaming down my face! But those moments are the bittersweet kind of crying, and they’re far outweighed by the laughing moments. 🙂 It’s so nice to see others are enjoying these stories, too!
Just finished One Plus One yesterday and really enjoyed it — perfect light summer read. I’m now putting more Jojo Moyes books on hold at the library!
I loved The Thirteenth Tale and Peace Like a River. Happy Reading!
I keep meaning to pick up The Thirteenth Tale and then forgetting all about it. Adding it to Good Reads right this minute.
Anne, I read Evensong last weekend and loved it.
Your wheelbarrow of flowers is darling! This will not surprise you but it bears repeating: your color-coordinated bookshelves are pretty but they pain me so.
Peace Like A River! Oh the storytelling and even the first page make you catch your breath which is funny once you read them and see the plot there is about breath. As I’ve said before, books of a certain shade of blue catch my eye and make me read them. Peace Like a River was one such book, another was Gilead. I used to work at a library putting the plastic covers on books so I saw all the new ones first. Peace Like A River came through and I was the first to check it out and adored it. I re-read it every year and buy it for friends and while I love and recommend books all the time, I rarely buy them as gifts.
I agree! Peace Like a River and Gilead are both so beautifully written and engaging, and I highly recommend them (I buy both of these books as gifts). There is an absorbing, almost haunting, quality to each that makes them impossible to forget, and Gilead in particular is a story to be savored in quiet moments.
Did you know Marilynne Robinson’s newest book is the story of the wife from Gilead?
The Thirteenth Tale is excellent! I also really enjoyed I Shall Be Near to You.
I recently finished listening to the audio books of the Lunar Chronicles. Cinder was a great start, but I felt that they just kept getting better…and now I’m in mourning because the fourth book isn’t out until next year.
Peace Like A River is an excellent choice like other readers have mentioned. Maybe I am stretching it but I think the father has similar character traits as Owen Meany, two characters whom I adore. July things. . .I only have a handful of perennial favorites and I am happily adding a new one to my list: Anam Cara by John O’Donohue. It is brilliant (for me) and I think he must be some variation of NF in the MBTI. (Yours truly is an INFJ.) Also, gluten re-entry might seem weird (because who is doing it? I have no idea.) but after being gluten free for 8 years (and seeing great results in many ways) I ate “normal” bread a week ago with no yucky side effects. The ancient tradition of breaking bread with brothers and sisters has been hard to get out of my head recently so for now I am experiencing freedom in the discovery process.
Thanks for the heads up about fashionABLE’s flash sale! Your blog is the only place I saw anything about it. Can’t wait to receive my new scarves!
Loved your “how to travel” link! Such good tips. Some of which you can’t use on a toddler, unfortunately. We’ll be going to Europe (Amsterdam, Germany and Switzerland), the Maldives, and the U.S. between now and Christmas, so I’m always thinking about how to streamline our travel experience.
The Thirteenth Tale is in my to-read library stack, too. But I just started The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way.
I totally rainbowed the books in my bedroom after reading your post the other day. Like I literally stopped everything and reorganized the bookshelf right then and there – super cathartic though I’d love to do it in a main living area where people other than me can see it!
The Thirteenth Tale was REALLY good – I vote you read that one next!
Thanks for telling me about your new rainbow! I’m glad you’re liking it. 🙂
And thanks for the tip on The Thirteenth Tales.
Oh my goodness!! I *just* yesterday was talking to our librarian about reading Team of Rivals. She ranted and raved and I got to the bug to read it. Guess i’ll be checking that out pronto since you’re the second person in two days to recommend it.
Let me know what you think! (Also: I thought it started slow. It took me 100 pages to get oriented and get familiar with the players. Hang in there, it speeds up!)
I pinned the same haircut ~ now the matter of working up the nerve.
My stylist talked me out of it … (just because my hair is easier to maintain when it’s longer, and I want low-maintenance) but I still want to chop it!
Currently reading and loving The Thirteenth Tale!
The Thirteenth Tale is wonderful, though it does start a bit slow.
I tore through One Plus One and absolutely loved it. I was afraid it would be a complete heartbreaker like Me Before You, but the end was really satisfying, which I needed after a July that saw my family lose two members.
I’m loving the bookshelf! The book colors are making my (semi) OCD very happy!