This Should Keep Me Busy!

Happy Summer! I’m about to retreat to the shade of the magnolia tree in my back yard and get some reading done, as long as my sweet dog Milo is willing to let me off the hook for endless Frisbee duty. He doesn’t understand why anyone would want to sit in one place for hours a day with a book in one’s hand when there are so many birds to be chased, smells to be sniffed, and people to be bothered, if not for Frisbee tossing, then at least for some non-stop belly rubs. I’ll have to sneak my reading in between dog duty. Here’s my summer line-up (though I don’t think I’ll read in this order):

1. The Hatred of Poetry, Ben Lerner
2. Little Labors, Rivka Galchen
3. H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald
4. Sex Object, Jessica Valenti
5. 10:04, Ben Lerner
6. In Other Words, Jhumpa Lahiri
7. Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff
8. First Bite, Bee Wilson
9. The Girls, Emma Cline
10. Changing My Mind, Zadie Smith

The first two-The Hatred of Poetry and Little Labors– are very short, and I may rely on these the weeks I’ll be traveling. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to stay on track, but if not, well, there’s always the fall!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. Here in Western New York, we’ve had many beautiful days, but it is never as much as I think we should deserve, given what winter is like in this part of the world. Misery!  It is almost painful these days to come across all the hats and mittens I’ve crammed into the top of my closet, all that winter gear that I should have put away weeks ago. But there are still many days ahead of long light when the sun doesn’t set until almost 9:30, and so more time to read and be outside–I wish you all the same!