Back Track

First, let's get the photos of Mae out of the way....I realize I should possibly change the name of this blog to Mountain Mae instead of Me.  But if you own a dog, especially a young dog, you know that they completely take over your life!

the "I hear a Subaru" face

close up

Snowshoe trail , so perfect for Mae~

Ok, now that that is done...let's back track a bit.  

Remember the book list?  There were a couple I wanted to mention.  The most memorable book I read last year was "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara.  Huge book, over 700 pages, and the Amazon description made it sound like a nice little romp through the lives of a group of college friends.  It was so much more!  And I won't spoil anything for you but I will say the reason it stayed with me and was so memorable is that the story was not what I expected at all.  The other reason was that the writing was VERY good , and in places (little places) even reminded me of Whitman.  However, there were a couple of flaws in the book that really made it  tumble off the GREAT list. One is the fact that you had to read about 500 pages to find out what had happened in the main character's life.  By then did I care??? No.   I pretty much skipped through that part of the book.  The other thing was that in places it started to feel like a script for Law & Order, SVU.   

A nice surprise was James Robertson's , "The Testament of Gideon Mack".  Very enjoyable, fun read about a man, a man of the cloth, who meets the devil!

Biggest disappointment?  Donna Tartt's , "The Goldfinch".  I had heard and read so much about this book and it is a good story, I'll give it that.  But I don't know....again, very lengthy and in places I felt it was just d r a g g i n g.   It wasn't completely satisfying for me. Was it for you?

The most unusual way to find a recommendation? Well it was word of mouth but I can't follow the dots on this one.  Too much music, too much beer perhaps.  I was out one night to see a band and met a professor of biology who was sitting next to me .  We got talking about beer, as he ran a beer club at the college.  Somehow he ended up recommending The Unbearable Lightness of Being....Remember that movie?  Well, it was dreamy right and  it certainly made me have a little crush on Daniel Day-Lewis.... it  was 1988, of course I had a crush on him.  But I had never read the book and of course the book is TOTALLY DIFFERENT.   Author Milan Kundera said later that he would NEVER allow a film from one of his works. I can't say that I blame him.

Running.  I will be honest I haven't had a real run since October!  I felt great then but in early November I got hit by some nasty virus that had me out for 3 weeks and then bad weather bollowed by our current snowpack have made actual running a bit problematic.  That's where snowshoes, xc skis and snowboards come in handy!  

Coffee.  Yup, still drinking it.  In moderation mstly.  I think I have found a balance with the bean.

Not much else to report here.  I got a splitboard for Christmas and hope to get out and use it soon.  A splitboard is a snowboard that essentially has been cut in half!  You can then wear it like skis with "skins" on the bottom to make it sticky and walk up the mountain. When you get to the top you  put it back together to ride down!   

"skinning" up

Happy trails!  Hope the new year has brought good fortune and good times!

Monday Things, "Happiness Weighed"

My well-thumbed copy of Moby Dick

There's a passage in Moby Dick, my favorite book, work of art, titled The Doubloon.   A gold piece, a doubloon, has been affixed to the mast.  It is from Ecuador, inscribed with various images including what appear to be the signs of the zodiac. Several different ship's men stand before it one by one and relate their thoughts. Flask sees it as nothing more than a piece of gold.  He says, " I see nothing here, but a round thing made of gold, and whoever raises a certain whale, this round thing belongs to him."  He goes on to equate it's worth to how many cigars he can buy with it, 960.  Stubb, the first mate, stands in front of it and says this:

"Look you, doubloon, your zodiac here is the life of man in one round chapter; and now I'll read it off , straight out of the book!  Come, Almanack!  To begin: there's Aries, or the Ram-lecherous dog, he begets us; then Taurus, or the Bull- he bumps us first thing; then Gemini, or the Twins- that is, Virtue and Vice; we try to reach Virtue, when lo! comes Cancer the Crab and drags us back; and here, going from Virtue, Leo, a roaring lion, lies in the path- he gives a few fierce bites, and surly dabs with his paw; we escape, and hail Virgo, the Virgin! that's our first love; we marry and think to be happy for aye, when pop comes Libra, or the Scales- happiness weighed and found wanting; and while we are very sad about that, Lord! how we suddenly jump, as Scorpio, or the Scorpion, stings us in rear; we are curing the wound, when whang come the arrows all round; Sagittarius, or the Archer, is amusing himself. As we pluck out the shafts, stand aside! here's the battering-ram, Capricornus, or the Goat; full tilt, he comes rushing, and headlong we are tossed; when Aquarius, or the Water-bearer, pours out his whole deluge and drowns us; and, to wind up, with Pisces, or the Fishes, we sleep.  There's a sermon now, writ in high heaven, and  the sun goes through it every year, and yet comes out of it all alive and hearty..."

Ahhhh.  That really sums it up, doesn't it?  I'm not sure what stage I am in, but so often it feels like I am dodging that ram, trying to out run the scorpion.  Perhaps it is just a Monday sentiment.  A rainy Monday, books and coffee, emails from a friend: I need to lace up my shoes and go hike up the mountain.  I will weigh happiness as I take in the view. I do not think I will find it wanting.

Summer Reading

Every summer I pick a pile of books and get reading.  I give myself a guideline of choosing one book from 5 different categories:  bestseller, nonfiction, classic literature, a random title and a sci fi book.  In the past I chose books that often only met one requirement....easy reading on a coast to coast airplane trip.  (I've read every single one of Daniel Silva's spy novels because of that!)  Some of the non-fiction have been biographies, Agassi's Open, or Alberto Salazar's life story, 14 Minutes.  And I also like history so Nathaniel Philbrick's books have been a lot of fun. In the Heart of the Sea,  the tragedy of the whaleship Essex, was my favorite!  I am a big fan of Haruki Murakami, (1Q84 wasn't a book as much as a place I visited, LOVED it) and I also have read the entire Virga series by Karl Schroeder.  I have two standbys that I usually drag out and reread again and again, Melville's Moby Dick and Kate Chopin's The Awakening. I've got my books ready, in fact have already read 3 books and here it is only June 25!  I've got the perfect place to read too....

This pile of books

that hammock

current read

Do you like to curl up with a good book?  Got a favorite beach read?  Summer reading, it's one of my "summer magic glitter" ingredients.....Cheers!