Summertime and the reading is easy...

..though apparently not the blogging. I've been trying to write this post since Friday. A little last minute marathon candidate research got in the way (but that, dear people, is another post).

It's amazing! I've actually had enough time to get in some pleasure reading. For the last six weeks or so I've been able to read strictly for the joy of reading. Free time is such a beautiful thing.

I grabbed a few books recommended on an NPR summer reading segment. One was a bust: Laura Rider's Masterpiece. Just eh...I was not feeling the shallow, self-absorbed characters and their little manipulations. The others have been enjoyable. The Stolen Child, by Keith Donohue, was a lovely 20th century Grimms' fairy tale. Okay, lovely might not be the best word, given core of the story: basically, a gang of shapeshifter children steal a child and one of them takes his place. I still think it was lovely and offered some interesting reflection on human connection, growing up, perspective, and group membership.

Kao Kalia Yang's The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir kept me company on vacation. She shares the story of her family as they fled Laos in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, spending several years in refugee camps in Thailand and eventually settling in Minnesota. She offers a very loving portrait of her grandmother and a fascinating snapshot of Hmong people.

I'm currently reading Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano's Mirrors: Stories of Almost of Everyone. Which is amazing. Most of my summer reading has come to me from library books, including this one (interlibrary loan is such a good idea). However, it's due back tomorrow and someone has a hold on it so I can't renew. Today I ordered a copy online. This book is full of excellent bedtime stories and I want the hardcover on my shelf. These stories are less than a page, often no more than a paragraph, but, oh, the stories. It reads to me like a Brief History of Everything.

I know I've read a lot more, but it's late and I'm sleepy so I'll just share one piece of good news: The Serpent's Gift is back in print!!! The novel by Helen Elaine Lee is one of my favorites. I stopped recommending it to folks when it went out of print and I recently found out it was back after loaning out my copy. This is such a beautiful book: the language, the love among the family members, the imperfect humanity of the wonderful characters.

Still to come: Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, and whatever else I want because it's summertime and I can.

Now, when I really have some free time, I need to find myself a book club. Oooo...