Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Beach/Reading



I rarely read anything at the beach,
but spend most of the time looking at the water.


Yesterday a lifeguard paddled his canoe.


However, some book suggestions:

Non fiction:

Virginia Nicholson's fascinating Singled Out --about the generation of   "surplus" women after the First World War. Splendidly informative and grippingly readable.
 Just Kids Patti Smith's memoir of Robert Mapplethorpe and the 1970's, brilliantly evocative of the era in both good and bad ways. Brings it all back.


Hints of mortality on the shoreline.

New Fiction:
The Last Storytellers: Tales from the Heart of Morocco Richard Hamilton's elegant retelling of traditional tales told by the vanishing storytellers of Marrakesh. Not new stories exactly but recently published. Grimm's fairy tales meet A Thousand and One Nights!
A.M Homes: This Book will Save Your Life. Set in Los Angeles and addressing contemporary angst etc. Funny, sad, quirky and sharp.



Tried and True:

Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd. I've only just read it for the first time.
Vanished England in a capsule. What weather! Such rustics.
Charles Dickens'A Christmas Carol. In view of current American politics, I rather like Scrooge saying, "Are there no workhouses?" and suggesting that the poor die and reduce the surplus population.......


After the beach, lunch at the Shipwreck Diner in Northport.


What a bizarre lunch....quiche, fruit, homefries, a pickle.
Oh well, now I needn't eat for a week.

I look forward to hearing what you're reading.
 Weaver of Grass has some super suggestions as do the people who
have commented on her post.




13 comments:

  1. Gorgeous images - I wished I were there! - and interesting book choices, thank you for both!

    I am reading Jetta Carleton's "The Moonflower Vine". It was first published in 1962. I am enjoying it immensely, a great summer read:

    "A timeless American classic rediscovered—an unforgettable saga of a heartland family

    On a farm in western Missouri during the first half of the twentieth century, Matthew and Callie Soames create a life for themselves and raise four headstrong daughters. Jessica will break their hearts. Leonie will fall in love with the wrong man. Mary Jo will escape to New York. And wild child Mathy's fate will be the family's greatest tragedy. Over the decades they will love, deceive, comfort, forgive—and, ultimately, they will come to cherish all the more fiercely the bonds of love that hold the family together.
    " (Book description at amazon)

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  2. Fantastic photographs ... wonderful lunch!! Wish I was there.
    I tend to watch the sea rather than read, because I love the sounds and rhythms of the waves. this spot looks ideal. A refreshing summer post, indeed.

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  3. oohhh...
    nice beachy photos!
    {{well except for the bottoms up crab
    but i imagine
    he had had his day.}}

    :-\

    i just finished
    Ape House: A Novel
    by Sara Gruen
    who wrote
    Water for Elephants
    but Fair Warning
    many of my friends
    did not enjoy it as much as I...

    and
    here is
    my E~Z Breezy Summer Reading:
    the who-dun-it series
    by Ryhs Bowen
    starting with
    Her Royal Spyness
    and so on,
    i think there are 5...

    {{ well....
    you DO know
    I adore London
    so there U go!}}

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  4. hmm, what a strange combination of foods...albeit delish, i'm sure.

    i did read a lot on my leave, among others the millenium trilogy by stieg larsson (in swedish, quite proud of myself). just started hustvedt's the shaking woman or a history of my nerves, loved her the sorrows of an american that i read last summer.

    i tend to read in english, occasionally also in swedish. can't even remember when i read a book in finnish. a shrink said this is a form of "escape" and a way to deal eith stress, go figure...

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  5. Love the photos and your book choices.

    I too have a book post today and since a few of my books were the same as Weavers I chose some others...

    cheers, parsnip

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  6. Thanks for the recommendations - really interested to see what others suggest too.

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  7. Your beach photos are a wonderful virtual trip to a cool pleasant place. Thanks! Did Buster get to go? He could send a postcard to Knut and get even.

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  8. Let's see, I just finished reading and admiring the beautiful wood engravings in Claire Leighton's Four Hedges.

    Now I'm shifting between Michio Kako's Physics of the Future and Elaine Sciolino's La Seduction, punctuated by various detective novels set in many parts of the world that I cannot otherwise visit this summer.

    Glad you are liking Patti's book. Yes, it does capture a time.

    I so like those beach photos, almost feeling the sea breeze. xo

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  9. It seems you had a great time. Reading at beach is a good idea but definitely sea watching is a treat to the eyes, the whole view tides coming up and down is simply awesome.

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  10. Watching the tides come and go is really a delight that amazes me the most. And these pics of tides, i was so lost in them. Even the breakfast is looking quite yummy.

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  11. Pretty views and tasty lunch-a perfect day!
    Actually I am reading one of Agatha Christie's books-good for summer:)

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  12. Pictures not of New York. Sounds like you had a nice vacation.

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  13. Enjoy your seashore holiday. It looks dreamy there. I can never read when there is nature around to gaze upon!

    I noted your mention of Elizabeth and Her German Garden on the other blog...it's a fave of mine as well. And, of course, Enchanted April; the movie too.

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I look forward to hearing from you!