Reading into the Night

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If you have been waiting for the official beginning of summer, it is upon us.  For those in North America who live west of  the Central Time Zone your summer begins around 10:04 tonight.   The season change will arrive for the rest of us beginning around 12:04 a.m. tomorrow.   For those who aren't feeling the need to be so exact?  The powers that be have set a universal time of 5:04 a.m. on the twenty-first.  So it seems we are given options.  And isn't that what summer is all about?

A summer's evening is the perfect time for relaxing outside with a good book.

 I thought I was doing a great job collecting books for my summer break, but alas

I am an impatient one.  The books called my name and I could not resist.  I am afraid I finished the small stack I had set aside and a few more long before the end of spring.

"If the river has a soul, it's a peaceful one.  If it has a lesson to part, that lesson is patience.  There will be drought, it says; there will be floods; the ice will form, the ice will melt; the water will flow and blend into river's brackish mouth, then join the ocean between Lewes and Cape May, endlessly, forever, amen."

Several weeks ago in anticipation of the release of the movie, everything was about "The Great Gatsby".  Having a long infatuation with the writers of the first half of the twentieth century and not wanting to be left out of all the "Gatsby" todo,  I found

  Z a Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald.  Using journals and correspondence of both Fitzgeralds, Therese Anne Fowler's fictional memoir takes us into the ebb and flow of the Fitzgerald's world through the eyes of Zelda.  

"Marry me, Zelda.  We'll make it all up as we go."

After immersing myself into Zelda's life I felt obligated to to give F. Scott equal time.  Needing to finish end of the year school projects I downloaded  This Side of Paradise, donned the earbuds and listened to the novel Fitzgerald hoped would prove him a successful author and convince Zelda to marry him, all the while painting, cutting and gluing.  It is believed much of Fitzgerald's debut novel is autobiographical. 

Then, of course, I had to re-read The Great Gatsby. 

Taking two years to write  Fitzgerald believed it to be his masterpiece.

Upon publication critics were harsh and the book was for the most part rejected by the public.

F. Scott died believing himself to be a failure.  It wasn't until World War II the book found it's place in the literary history.  It is now on most high school reading lists.  I found a copy in my daughter's bookshelf.  I had forgotten the beauty of the writing.

And, there have been others taking me well past the rising of the moon.

The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes.   Winner of the Man Booker Prize, Barnes explores the boundaries of memory and how our history is developed through the constant revision of memory.  It is a book you will want to discuss after finishing the last page.  I must add there was one part I "just didn't get"; obviously the narrator didn't either.

"History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation."

Blue Asylum, Kathy Hepinstall, is a perfect summer read.  Set during the Civil War, Iris Dunleavy is sent to a mental asylum for having her own thoughts and disobeying her husband.  The story begins with her arrival at the asylum on Sanibel Island.  It is through her meeting other residents and patients we learn the story of her past and allowed to make the judgement, if there is a question, of her sanity.  How can you pass up a book described as a "lusty southern gothic".    I didn't.

I have more to tell you about, but for today I'll finish with...

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Yes, I am looking for my next book.

I'll let you know when I decide.

Now...
whatever time you choose to celebrate...
grab your tambourine,
dance,
sing and
let's bring in a new reading season.

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Okay,
I'm sorry,
I got caught up in the moment.

Enjoy your evening, and
let me know what you are staying up nights reading.