pickA different sort of "summer read", one I enjoyed immensely. Tove Jansson is one of those authors I've known about forever but had never read (not even the Moomins, which aren't as well known in the US as Europe). I knew that she was fascinated by America's unique (to put it nicely) attitude toward aging and the elderly, and she really captured the pathos of being abandoned in "paradise" with insight and gentle humor.
pickIt was a pleasure to drop into the #MidsummerSolace reading with this beautiful little book. A collection of vignettes about summer on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland, it was so charming in its evocative physical details. Weather and nature felt vivid, especially a spectacular and terrifying summer storm. Of course the real star of the show are the relationships between Sophia, her grandmother, and her often-absent father. Lovely all around.
#chatterday2025
The plan is to go to the laundromat 🧺 this morning. We go super early (it‘s 5:30 am and we‘ll be packing the van 🚐 soon) so to avoid the crowds.
Later we might go swimming. 🏊♂️ Even later we‘ll definitely listen to the Dodgers game. ⚾️ Throughout I‘ll read a bit and I should work on my blanket (crochet). 🧶
Edited to add: Yikes, it‘s Saturday. Protest. We are going to the protest. 🪧
Bird watching at the river mouth. Took about a 30 minute hike through the dunes to get there. Definitely worth it for the beauty of the area. Now we‘re at our usual walking park/beach watching the swallows swoop and swirl, picking their lunch out of midair. :)
#birding
#centralcoast
Halfway through this book for #MidsummerSolace and it's perfectly lovely. I'm really enjoying the easy pace, and each vignette is building a stronger picture of Grandmother and Sophia and their summer together full of simple pleasures. It's starting to veer toward melancholy but I actually love that; the mood is keeping me hooked. Who else is reading this one right now? #BooksAndBlooms
Some morning reading with my tea on this cool and overcast day. I can relate to the cold of May mentioned in this book. We don‘t see any warmth until mid-July here.
#naturalitsy #midsummersolace #buddyread #litsolace
#MidsummerSolace #TimeforTea
Sunny snuggles with the ginger one while sipping herbal tea and reading the tagged.
1) Í have almost never preordered a book. The one time I did I had a negative experience with the bookstore. So now I just wait. Of course, with ebooks it makes it so easy that I don‘t need to preorder. Just put the date into my calendar. ?
2) See above.
#two4tuesday
