I am a bit resentful about the weather this weekend. Friday’s forecast said it was going to be 75-80F (24-27C) and sunny. I was so happy because last week was cold and raining and one day we were 18 degrees below normal. So I – we deserved a sunny weekend. Saturday dawned humid and cloudy. I made it to the library around noon to pick up some books that had arrived for me and on the way home it began sprinkling. I was a little worried since I was on my bike and I didn’t have the books in a bag, only in my bike basket. But it just sprinkled and I made it home. Fifteen minutes later it was pouring. And it rained pretty much all afternoon. So much for a sunny day.
Today was warm and humid but cloudy all day except for 45 minutes in the mid-afternoon. After that it clouded back up and there have been the occasional brief glimpses of sun to make things warm and ripe for the thunderstorms that are supposed to be arriving tonight. We just can’t win with the weather this year. After such a long and dreary winter the spring and summer have thus far been a big disappointment. Does anyone know the email address of the person in charge of the weather? I have a bone to pick.
One thing about rain and clouds on the weekend is that it makes staying in and reading not as guilt inducing as it would be if it were a glorious day outside. I got a good way into Maugham’s Cakes and Ale which is due to be discussed by the Slaves on the 30th. Great Scott! Can you believe it is the end of June already? I can’t say that I am enjoying the book all that much. The main character is a prig and there really isn’t that much going for the story or the writing itself. But maybe something will redeem it by the time I am done.
I finished reading Reality Hunger by David Shields. This book began with me not liking it and thinking of returning it to the library unfinished but it turned out to be really good. I will try to put my thoughts together on it for tomorrow.
Speaking of the library, the books I picked up were two books on Chinese gardening. Chinese and Japanese gardening are very similar, both using the same elements of design, but the goals of the design are different. I had gotten these books because I have decided on the area where I want to put my Japanese-inspired garden. It is on the south side of the house and there is currently an old gate there between front yard and back yard and I thought it would be cool to have a moon gate. But moon gates are Chinese, not Japanese, and I see no reason why I can’t mix things up. But after reading and further assessment, a moon gate next to a midwestern house is not really going to work all that well. But I have other ideas I’m working on instead. I found the books, Creating a Chinese Garden by David H. Engel and The Essential Guide to Creating a Chinese-Style Garden by Gao Yonggang really interesting though.
I got two other books at the library that I haven’t had a chance to look at yet but hope to soon: The Madame Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science by Julie Des Jardins and Reflections on Gender and Science by Evelyn Fox Keller. I found these two referenced somewhere but it escapes me as to where. The Madame Curie Complex is the stories of prominent scientific women including Jane Goodall, Rachel Carson and the women who worked on the Manhattan Project (I had no idea there were women who worked on the Manhattan Project). It also explores the barriers for women in science and how cultural ideas of gender have shaped science.
Reflections on Gender and Science is about “the social construction of men and women and the role of gender in the construction of science.” It also speculates how science might be different if more women were involved in it. The book was written in 1985 and might be slightly dated, but it apparently was groundbreaking at the time and is sure to still have some interesting things to say.
In the mail this weekend I received an awesome review copy from Tin House called Fantastic Women. It is an anthology of 18 short stories by women of the likes of Kelly Link, Lydia Davis, Aimee Bender and fifteen others. I am so looking forward to diving into this one.
Looking ahead to my reading for the coming week, I will be finishing Cakes and Ale. I have been reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens on my Kindle to and from work. I am enjoying it very much, so there will be more of that this week. I hope to get back to Ulysses. I began it on Bloomsday and haven’t picked it back up since not because I haven’t wanted to, but because I haven’t been in a focused, uninterruptible place to concentrate. Hopefully I can find that place this week.
And now to finish off the weekend with a little more reading and relaxing with my Bookman. Hope you all have had a lovely weekend!
I can sure sympathize with you over the delay in summer weather. Here on the west coast (British Columbia) summer has definitely been delayed. Yes, we are considered to be a rainforest but we do get glorious summer weather starting in May through September, usually. July is our hottest month. This year it has been rain, rain and more rain. However, as you said, it just all makes for splendid reading conditions; although I must say, I do enjoy reading in the great outdoors on occasion! Perhaps I will resort to a larger umbrella
I’m including a link to a wonderful Chinese garden we are fortunate to have in Vancouver — the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden. I am a bit ashamed to say I haven’t visited there, yet. It is on my bucket list as a place to go with a book of poems and a long afternoon tucked in my pocket.
http://www.vancouverchinesegarden.com/
Perhaps you ought to reconsider those library positions in Hawaii. Being there would cure your weather blues forever. So would being where I am now where the sun shines all day and the temperature is always in the 80s or more.
We had a glorious day yesterday and this morning has dawned as bright and fair. However, before you threaten me with any dire retribution for bragging, the thunderstorms will be here by the end of the afternoon and no one will be surprised if these two days turn out to have been our summer. Still some years we haven’t even had two days, so I shall try not to be too downhearted.
Cakes and Ale bored me; I read it last year and as my first Somerset, it hasn’t made me at all eager to read more.
Both of those women & science books sound v neat!
(Also, it sounds like your weather and mine should get together and split the difference; this week is slightly more reasonable with highs from 97-99, but there were two weeks straight with highs over 100. *sigh*)
Maureen, sorry to hear your summer weather has been rainy too. Maybe a bigger umbrella is the answer! Thanks for the link to the garden! It is gorgeous and looks like the perfect place to spend an afternoon.
Richard, ah, but you see, if I lived in Hawaii I would be complaining about how the weather it always the same and how boring it was. I need something to complain about and it might as well be the weather
Annie, I hope you have more glorious days than those two!
Eva, I’ve read Razor’s Edge and loved it. It is so very different than Cakes and Ale, it has a sort of dreamy lyricism about it. Maybe Cakes and Ale just isn’t Maugham’s best. I am looking forward to delving into the women and science books. Your weather sounds terrbily hot. I think I would melt. I suppose I shouldn’t complain about cool and damp! Hope it improves there soon!
Could you please send some of that rain our way? We’ve had very little rain this summer, and my farming friends need it desperately. Also, I’ve practically forgotten what it’s like to have a nice rainy day that doesn’t make me feel guilty for staying in and reading. Meanwhile, I can’t wait to read your full review on Cakes and Ale, because I so loved that book. It’s always fun to read those who disagree (I mean, as long as I didn’t hand it to you, saying, “You’ve got to read this. You’ll love it!”).
Our weekend was lovely. I have a four day weekend coming up and (wouldn’t you know it) it’s supposed to rain all four days! If you get that e-mail address of the weather god, please share it with me. Better yet, send me his phone number. (I’m assuming the weather god is a man since he can’t seem to get from point A to point B without getting lost).
I was sort of medium about Of Human Bondage, which is the only Maugham I’ve read. There were some pretty intriguing gender things going on, but the style was flat and the book was VERY long for the amount of narrative contained therein. Sounds like Razor’s Edge might be a better choice for my next Maugham.
And I so relate about the weather! Although we did finally have a glorious summer weekend over the past few days, but now it’s back to grey & cold.
I’m looking forward to discussing Maugham! I’d rank Cakes and Ale third out of the four Maugham novels I’ve read, with The Razor’s Edge last! Didn’t like that one at all. The Painted Veil is first and Of Human Bondage second. Even though I have mixed feelings about Maugham, I’m still tempted by The Moon and Sixpence. The last couple days have been nice here, but before that — tons of rain and gray skies. I hope you get your fill of sun soon!
I generally love Somerset Maugham, and I know I enjoyed Cakes and Ale a lot when I first read it in my twenties. This time around it didn’t do so much for me, which was surprising. The narrator did get on my nerves a bit (although he’s very aware of his own faults) and all that tart-with-a-heart stuff made me go yeah right. But it made me think a lot about the place of literature in society and how we regard authors. I feel for you with the weather – ours has been very up and down, well we had summer in April, effectively. Yesterday was boiling, really uncomfortably and now it is hot and cloudy which just makes me want to go to sleep. Hope the sun is shining in a nice, acceptable way now!
Emily B, I’d be glad to send some of the rain your way. Our farmers are having difficulties because we’ve gotten so much of it. Well I am glad you didn’t give me the book to read so I won’t feel bad about saying I didn’t like it much. I still have about 50 pages to go until the end so maybe something will happen to make me change my mind about it.
Grad, oh you made me laugh. I have a three-day weekend coming up and the forecast is again saying it is going to be really nice. I’m not going to trust it this time!
Emily, there is lots of class snobbery going on in this one and I just don’t have the patience or tolerance for it at the moment so that doesn’t help. There is some interesting stuff about a writer’s place in society but the class issues keep getting in the way which is part of thw writer stuff but I just don’t like how Maugham handles it.
Dorothy, since I’ve only read Razor’s Edge I have to rank that one first! I liked it much better than this one. But it will definitely be fun to discuss Cakes and Ale. It seems there will be many varied opinions.
Litlove, I hope when you write about Cakes and Ale later this week you inclulde something comparing your two readings
Sorry to hear you are boiling there. Today since I am at work it is a gorgeous day of perfect temperature.
Whoever controls the weather doesn’t have an email adress I’d say as they know they’d get loads of nasty letters. I’m not getting far in Cakes and Ale, but I haven’t made up my mind yet. I have a library book due on the 29th, so I am sure I’ll be late finishing. Those library books really mess up your reading plans sometimes…beware.
I want to comment more, but have a raging headache. However, yes: weather — you suck! we have rain today! ugh.
Danielle, you are right about whoever controls the weather not having an email address. Can you imagine all that hate mail appearing in your inbox everyday? It could really get to a person after awhile. Don’t give up on Cakes and Ale, your discussion presence will be missed if you do!
Daphne, oh no! Rain and a raging headache? Hope the headache is gone now and the sun shining.
The weather is desperate here as well. There was a warm and sunny day last Sunday, the day I was travelling back from Germany
(it included 1h30 at the very front of a bus, being roasted behind the windscreen).
How ar you enjoying Bleak House? Great read, isn’t it?
I think we’ve all had weird weather this year. I never complain about the weather out here in California but this year we skipped spring and went into a heat wave followed by pouring rain. The last few days have finally been sunny and normal temps. I’m almost afraid to check to see what the forecast is for the 4th weekend. I hope it will be sunny and nice for all of us!
have you read “women, science and technology”? it has a chapter in it detailing the early treatment for hysteria and the subsequent development of the vibrator!
No, I’ve not read it. I will have to look for it, sound slike fun!