I was planning on blogging last night but I got distracted. I know, it’s mind boggling, right? After all these years of dedicated and regular blogging what could possibly distract me from the task at hand?
Why books of course!
I haven’t had anything to review from Library Journal for months and I was beginning to wonder if they were trying to quietly forget about me and that would be totally cool because I was also really enjoying not having any books to read and review on their short 2-week deadline. But then in my mailbox arrived a book from them to review. This one is called Melville in Love: The Secret Life of Herman Melville and the Muse of Moby Dick by Michael Sheldon. The title makes it sound kind of cheezy but Sheldon is a Pulitzer Prize finalist in biography and the book is based on some fresh archival research. The muse in question is Sarah Morewood, a married woman with whom Melville had an affair around the time of his writing of Moby Dick. Racy! This might be interesting.
I also received an unsolicited book in the mail, The Miner by Natsume Soseki. Written in 1908, the book is a modernist classic in Japan where Soseki has the literary fame equivalent to Charles Dickens. Haruki Murakami also claims it is one of his favorite books. I have no idea when I might be able to read this book, but I put it on my reading table, the one with the pile of books that doesn’t seem to be getting any smaller.
And then I had to download some books to my Kobo because, do I need a reason? I got them all from Project Gutenberg for some classics yumminess. I had been thinking of rereading Jane Eyre and since I am reading A Fiery Heart by Claire Harman , a biography of Charlotte and her messed up family, it seemed like a good time to make sure the book was at hand. Very likely I will start reading it in the next day or two. Then I also got several “forgotten classics” by women that I culled from a list I can no longer remember from where. Today being International Women’s Day, you can possibly add them to your ereader or TBR list too:
- The Morgesons by Elizabeth Stoddard. Published in 1862, the novel follows the education and development of Cassandra Morgeson, a middle-class American girl. Supposedly it challenges the religious and social norms of the time.
- Moods by Louisa May Alcott. This was Alcott’s first novel. Published in 1864 and revised in 1882, tomboy Sylvia Yule goes on a river camping trip with her brother and his two friends both of whom fall in love with her. She marries one of them but discovers too late she chose the wrong one. What’s a girl to do?
- American Indian Stories by Zitkala-Sa. This is a collection of childhood stories, fiction and essays. Zitkala-Sa was Dakota Sioux and born on the Yankton Reservation in South Dakota. She was taken away by missionaries when she was eight and sent to a Quaker boarding school in Indiana.
- Hidden Hand by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth. First serialized in the New York Ledger in 1859, then twice more after that before appearing as a book in 1888, it is the story of Capitola Black and her various adventures.
- Anne by Constance Fenimore Woolson. Woolson is the grandniece of James Fenimore Cooper. This was her first novel, published in 1880. The story deals with the emotional and spiritual conflicts that arise when the young heroine leaves her home in Mackinac Island for a future in the Northeastern U.S. It was a bestseller in its day.
How are those for distractions?
With all this, before I knew it, my blogging window had closed and I spent a few minutes puttering around and psyching myself up for a hard bike workout – forty minutes of “sweet spot” training. That translates to pedaling just below my FTP (fitness threshold power) for the whole time. It also translates to forty minutes of playing mind games with myself – you can do it, no I can’t, yes you can, I’m going to quit, no you’re not, and on and on. I made it to the end and felt better for it, but ugh, sometimes working out is more of a mental game than it is a physical one.
Anyway, books, very distracting. Tomorrow I should actually have a review of a book that I did not want to end. Isn’t that a good tease?
Excuses, Excuses, Excuses…. Lol! Just kidding.
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Heh, you made me laugh 🙂
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I read the entire In Search of Lost Time on my exercise bike…
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Lisa, now that is an accomplishment! I can’t read and pedal at the same time because I wear reading glasses and for various reasons that just doesn’t work.
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Aww, what a pain! Maybe an audio book?
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I’ve tried audiobooks while working out and I just can;t pay attention so I use the hour to listen to music or watch a –usually–superhero themed TV show 🙂
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Do you ever listen to audio books while you’re biking?
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Richard, I have tried but they aren’t motivating for a workout and when I am working hard I have difficulty paying attention. So I listen to fast music or watch an action oriented streaming TV show or movie.
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This comment is not about books or bikes but I have thought of you and your spring related reports. We have a plethora of cotton tailed hares in this area and last year we had one in the backyard through the winter. This year we had a resident hare in the front near the bird feeders. Well guess what? We now have two and one looks mighty big! I think we are going to have a family. It must be spring.
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roughghosts, baby rabbits! If you don’t have a garden to worry over they are so cute. We had some many years ago and I loved watching them hop around in the grass of the backyard. You know it’s spring for sure when the animals start having families!
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oh! Stefanie…why do you do this to me! I have now downloaded all 4…LOL! I have no idea when I will get around to reading them, but I will and sooner than later! I understand about the pile of books on your table….I have something similar happening!
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Cirtnecce, bwahahahaha! I have no idea when I will read any of them either but they are nice to have at the ready when the time is right and since they are ebooks they don’t take up shelf space or require dusting 🙂
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Haha, happens to the best of us. But what better way to be distracted than by books?!?
Btw, a free book by Natsume Soseki….wow! Where can I get a gig like that?? 😉
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Misanthropologist, books are the best distraction, aren’t they? I have never heard of Soseki before and had no idea what a big deal he is. I also have no idea how I got on the publisher’s list since they are a new imprint. Can’t say that I mind in this case! 🙂
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I have one of his novels, “I am a Cat,” a long novel told from the perspective of a cat.
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Ooh, I am going to have to find a copy of that one!
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A Fiery Heart is a book I’d like to read at some point. I’m looking forward to your thoughts on it. I have a feeling I should re-read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre before that. It seems I’m doing things backwards since I read two sequels to these two books not long ago.
Anne by Constance Fenimore Woolson sounds really good as well. I didn’t know James Fenimore Cooper’s niece was a writer. I was a great fan of The Last of the Mohicans as a teenager. Thanks for the link, I’ll most certainly have a look.
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Delia, no need to reread WH or JE before reading the biography but reading the bio will make you want to read the books for sure! Apparently Constance was a very popular writer in her day. She should be fun to read 🙂
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What a great TBR list! Can’t wait to hear what you thought of the Melville title….
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Thanks Widget! The Melville is off to a good start. Found out he was married too when he had the affair. Scandalous!
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It sure is a good tease, Stefanie! I’m waiting patiently. I hope I see it in my inbox when I wake up tomorrow otherwise I’ll be devastated and possibly unable to go on with my day. You don’t want to be responsible for that, now do you!
I saw your reference to Soseki and thought that I have one of his in my pile, but I looked at a list in Wikipedia (not in my pile/s) and couldn’t recognise a title, so maybe I’m imagining it. Perhaps I’d better check the actual pile/s.
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whisperinggums, no pressure or anything 😉
I had never heard of Soseki until the book landed in my mailbox. Bookman had though and he snatched the book off my table and started reading it last night! Maybe you do have one of his in your pile but are misremembering the name? I know I do that. So frustrating not having every title I own stored in my memory 🙂
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Haha Stefanie … Of course no pressure but just letting you know I’m off to bed now 😉
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I’ve stopped asking for books from LibraryThing as I usually get one or more from each batch I go for, so when the email came out on Monday it had to go straight in the trash! Doesn’t stop me getting books from publishers (usually because I interact with them on twitter) or going to author events and “magically” come away with a book, like I did last night!
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Nordie, I don’t even look at the list of LT books up for grabs any longer, too dangerous! It is curious though how books always manage to “magically” make their way to us anyway, isn’t it? 🙂
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By all accounts (or from what I’ve heard) the Bronte book is excellent so there may be more distraction in your near future 😉 I’ve been on a Gutenberg downloading spree this week but managed to pick just two of yours, for now at least.
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Charlie, so far the Bronte book is pretty good. Heh, yeah, after Jane Eyre I might just fine myself going on a Bronte binge 🙂
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New books are very distracting indeed! And, just look at all those others you added to your Nook. Keep us posted!
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The best kind of distractions! 🙂
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Pfft, it’s not your fault! Books are hella distracting, and I believe everyone knows and accepts this. :p
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Jenny, I knew you’d understand 🙂
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This post quite reflects your website’s name, Stefanie. 🙂
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Deepika, heh, it does indeed!
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Some interesting-sounding books make their way into your mailbox! I have a book of short stories by Constance F. Woolson on my own reading pile that looks really good. I hope someday soon I might be able to read one or two….
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Danielle, they do indeed! I have no idea how but I am not going to complain 🙂
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