A Good Stretch at an Unlikely Time

My husband and I just returned a couple of days ago from a trip of 11 days to New England. He was invited to be the guest conductor for an adult band camp (yes, there is such a thing) in Maine, so we made a vacation of it. Our original plan had been to go into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia after the camp, but we changed our minds at the last minute and went west instead of east, to New Hampshire, Vermont and Fort Ticonderoga in New York. The area is beautiful!

We did several hikes over the 11 days, plus visited a couple of historic sites/museums. Although we were busy, I am happy to report that I maintained my reading streak, and actually had a really productive two weeks. During that time, I read three books! Well, more like two and a half, but that's a story for a little later in this post.

#1 - The Airplane Book to Get to Maine

Knowing that we would be flying for about 5 hours plus layover time, I checked out a book for the trip. Three Men in a Boat (to Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome is a book I saw mentioned on some book blog, and I'm so glad I put it on my list! All I knew was that it was a travelogue story about three friends who sail on the Thames and comment on the countryside and their experiences on the way. What I didn't know is that the book was written in 1889. I also didn't know it would be so funny! It does comment on the countryside along the trip, but Jerome also throws in stories that have nothing to do with the trip but that develop the characters of the three men in the boat (himself included) - and, of course, the dog, Montmorency. You might think something written in the Victorian era would be stuffy, but Jerome makes it a point of puncturing "stuffy."

The book also had some good life observations that I added to my quotes collection, such as the following:

“It is lumber, man—all lumber! Throw it overboard. It makes the boat so heavy to pull, you nearly faint at the oars. It makes it so cumbersome and dangerous to manage, you never know a moment’s freedom from anxiety and care, never gain a moment’s rest for dreamy laziness…Throw the lumber over, man! Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.” – p. 41-42

#2 - The Book I Picked Up at a Bed and Breakfast Stay

A couple of years ago on a different trip, we stayed at a bed and breakfast house that had books everywhere, even on the windowsills. I took one off a windowsill to pass time in the evening, and since then, I've decided to do that whenever the opportunity presents itself. For this trip, we stayed at the Old Iron Inn in Caribou, Maine (VERY interesting place - the husband of the pair collects old irons. It was also a wonderful B&B). The wife of the pair of owners is a former English major, so she had one wall floor to ceiling with books. Lovely is the Lee by Robert Gibbings doesn't have a cover that really stands out, but it is a thin book, and I thought I might be able to finish it during our stay (more on that in a minute). 

My luck held! This is another older book (written in 1945) that is a collection of short sketches Gibbings wrote about his experiences traveling around the western part of Ireland, especially the coastal islands. It is part nature guide (Gibbings seems to have really liked birds), part Irish history and folklore, and part studies in human nature. As with Jerome's book, there is a sense of humor that I find really delightful. Again, there were some quotes to collect, like this one:

“It seemed to me a happy thought that when all our loves and pains are over and the tired old brain has gone back to earth, perhaps, from the most unmusical of us all, blackbirds may sit in the hollies and sing the spring day through.” – p. 102

I haven't finished this book yet. Yes, it was a thin book, but I didn't want to spend the whole two days we were in Caribou ignoring my husband so I could read! The host told me I could take it, but I didn't feel right about that, so I found a copy online and ordered it so it would be waiting for me when I got home. 

#3 - The Book to Ease the End of the Vacation

It's odd. I'm always ready to get home when a trip is nearly over, but I also miss the freedom and excitement of traveling. I decided a good ol' Victoria Holt novel might be just the ticket to ease the transition back into ordinary life. I selected The Secret Woman, about a governess (of course) who falls in love with a handsome ship's captain who is haunted by scandal and mystery (of course).

You know how a cup of hot soup feels on a cold, drizzly winter day? Warm. Comforting. Satisfying. The Secret Woman was, for me, the literary equivalent of that cup of soup. I know it's not "great literature that will expand and improve my mind," but it's not literary slop, either. Even if they are sort of similar from one book to another, Holt knows how to develop characters. For example, the governess in this story was raised by an aunt who was a dealer in antique furniture, so throughout the book, there are descriptions of furniture, completely on track with what the character would notice. Holt also knows how to drive a plot. I've read enough of her books that I was able to predict where the plot would end up - except I wasn't. I did pick up on which character was going to be the villain, but the mystery resolved in an unexpected (and satisfying) way. 

 So I feel quite happy with where both my body and my mind went over the past two weeks!