When was the last Saturday that you did nothing? I mean,
nothing. You didn't grocery shop, do laundry, clean the bathroom, walk the
neighbor's dog, shop for jeans at the mall or even get your nails done. In
fact, when was the last day that the most strenuous thing you did was make a
pot of coffee? That was me. Saturday.
For the last, I don't know, many months, my weekends haven't
been my own. I've either gone down to Mom's to help out or I've gone away for a
weekend with friends or I've run and done errands. The one thing I haven't done
is sit still and do nothing but read, because the minute my sitting goes beyond
an hour, the guilt hits and I have to Do Something Productive. Yes, yes, sure.
I've got issues. It is right up there with my inability to remain in bed if I
think anyone else is up in the house.
But it means my to be read pile is growing ever deeper and wider and now
can be contained on three shelves and I don't know how many pages in my Kindle,
and my DVR is filling to capacity...
I'm sure I've mentioned this before - the remembered joy of
purchasing a favorite author's new book and spending the evening and night
reading it. Savoring. Living that moment in that book. And getting up four
hours later and going to work. I am older now. Wiser. Or at least less able to
work a full day on so little sleep. And for whatever reason, it feels as though
the older I get the less time there is in a day and the more items are piled
into my not finished pile (and to be read books onto those shelves, etc
etc). But we need these days, I need
these days, to read a good book and remember that I love words and stories.
In the last couple years, I've been introduced to the
wonderful Regencies written by Carla Kelly. She is a lovely writer, emotional
and affirming. Her characters are, well, normal and kind and broken and strong
and emotional and self-deprecating and courageous. Many of her stories are
about the rising middle class in Britain during and just after the Napoleonic
War. Military men, surgeons and doctors, mill owners. Her original Signets sell
for upwards of $15 or $20 on Amazon. Sometimes even more. But thank the good
Lord for re-issues for the e-reader!
This week, I downloaded two, and on Saturday, I sat and read
"Miss Milton Speaks Her Mind." It was like macaroni and cheese,
stuffed hamburger, pecan pie and a gin and tonic all rolled into one. Comfort
and joy and kindness. With cheese on it.
You know her characters have had pasts, that at some point, life was
really difficult. Perhaps even gruesome.
But the hope that she gives in the romantic relationship of the hero and
heroine affirms all that is good and can be right with the world. It is a world
of acceptance, of warm water, of thick red cloaks given as gifts to downtrodden
poor relations.
I have had a particularly shitty last year, and am so behind
in everything. There are quilts to be sewn, clothes to be washed, taxes to be
completed, furniture to be polished, bathrooms to clean, plants to be planted,
the list just keeps getting longer. And the longer it grows, the less am I able
to sit and read. But I took this weekend
to be kind to myself. And what better way than with Carla Kelly? Do you have a
favorite author that you immerse yourself in as a particular treat? Why her (or
him)? Is it the characters she creates or the vividness of her writing? The
story itself? Please. Introduce me to your authors!