Archives - Weekly Update

On Saturday night we had seven inches of snow, and then on Wednesday it was close to 80 degrees. I keep coats and jackets in the back seat of my car, so I am ready for everything from a blizzard to rain and sunshine. It’s pretty amusing, but I feel like I have earned the motto “Be Prepared.”

Confession: While I have been reading a number of manuscripts this week, I am behind on my “finished book” reading as I have succumbed to Olympic watching. Yes, I have fallen down an Olympic rabbit hole; seriously, last night I was holding my breath at the 9.5’ drop onto the Snowboard Cross where just watching is both terrifying and thrilling. I can read 1,040 pages upside down. Does that qualify as a sport? How about reading while running on a treadmill? Okay, walking on the treadmill, slowly, while flipping pages on my iPad quickly. Gold medal to me?

What a fun week this was. On Tuesday night, Greg and I went to the launch event for Kristin Hannah’s new novel, THE GREAT ALONE. You can see some photos from that evening above. I had read this book months ago in manuscript, and I was struck by the beauty and grandeur of Alaska that she describes on the pages, as much as I was by the story. It’s a place that I have wanted to visit for a long time. The book opens in 1974 when the Allbright family moves there to "get off the grid." Living is primitive; one must always work on surviving, and for this family that posts a lot of challenges. Even in the '70s, people were homesteading; Alaska was the new frontier. It was, and still is, a location where the terrain and the weather make it a place that is not for everyone.

The calendar has flipped to February. For all of you who vowed to read more this year, do a quick assessment and see if you are on track. I know, this is a math exercise, not reading, but this early in the year, you may be able to use your fingers.

I already have broken my resolution to write down everything that I read, so I am doing some re-con on that. This is going to be a reading weekend. I am trying to make no plans except reading and, okay, watching the Super Bowl and the special episode of “This Is Us” that is airing right after it. I mean, I have to find out what happened to Jack. The clues on this have been well placed.