The long evenings of summertime are a special treat during the weekend because my favorite way to relax after a day of ninja gardening or vigorous hiking or biking is to stretch out on my chaise lounge in our natural backyard habitat for a couple of hours of escape through reading. My well-stocked Kindle is truly my best friend when it comes to winding down.
The Little Paris Bookshop
Before the vacation season is over, I want to recommend two books that will be particularly appealing to writers. First, I was totally enchanted by the literary, romantic, travel and philosophical warmth woven through The Little Paris Bookshop, operating (fictionally) on a big, old floating barge. Besides a delicious story with compelling plot twists, pages at the back contain recipes from the region in France where much of the book took place. Following that you’ll find a list of “reading prescriptions” to suit the needs of a human soul — and this book suits just about all.
Defining the Wind
Second, I believe it was a writing colleague who recommended I read Defining the Wind: The Beaufort Scale and How a 19th-Century Admiral Turned Science into Poetry. The book’s author is a journalist who became obsessed with the life and times of a man who used his keen observational skills, artistic ability, compulsion to categorize, and concise writing to describe what ship captains would find on entering the harbors he visited at the height of Great Britain’s sea explorations. I’ve just started it and it’s clear this book will become a special favorite.
Tags: literary, summertime relaxing, Writers, writing