Summer Reading Spectacular #18

It rained most of the day, complete with thunder and lightning, which definitely cut into my reading routine. Not only could I not set up camp at beach the once it started, but the heavy rainfall on the roof insisted that I cozy on up for a good, long afternoon nap rather than sit outside reading. Who was I to argue?

I did read one book (start to finish) before the rain started, and also read some other things at other times, so it wasn’t a complete washout. I read Marcovaldo (or The seasons of the city) by Italo Calvino, a collection of short stories centred around Marcovaldo, an unskilled labourer in 1950s and 1960s Italy, and his family over the course of twenty seasons. In some ways, the tone of its whimsical adventures reminded me of Puckoon, but with a much gentler sense of absurdity than with Milligan. I’d read The Baron in the Trees by Calvino last year; both books were gifts from my dear friend Linda.

Since I return home tomorrow, I guess that the remaining books that I’m in the midst of will be completed as part of my regular, and more limited, reading schedule. Still, I do think that it was a relatively successful week of reading, having taken at least a small bite out of the pile(s) of books on my “to read” shelves.