Sunday Salon: The Curse & The Challenge

What a glorious last day of May! I've been down with "The Curse," as I've come to call it. EVERY YEAR I get sick on or around the last day of school, and I fell to it once again. It's made it much easier to wander around in a cold medicine haze, reading books, eating Popsicles, watching TV (very bad TV this weekend BTW...nothing good on), and throwing everything on the floor to get to once I feel better. Oh, you mean like tomorrow or Tuesday because you fly out to HAWAII on Wednesday?!? Yes, I'm panicking that I'm sick and trying to just get rid of illness before I hop in a plane and scare someone with my hacking cough! Although, it would be a bit funny too. (Sorry, that's my devious side.)

May for me was an interesting month. I read more than I thought I would, with my minuscule eight books. I keep thinking that's great, until I read how some out in the reading community are hitting 20 to 30 books a month! How?!?

Right now, I'm in the middle of finishing up Abigail Reynolds Impulse & Initiative: What if Mr. Darcy had set out to win Elizabeth's heart? (Pride & Prejudice Variation) In fact, I took it with me for a very slow, rambling walk out in the beautiful sunshine today. (Yes, I wandered out, looking semi-homeless due to being sick, with book in hand.) Since this is another take on Pride and Prejudice, and I'm a real sucker for anything Regency-esque/P&P, I've been giving it a spin. Well, I had an epiphany today and now realize why we love Austen. Maybe I'm the only person who didn't figure this out a long time ago, but every male hero in her novels does something self-sacrificing for the woman he loved. He didn't do things to posture, pose, or position, in fact, he did something so unselfish for the woman (without any indication that she would ever know it was him) that it is almost breathtaking. I don't think we want to believe that a man could be so unselfishly romantic, making a gesture we might never know about, for the basic reasons of compassion and love. So sweet! (Does Darcy do that in the one I'm reading now? You'll have to stay tuned...)

I'm also trying to cram in a few other library books before I cart them all back before leaving for Hawaii. I then get to go over and torture their library staff! :) Honestly, I do think it's torture for them to see me coming. The lady who works at the library knows my mom and I think wonders if she's really reading all those books I check out on her card! Anyway, I'm also mailing about two boxes of books over, since I'll be there from the 3rd of June until the 10th of August. WooHoo!!!

Before I wrap up, if you get a chance, join me in my first reading challenge, "Rejuvenate and Renew." (By the way, the button for the challenge comes from a picture I took on the North Shore of Hawaii, in Haliewa.) The challenge is all about reading those educational, self-help, how to books you've been wanting to read. I'd love to have some others to share this challenge with.