I had a really good weekend, Y’All.  I came sooooo close to finishing the magazine (it’ll be out this week–promise!), The Taste Tester gave me a box of new cameras (all of them much older than I), it’s no longer January, and I discovered a reading list in the library book I was reading (a book I was reading to review for the magazine at that).  So, I can’t turn down serendipity (at least in this case).  I’m going to read all the books on the list this year (along with all my regular reading).  Here’s the list (minus the one being reviewed in the magazine so as to maintain the surprise) for posterity:

The Heart Broke In by James Meek

The Salt God’s Daughter by Ilie Ruby

Paris in Love: A Memoir by Eloisa James

We Are Now Beginning Our Descent by James Meek

Of Men and Their Mothers by Mameve Medwed

Have you read any of these?  What have you been reading lately?

When things get a little rough around the edges, I start fantasizing about going back to the land.  I play the Five Acre “Farm” Fantasy game and pretend that The Taste Tester and I could be self-sufficient on that little acreage (yeah, we probably could but…).  My “farm” will have regular row crops and fruit trees and olive trees.  Beehives, of course.  Also some sheep.  And chickens.

Although T3 and I certainly haven’t ruled out fleeing the city for country life, we haven’t made any steps in that direction either.  Instead, I feed the flames of fantasy by reading books about people who have actually made the switch.  If this is your fantasy too (and we’re certainly not alone if the number of titles about this subject is any guide), the following books will make for great escapism:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Fifty Acres and a Poodle by Jeanne Marie Laskas

The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball

The Quarter Acre Farm by Spring Warren (this one is about staying put but growing/eating locally)

Farm City by Novella Carpenter (this is also about staying put and creating an urban farm…I woudn’t keep bees on my balcony, though)