Curled around a book.

10am
It’s the start of what promises to be a hot day, an extremely hot day if last nights weather forecast is to prove accurate. 41°C (105.8°F) is predicted. Another hot summer day and I have woken late once again. Summer time has me moving slowly, on the spot it would seem, and I am still, in between daily this and that's, reading, reading, reading, and occasionally heading to the local cinema.

This morning, not fully awake, I rolled over to continue reading Per Petterson’s In the Wake as translated by Anne Born. A Norwegian writer, Per Petterson is new to me and I want to read everything he has ever written. I am hooked, a fan already at page 117. I am halfway through this particular book and I do not want to do anything else but read it, in one swoop, uninterrupted.

Reading it, I wish words were my language. I wish I could write just like this, of Arvid as his memories return to him, of the natural world, and with such awareness. I also wish every morning could be spent as such, reading upon waking. Reading slowly and at length before deciding to rise. Rising only because the lure of coffee is strong and not because I need to.

Tomorrow will be the same, but it is realistically the last day of my summer break from routine. Everything around me is slowly resuming. The local café is open once again, yoga classes commence for the year, and I have a new diary for 08 that needs to be opened, finally. Why I use one I’ll never know. I dislike planning things so far in advance, save for the really big things. I prefer a loosely formed timetable that allows me a chance to deviate and peel off path.

{Infront of me. Please, click to see larger... much larger.}

{Up above. Please, click to see larger... much larger.}

A little summer slice for you. See, I haven’t had my nose buried in a book every day. I’ve left these photos large so that those in the northern hemisphere can clamber in and feel the sun on their faces if only for a little while.

(Eunice is currently reading Out Stealing Horses, and I shall follow her lead and read it next.)

** Want to hear what's in my ears? Head here.

Comments

[Brydie]

May I ask where those tall trees stand? It reminds me of the forests near my home.
I have too been curling around a book, mine was Miranda July's short stories "No one belongs here more than You"... I highly recommend you read it. It is quirky, isolated, honest, and forthright literature. I thoroughly enjoyed reading July's works while swinging in the backyard hammock between two sheltering trees.

[louise]

Maybe I could make you a new diary, one without dates written in it, or if it did have dates then beside them could be a large ? or "maybe" or "if the mood takes me". I think it's a trend that could take off. xo lj

[risa]

The idea of curling myself around a book sounds like heaven. my marathon reading habit has become more of short sprint reading habit since starting work again...
but I still try to read a little everyday, even if only for 10 minutes before I go to sleep.

[shari]

i loved reading your thoughts about reading. thanks also for the link to your playlist. cannot wait to check out some new tunes. wow. 105 F. amazing. stay cool g. xox ps: have you seen keri smith's non planner datebook? you might like it.

[julie]

oh these trees are just a breath of fresh (warm)air..lazy summer days sounds pretty good to me. Are you sure theres an urgency to open that new diary? :) xx

[Kait Schott]

From the icy North, thank you for the trees and music....

[edwina]

Gorgeous trees, good luck with the planning - I have a terrible affliction of lots of planning, not a lot of doing! Plan to do nothing could be my new motto!

[andrea]

oh yes, petterson is next on my list! winter is having the same effect on me, friend. i am sleeping later and spending more time in my books. reading before rising does change the whole day ahead. :) and you are a wonder with many different languages... words being one of them. xoxo

[wendy]

sounds lovely the reading does.
the heat not so much.
{and I think the "maybe - if the mood takes me" diary sounds great louise!}

[fanja]

these trees and pictures are lovely. 41°C hey? what i will be sending you soon is not going to cool you down you i'm afraid! (you've won my little give away thing..) take care x

[lisa s]

we are looking for our next book on ship of fools, maybe this is it?

i love reading upon waking too. it's a luxury.
xo

[comfies]

i tagged you on my blog. no pressure though! only if you feel like it! xod

[cruststation]

What a lovely way to spend the holidays. On expanding your beautiful photographs, I feel the sun's rays splashing on my face and warming me for the day ahead. Your writing is wonderful, I think you are being too modest...

[Jenni]

What a beautiful post today. I loved your thoughts about reading - I, too, feel the same.

[fliss]

How our weather is so different and we really are not that far away!!.
I have tagged you,I couldnt help it but also noticed Danica did too... different question!

[Tiel]

maybe you should venture up to Qld where it is very wet and mild. Not a summer at all. And I am loving it especially after experiencing some of those stifling hot Melbourne days. EEEEKKK.

[Sarada]

Thanks for the tree photo's they're beautiful and brighten this rainy, dark January we are having here. Your summer break sounds lovely too, I enjoyed reading about reading!

[Eunice]

thank you for the lovely tree pictures. lounging around in bed reading such a lovely book is one of those guilty pleasures. i'm reading petterson slowly, on purpose, because the writing is so beautiful, and the story unfolds so carefully, moving back past and present. i half don't want it to end. at the same time, i want to find out what happens. but i agree with you...i want to read all of his books now. :)

i dislike planners but love calendars and notebooks. i use the calendar to remind me of appointments and such. the notebooks, mostly todo lists, ideas, dreams, goals, sometimes scribbles.

[Karen]

Hello Gracia!

Finally catching up on blog reading again. So nice to come to your blog and this lovely post. I am in a bit of madness with work right now but this just reminds me that I promised myself to be more balanced this year...

Will need to check out that author for sure...maybe it will be our next Ship of Fools book...

xok

[gracia]

Hey there Brydie,
You may indeed. Those tall trees stand very near to your place of work... up in the hills of Sassafras. We took a wrong turn (no surprise there) at a roundabout thanks largely to an insistent truck driver close behind us and we ended up there. Seemed a nice and leafy spot so we pulled over and took a wander. All that tall green growth. Who could resist strolling in such a spot even if only for the briefest of spells? As to your garden hammock... how green with delicious envy I am. Happy reading.

Yes, please, lj. That sounds just like the sort of diary I could use right now. I am loathe to plan too far ahead and dismayed that it is already the 17th of January. How ever did that happen?

Hi there Risa,
Here's hoping you will be able to squeeze in a little more time with your nose buried deep in the pages of a cracking good read. I know that feeling all too well... reading, for me, sadly sometimes becomes a few pages before slumber.

Keri Smith's Non Planner sounds like just the ticket, Shari. I'll investigate further. And I've become rather hooked listening to the radio online as I type, tinker and play... clicking from Ella Fitzgerald to Skip James to Loyko to Howlin' Wolf with ease all the long day.

Hi there Julie,
Some six days since this post and I still haven't fully cracked open the new diary. I think next week I may need to, but for now it remains closed. Glad to hear the warm breeze and a little summer laziness found you if only for a moment.

Hi there Kait,
Glad to hear it. Please sing by again next time you need a little more music and scenery from the southern hemisphere.

Hi there Edwina,
Planning and scheming, it does take a great deal of time, doesn't it? Your new motto for '08 sounds like a winning idea.

Thanks so much, Andrea. So nice to hear, and I am happy that winter has afforded you the chance to curl up, with a blanket wrapped over you, and read, read, read. It proves such a peaceful start to the day... it calms me, settles me and best of all, it gets me pondering, thinking and dreaming.

Hey there Wendy,
Luckily these past few days have been cooler... several days all strung together, warm (but not too warm) and summer idyllic. Perfect days for starting new projects, eating berries, taking to the movies, walking, reading and going slow.

Oh! Fanja, I am so excited to be the lucky recipient of your patchwork pillow! I feel so very lucky; a warm thank you I send your way in advance. Yippee!

Yep, it sure is a luxury and one I hope to make a little more time for throughout the year, Lisa. This particular book or Out Stealing Horses would prove a brilliant choice for Ship... I'd love to hear and read your musings on either. Happy reading days to you, friend.

Love to, Danica... and have happily done so. I have long wanted to do such a task ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/gracia_louise/2197431148/ ) and Louise has revealed the contents of her bag, drawn.

Hi there Crust Station,
Happy to hear the enlarged slice of all that's green and leafy warmed you. And thank you for your kind words as well... that's very nice of you.

Thanks, Jenni, here's to more days buried within the pages of a beautiful read.

Hi there Fliss,
How does my garden grow? proved an enjoyable tag and one I hope to elaborate on down the track. I have just watered it with my recycled shower water and I think I'll take my coffee outdoors and enjoy it there.

Hi Tiel,
Stifling hot days are just that, aren't they? Thankfully these past few days have proven to be the epitome of the perfect summer day.

Hi there Sarada,
It's been a relaxed summer break... I may not have travelled to far destinations on foot, but in my reading I have been to Norway, Russia, Ukraine, London and the North Pole... what could be better than that?

Hi there Eunice,
I quite agree, I'd dislike to race through such beautiful, descriptive and poetic sentences, too. Far better to read it slowly allowing for every word, phrase and feeling to sink in under the skin.

Here's to a more balanced year for you, Karen, with more time to read and fall into other worlds.

take care, fellow bookworms,
g xo

[amisha]

oh, i needed those photos of trees and warm sun! thank you.
and i am the same way with planners... each year i buy one and in december i find that it has only a few scribbles in it!
xo

[bugheart]

i have often
wanted
to read
things
in their original
tongue.
if only
i spoke
them all...
i cannot
wake
and read
i would have
to re-read it
again
after tea!
xo