The Books-Vacation Connection

Today is the last day of our family vacation. Within an hour or two, we will be back on the road, and I'll be sleeping in my own bed tonight. (I've been blogging about our road trip over at my "regular" blog, if you're interested in the details.)

Although I was hoping that vacation-time would equal reading-time, I've not made huge strides in my reading goals, partly because of the large amounts of time we've spent driving (and I can't read in a car without getting sick) and also because of the many activities we've been packing into our days. (In a couple of weeks, I'll be vacationing again - at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, where the pace will be much slower and I expect I'll have more time to read.)

I have had a few moments of books-vacation connection, though, and here is a summary:

• Finishing The Host the night we slept in Portland, Oregon.


• Reading - and loving - Just Listen, which I carried around in my bag to Bainbridge Island and all through the museums at Seattle Center.


• Visiting the Eagle Harbor Book Co. on Bainbridge Island, and supporting the local economy and independent booksellers by leaving with a bagful of books. I had everyone in the family pick something - and I intend to read nearly all of them myself! The titles we purchased are The Broken Window, Just Grace, The Children's Quick and Easy Cookbook, Tomorrow's Magic, Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little, and When It Happens.


• Visiting the Science Fiction Museum, which has the goal of "promot[ing] awareness and appreciation of science fiction literature and media while encouraging visitors to envision new futures for humanity."


• Starting a re-read of Doomsday Book, which is my IRL book club pick for July. (Do you think I can finish it before Tuesday?)


• Visiting a few sights related to a certain popular book series, since we were in the area anyway. (I'll be posting more about this later, and my daughter Jelly Bean will be too.)


• Listening to part of Hoot on CD in the car.

I will continue to wish that I could read faster, since July is nearly over and I am nowhere near the eight-book goal I'd set. But I guess any good read is better than none!