Reading Day

It was a day of R&R&R . . . rest and relaxation and reading.  

Rest was the afternoon nap. 

Relaxation was enjoying my house here, potting around , putting things away and watering plants.  It's been dry here in Seymour.  Some of the plants outside probably will never recover. I picked some vegetables that I will take back to the campground tomorrow. I didn't hurry.  

As for reading, I am in the final stages of the Muehl Public Library's adult reading program. I'm on the sixth book.  The theme is "Groundbreaking Reads."

The first was a book by Nevada Barr. I listened to it on CD while I was in Canada. It was the Barr's mysteries that I had somehow missed. 

The second was to be a groundbreaking book.  I read The Outsiders by S.C. Hinton since I had read the others on the list.  I'm not sure what made it ground breaking though.  

The third book was to be about the resistance movement in World War II.  That was Courage and Conscience about those who hid Jews from the Nazis. 

The fourth was Johnny Tremain, a choice from the library's adult book group list. It was an old book I probably should have read back when I was in grade school.  Now that's out of the way. It makes me want to go back to the early part of the American Revolution to find out what was historically accurate. 

I've just finished The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud, which was the requirement for a young adult book. I went with librarian Colette's recommendation on that one. It is the first book in a trilogy. I will probably be reading the next two in the series though djinnis and demons are not usually my thing. 

Number six is a double pick. I could read a book published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press or a book about architecture. Yesterday, I stopped at the library and found Encore! The Renaissance of Wisconsin Opera Houses which was published by the WHSP.  I'll read that by Friday and finish the program. 

I am pleased with this last pick.  The second of the opera houses in the book is The Grand in Oshkosh.  I have twice performed there, once as a storyteller and another time as an entr'acte for a community theatre performance of The Front Page.  My job was to perform music between acts.  So I sat at the Grand's grand piano and sang songs like "Bye, Bye Black Bird" in a Betty Boop voice with a Brooklyn accent.  I was on the same stage where Caruso sang, where Aida was performed with a live elephant, where the ghost of the stage manager roams.  

I will enjoy this last book, too.