Wednesday, August 11, 2010

A Gift From the Sea

While I was watching my neighbors pool (otherwise known as my blissful summer vacation!) I was trying to read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.  The book is 938 pages and weighs close to 50 lbs.  That's what it felt like anyway, as I tried to hold onto it while lounging at the pool.




I made it to page 371.  But I think that's as far as I'm willing to go with it.  I figure if I'm not loving this book by now, I may never- not even by the time I make it to page 938.

One of my fellow book reading friends recommended this to me, so I feel so bad to abandon it. But I'm abandoning the book after all...not her!  She was reading it and told me how much she loved it.  But it just wasn't the thing for me right now.   And more than likely- never.  If I picked it up a few months from now, I'd have to start all the way back over at page 1.  Whew.  So yeah, NO.  Never.

(this was the kind of manual labor I had to do)
Today, my neighbor friend, the one with the fabulous pool!, gave me a little gift she brought me back from her trip. For all the hard work I did at her pool over the past two weeks!!  It's a book called A Gift from the Sea.  It sounds good, and it's only 120 pages long, which also looks and feels very good right about now. 

What have you been reading this summer?

29 comments:

this free bird said...

i'm so tempted to get a picture of the neighbors...if i could just grow 15 feet to get inside the fake grass they put up around their deck through which i can see the alien glowing away nightly...i kid you not. this is my life.

xoxo,
c

wandamarie.blogspot.com said...

...we knew those butterflies were discreet about posing, eh?
i loved shantaram, kerri, each to his own...but i also know a man that has lived very similarly and thought they both are amazing even in their faults...the gift from your friend is an amazing grace bestowed upon women...hope your at the right moment or age or blah blah...xo

Laurie said...

Your friend is very thoughtful - "A Gift from the Sea" is an amazing book.

Heather B. said...

I have finished THE GREAT GATSBY and I'm now reading THE FOUNTAINHEAD.

Gina Lento said...

I like your blog, too. I love your doggie, I have a soft spot for Daschies.

Gina

Nikki (www.bookpunks.com) said...

I've been going back and rereading all the books on my shelf by one of my favorite science fiction authors, Philip K. Dick. Just finished A Scanner Darkly, and now I am conflicted: Should I watch the movie recently made of it? I always have the problem that watching a movie of a book completely erases my own images of the characters, and then when I read the book again, all I can picture are the actors who played the characters. Does this happen to any of you too?

Heartfire At Home said...

I've never heard of the Shantaram, so I'll have to check it out and see what I think of it.... although 938 pages might be asking a bit too much at the moment - lol.

How lovely of your neighbour to give you such a great gift!

I'm not reading anything at the moment (and missing it dreadfully) as I'm chasing my tail with so many things. Will get back to it soon hopefully.

But, my favourite author is Phil Rickman (he answers emails too!!!)... I have about 10 of his books. They're hard to find over here, so I order them online or wait until I get to Melbourne and browse some of the bigger bookstores.

I also love Charles De Lint and Robert Goddard... both brilliant writers in my book!

Linda. :)

Unknown said...

What a sweet thank you gift. Enjoy! I see you are having a fabulous summer!

Hugs!Sandy

Estelle Hayes said...

Gift from the Sea is a lovely book. A good friend of mine gave it to me this year for my birthday and it is a sweet little treasure by my bed whenever I need a little inspiration. Enjoy.

Abby said...

Don't blame you, that book looks HUGE!

Anonymous said...

I finishesd reading Anna Karenina for the 541000 time and it's about 930 pages in the italian translation. But Tolstoj Is Tolstoj. Now I'm reading an autobio about an italian manager who left his job to fulfill his real dreams of being a writer and a skipper. It's a dangerous book, it makes you want to throw away everything and start again. Maybe I should go back to Tolstoj.

Unknown said...

My 7th grade English teacher gave me "A Gift from the Sea", and I still have it! It is one of my most favorite summertime books. We will have to chat about it...

Unknown said...

I've read it, it's a lovely and inspiring book! What a great gift to bring you! XO!

Melissa Sarno said...

Sometimes I just can't get through a book if I'm not in the right mind-set. A gift from the sea sounds so beautiful. I want a gift from the sea! (both the book and an actual gift)

Theresa said...

Kerri, that's probably about where I left off when I was reading Shantaram about 6 months or so ago.....You know I LOVE all things Indian but I just couldn't get through that book. I really disliked how the guy writing the book continually wrote about how GREAT he is at everything. He was such a know-it-all! Made me not believe a word of any of it. I bought that damn book- hardback. One of the very few I regret.... The new one you have sounds a lot better :)

Yulia Rahmawati said...

wow
you read that heavy book?
I got interest to read the last book
"A gift from the sea"
looks great to read
I'm reading MMJ(Marmut Merah Jambu- Pink Hamster)
its by Indonesian author :D

Kate England said...

I've been enjoying your summer time blogging! :) The story about house sitting is fabulous! :D What's the book like?

Anonymous said...

Oh, I loved A Gift From the Sea! May have to read it again...

Style, She Wrote said...

Good idea to stop reading -- otherwise it would be torturous!! Thanks for stopping by our blog and for commenting! xo style, she wrote

Kelly Warren said...

and what a gift you have received! A Gift From the Sea is one of my all-time favorites. I do the same thing with books sometimes. And being an English major, there are all the 'classics' that I feel I 'should' read at some point before I die! My latest failure to continue was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Just could not get in to the story. I've left the bookmark where it is so maybe one day something will make me pick it back up, but so far, nope. :-)

Elizabeth Halt said...

It's a hard life, but someone's got to do it. ;)

I'm curious about that book now. Maybe I'll check it out. I have a hard time stopping books that aren't good, but I suspect that if I was reading one that was that long, I'd manage somehow - that's a lot of forcing yourself.

jacqueline said...

Gift from the sea sounds like a lovely book! I didn't shop for any new books lately as i am still hook to my "Taking flight" book. :) Have a lovely merry happy weekend and love to you!

Blue Moon Mama said...

I've come across many beautiful passages from Gift of the Sea quoted in other books & magazines. I've always wanted to read it but never did. Maybe I will now! With a young baby it's hard to find time to read but this summer I've managed to squeeze in two books: Philippa Gregory's The White Queen (good) and a book called Such a pretty face which I didn't really love. I'm going to start some non fiction books soon ( The Artistic Mother by Shona Cole, Women, Food & God by Geneen Roth & Simplicity Parenting).

Glad to hear your summer is going well! By the way, I just played your Honeybee song for my hubby. I just love it!!

Unknown said...

Oh yes -- def don't force yourself. If you're not into it now, it may not be for you. I do not feel abandoned at all. Still, I'd love to talk with you about it since we're so opposed -- would be interesting. I just finished Shantaram on my vacation and as you know, I loooooved it. And even though (as with all good books) I was sad when it was over, at that length I was glad for the opportunity to move on to something new.

Kerri said...

oh, it is a great book. and it's a great book to give a friend as a gift!!

since letting go of that last book i didn't like, i've now found several that i have loved. for me, i think the summer calls for shorter books. my attention span is a little shorter than normal right now for some reason.

lori jo rebeles said...

my all time favorite..ever! this book has so much meaning for me... i have given it several times as a gift. stumbled across a 1955 hard back copy a few years back for just a couple of dollars. even had a sentimental note written inside... hope you enjoy it too!!

Julie Kirk said...

Hi Kerri - what an appropriate title you're reading ... that stone of mine you liked [in your blog comment] is actually one I made as part of a tutorial called 'Coastal Keepsakes' last year!! http://bananafrog.typepad.com/bananafrogblog/2009/09/draft_project-of-the-day-for-sept14.html

:-)

malia said...

Hi Kerri, Are you enjoying A Gift From the Sea? It's such a lovely book especially knowing all that Anne Morrow Lindbergh went through.
I like your latest lyrics! (-:

Kerri said...

YES! I am loving it. I have just been reading a chapter a day-- by the pool- Sort of a meditative read and one that I like going thru slowly.

I didn't know if it was non-fiction, or fiction, or what- Anyway, I can still read fiction while I've got this one going since it's entirely different. So I'm reading the fiction stuff at night, and this lovely book in the mornings for about 10 or 15 mintues-- savoring every bit of it!