Saturday at Home

I have been home from work for the last few days, working on my apartment (i.e., cleaning, throwing away things, organizing). I took Thursday and Friday off so I could do all these things and also get some rest before the semester--and my life of having two jobs--starts in earnest. Trouble is, I have gotten so relaxed, well, today I have anyway, between yoga and the rain outside and lying on the couch all afternoon reading a novel, that I seem to have ground to a complete halt. So I thought I should at least sit up, plant myself in front of the computer, and see if I have anything to say to all of you out in blogland.

The novel I read was Anita Shreve's Light on Snow. I was a little afraid to read it (even though I picked it out for myself at the bookstore and even though I like Shreve's work) because I knew from reading the blurb that it had to do partly with an abandoned baby, and I thought it might be too sad or too lurid or something. But once I started reading it, I was utterly drawn into the world of the book, entranced and delighted. The story is told from the perspective of a 12-year-old girl, who, with her father, finds the abandoned baby in the snow-covered woods out behind their New Hampshire home. Various things happen after that, which I won't give away. The story is both suspenseful and tender and very much a coming-of-age tale. The girl's voice rings true and the setting--the extreme conditions of a New Hampshire winter--is compellingly rendered. The center of the story is the relationship between the father and daughter and how it has had to take shape in the face of loss.

So, there you have it. A book review.

It's funny how, if I think I have to do work on a Saturday afternoon, a nap seems unavoidable when I get back from yoga. But, today, since I decided I could read a novel if I wanted to, the nap was totally avoidable.