We got a lot of lightning last evening punctuated by a couple of thunder claps at the very end. But not a whole lot of rain. The storm hung out to the west of us and I saw puddles when I traversed the back roads out in the county today. Fortunately we are not desperate for rain. The first pic is sans lightning, the second, I managed to catch the sky lit up. Can’t really see much of the sky because our neighborhood “forest” is in pretty much full-tilt boogie summer foliage mode.

So books. A beach urchin is on an expotition and has run oot of boooook… So I spammed her with some books.

I am a little more than halfway through “The Ministry of Time” and I am loving it. A new sci-fi novel (published in early May) involving time travel and a good amount of British humor. Oh, and one of the characters plays the flute!

“Limberlost” is a coming of age story set in Tasmania (I think I figured this out, many geographical places had fictional names, which is okay with me). The title was nagging at me a bit because I have read “A Girl of the Limberlost” by Gene Stratton Porter. I may be mangling my family’s history (and hopefully someone will correct me if I am) but I believe it was a fave of my paternal grandmother and she named her last daughter Gene. (Grandma was certainly literate but I don’t really remember her reading much besides the Sault Ste. Siberia high school honor roll and other tidbits in the local newspaper.) I almost lost my point here. My point is that the book family’s “Limberlost” orchard was named after Gene Stratton Porter’s book. Which was NOT set in Tasmania. (And I might have to re-read the Gene Stratton Porter book…)

“The Other Valley”. Definitely sci-fi or maybe fantasy. Speculative fiction? I’m not sure but I loved this book.

“Clear”. A story about the highland clearances which happened in the 17-1800s. I am NOT fluent with this history but I enjoyed this book and how the “clearance” of the sole occupant of a Scottish island didn’t turn out exactly as planned. I have read another book by this author (“West”). It was set in North America in the pioneer days. I enjoyed both of these books.

I have written about “I Cheerfully Refuse” recently but it came to mind today because it is about our family’s “home” lake. Near future dystopia set on Lake Superior. I mean ON the lake, at least a lot of the time. I have never been to Michipicoten Island. Have you?

A book I read a few years ago, “Piranesi”, kept popping into my head today as I was reading “The Ministry of Time”. I LOVED Piranesi. I *think* I am gonna love Ministry as much although I am only halfway through. What’s weird is that these two books are nothing alike. But there is some sort of “vibe” that’s connecting them in my brain.

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