Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the tag “hammocks”

05 Sep 2024
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Reader Roundup: August 2024


August used to be the beginning of the end for me since my mind began shifting away from summer fun to classroom curriculum. Going into my third year of retirement August just means summer is still summer, albeit the mornings and evenings a little cooler. BUT–I can keep on reading with no compunction to create lesson plans. Keep on keeping on reading.

I’m still finding lots of hammock time and books that go well with hammock reading tend to be ones where I am engrossed in the story and want to stay put for a couple of hours getting absorbed in the story. Here are my five star reads for August. Check out my other books here.

An unexpected find while browsing the library bookshelves. Sometimes serendipity picks are the best. A story that presents small town community without being snarky or saccharine while mixing in relationships ranging from family to friendships to neighbors to new love. The author manages to create realistic responses out of extraordinary situations while slipping in nuanced details like apple varieties and cake baking. For those looking for Mitford-type stories, ones where the characters and community share equal spotlight.

Not a perfect book, with its hyperbolic characters and fairly implausible plot—yet, who cares! A fun mystery revolving around perceptions and relationships and interconnections. Sutanto provides readers with an irascible new detective, Vera Wong. Forthcoming adventures will be duly anticipated.

Nonfiction can be oh so dry. Not so with The Cloudspotter’s Guide. The author combines prose with scientific facts about clouds to create a reference book that doubles as a delightful read. Readers can even join the Cloud Appreciation Society.

Rereading a mystery has one great disadvantage: the ending or twist is already known. Nevertheless, Tey’s story employing the pretender motif still holds interest due to her character scaffolding of Brat Farrar. He knows he is a bounder for deceiving the family, yet he still gains reader sympathy. Even as a reread with inside knowledge, Tey’s story maintained interest to the last page.

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22 Jul 2024
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It’s Hammock Day!


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Hammock Day isn’t just one day of the year, one special day of summer. As soon as June appears I drag out my hammocks–doesn’t everyone have two? Lounging in the hammock with a book or some tunes is one mainstay of summer. I may not go to the beach. I might abstain from a road trip. I probably won’t go to the local theme park. I will, however, spend as much time as possible in my hammock(s).

There is something so acceptably decadent lying about suspended above ground, be it parked in the shade or soaking up the rays. Hammocks are cool. In more ways than one.

Here’s to your own Hammock Day.

Posted in Reflections and tagged , ,
22 Jul 2021
2 Comments

National Hammock Day!


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National Hammock Day!
Posted in Reflections, Seasons, summer, Uncategorized and tagged ,
26 Jun 2013
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The Guilt-Free Read


One of the first items of my “I’m-finally-on-summer-vacation” list is to trot down to the local library and leisurely select a few novels to enjoy without guilt. During the year I am either guilty of sneaking my reading in between grading essays or I feel guilt because I am not reading.  With no papers in sight for the next couple of months I shall enjoy reading at all hours of the day guilt free.

I tend to mix up my reading,  and although I don’t like to make lists, here are a few goals I plan on to accomplish while lounging in the hammock this summer:

1. Room with a View (a reread, the first time I read it too fast determining if I would teach it for AP–the verdict? A resounding “Yes!” The subtle humor and digs at Brits and their habits are delightful–the film caught the spirit well, also.)

2. A really good mystery series–I haven’t found one since I finished my Inspector Evans series by Rhys Bowens.  I’m picky though–no bedding, no swearing, no gratuitous violence–limiting, isn’t it?  Take it up as a challenge 🙂

3. Classics yet to read:  The Sound and the Fury; Middlemarch; Faust (really, I never have); some Dickens, more Shakespeare, and perhaps a Hemingway, and of course a revisit with Austen.

4. Look up current YA–I discovered Hunger Games before the masses did, and hope to find a new trend-setter.

5. Kid Lit: what’s going on in picture books these days, and it never hurts to look up old friends for an afternoon of revisiting.

I’m open to suggestions. Got a good read to recommend? My schedule is wide open until end of August.

image from guardian.co.uk

Billy Collins captures the guilt-free read so very well in his poem “Reading in a Hammock”. An excerpt:

Around the edges of the book
is the larger sky,
dotted with clouds,
and some overhanging branches
that appear to be slowly swaying
back and forth,
as if I were the one lying motionless…
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