I am back from visiting my parents, and I am a little punchy: because of the time changes and the difficulty of getting from this particular point A to this particular point B, two days out of the previous five have involved staying up for 23 hours in a row, and I am getting a bit old for that.
I have so many things to say, I’m sitting here with a mind like a bag of mice. I’ve asked the children to please give me a 45-minute chunk of time, and I’ve given them a piece of paper to write down all the things they will think of to tell me as soon as my eyes focus on the computer screen. When I made this request I had already listened to 45 minutes of Pokemon Go, Dungeons and Dragons, cute things the cats did, and what they bought with their tickets at the arcade Paul took them to, so I feel I have earned a little time with my sorely-missed computer.
All our flights went beautifully and on time, with no cancellations and only one small delay (waiting for passengers from a delayed flight) that the pilot was able to make up for during the flight, and I’m not sure the last time that happened with flights I was on. The mid-90s, maybe? We flew Southwest. I love Southwest. Top favorite airline, would check their site first every single time. And if you are wondering if Early Bird Check-In (which puts you early in the pick-your-own-seat boarding order) is worth it, I vote YES YES YES A MILLION TIMES YES, especially if you dislike middle seats and/or if you have traveling companions you’d like to sit with. And if I fly another airline I have to pay to check my luggage (Southwest lets you check two suitcases for free), so I just mentally transfer the baggage-check fees to the Early Bird Check-In costs.
I was so happy I’d put my phone-charging cable in my carry-on, because there were outlets ALL OVER the airports. This is something probably most of you know. But I think the last time I traveled, I had not yet started playing phone games, and was only charging my phone every couple of days.
I was also happy I decided in advance to pay the high prices for airport food. It added significant, worth-it fun to the whole thing, for me and for Rob and William. It is hard to pay $26 for a pizza when usually I pay $14-minus-a-coupon, but AFTERWARD it seems like a ZERO-BIG-DEAL difference, and it’s nice to have a meal that isn’t granola bars and water, and the kids were like, “This is AWESOME.”
I read 1.75 books while I was gone:
(image from Amazon.com)
Britt-Marie Was Here, by Fredrik Backman. I don’t want to talk about the book too much, because I thought the best part was how it unfolded when I didn’t know anything about it beforehand. But I will say that during the first chapter, I did not think there was a high chance of finishing it. And then I ended up loving it, and I have added two more books by this author to my library list.
(image from Amazon.com)
Chestnut Street, by Maeve Binchy. This is one of Maeve Binchy’s posthumously-published books, and it is painful to know there are no more books coming (probably), so I saved it for a special occasion. I’d say that if I had read it without knowing it was put together by other people after she died, I would have thought, “Huh. She’s kind of slipping a bit, but I guess that’s normal after so many books.” The preface says she “would have wanted” this book published, but I think she would have wanted to work on it a bit more. I suspect that the people who profit from it are the ones who wanted it published. STILL, I am three-fourths of the way through it and I am enjoying a lot of it. My review sounds so tepid, when actually I would definitely recommend the book; it’s just that I feel a little irritated on her behalf that people seem to be attempting to rake in as much money as possible. Also, I guess I’d first recommend anything published while she was alive and could approve the final drafts. ANYWAY. Moving on.
Actually, my time is up. More coffee now, more talking soon.
I am so glad your trip went so well! And “mind like a bag of mice” is my new top-favorite simile. It is SO APT.
Also, I loved “The preface says she “would have wanted” this book published, but I think she would have wanted to work on it a bit more.”
I thought the author of the first book looked familiar! I loved his book A Man Called Ove and I’m definitely checking this one out. Thanks for the review :)
I loved A Man Called Ove, too, and currently have Britt-Marie was here in my to-read like from the library. I also love Maeve Binchy. We have similar tastes, it seems! Have you read Rosamunde Pilcher? My favorite is Coming Home but Shell Seekers is more famous. And I’m currently swallowed up by the Armand Gamache murder mystery series by Louise Penny- it is excellent!
I LOVE Rosamunde Pilcher-she is one of my favorite authors. Shell Seekers is my favorite (in stressful situations, I often think “what would Penelope do?”), but I love Coming Home and September. I have read all her books! I am going to try the Louise Penny series-thanks for recommending it.
I adore Shell Seekers and read it whenever my life turns stressful. And I have a Penelope, but I’ve never told anyone that her name came from that book. Actually, not true, my Grandmother gave me that book to read and I thought it was a special bond between us (she came to the US as a war bride after WWII and grew up near where the book takes place). Turns out she was just passing the book along and when I told her my daughter’s name came from our favorite book, she didn’t know what I was talking about. Cue sad trombone. But I love it anyways.
I’ve tried Rosamunde Pilcher but couldn’t get into it. I might try again, though—so many people who like Maeve Binchy also like her.
Britt-Marie was awesome, Ove is even better!
I loved My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, by that author (Fredrik Backman). It’s one of my favorites.
That’s one of the two I requested from the library! Also the Man Called Ove one.
There have been new releases from Maeve Binchy-I think they are compiling her short stories that have been published in other places, and releasing them in book form. The newest one is A Few of the Girls.
Glad your travel plans went well!
I have that one waiting for me, too! For the NEXT trip, probably!
I thought your parents lived locally, or did? In my mind, you and your mom are always shopping together. Also you could pay the early boarding fees only for some passenger(s) in your party, and have them get on and hold the middle seat for you later. You could even pick which kid you want to punish with the task of having to say over and over again “Uh, my mom’s in the bathroom” to a bunch of strangers.
They do/did, but now live more than half the year elsewhere.
Oh, that’s brilliant (the only some passenger part) because what drives me nuts about those kinds of fees (on SW and elsewhere, though count me among the huge SW fans. Wish they also flew internationally.) is the way that they add up. Though the other add-up madness that also drives me nuts is how you have to buy per flight, not per trip (or per day of trip, I’m kind of OK with “depart” and “return” being different events. But not “leg 1,” “leg 2,” etc.), and of course this wouldn’t get around that, and I’m … cheap. Still, it’s an improvement.
When we flew, there were two thingies related to this. The first is that even though we had two flights each direction, the Early Bird fees only counted once for all our departing flights, and once for all our returning flights. (This was the same the last time I paid to check luggage, but that’s been a couple of years so may have changed.) The second thingie is that the Early Bird fee had to be paid for all the members of our party. You could get around that by each person booking their own flights, though, I’d think—though that’s no good for those of us booking tickets for kids.
Aha! Thanks. We are often 2 adults flying with 1 kid, so the “buy tickets separately” thing could work.
I just finished Chestnut Street and enjoyed it. I always did enjoy Maeve Binchy. The other one looks intriguing, so I’ll add it to my ever growing list.
Glad to hear the trip went well.
Ooh, I’ve been meaning to get to Britt-Marie Was Here. It looks like a sort of sequel to My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry and I really enjoyed that one.
I will be interested to hear what you think of My Grandmother, because Britt-Marie is a very unlikeable character in it.
Terry Pratchett is one of my favorite authors and of his books, the Tiffany Aching series is at the top for me. His daughter (I think) worked with his publisher to help put together a final entry to the series and I don’t know if I can read it. He might well have wanted it published after his death – he worked on it, after all, presumably well into his decline (Alzheimer’s). But given the nature of his illness, who knows? He had a couple of things in the works that were published after his illness was made public, and it weirded me out just a bit because it was hard to say who was really pushing to have them put out. Consensus is that they weren’t his best work, and fans seem to be reading his final novels through an “obviously you can’t compare this with his greats” filter. I see it kind of like the decision to view the body of a loved one after death or watch a pet be put to sleep. You want to show respect for a body of work you love, but also want to remember it in a certain way, and there’s not a right or particularly good answer about whether to read it or not (probably I am overthinking this – I doubt most people feel so torn on the issue).
Glad your airplane trips went well!