Luggage and Literature

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - St. Augustine

Archives for August 2016

Friday Five 8-12-2016

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No One Remembers SleepThis is the fourteenth installment in my weekly series, called the Friday Five. In this series, I’ll tell you about five random things that I love, whether they be books, travel, music, movies…or whatever. So without further ado, 8-12-2016’s Friday Five!

1–Cool dive sites. Atlas Obscura, which I read regularly, has this great post, with fantastic pictures, about sunken ruins and shipwrecks, and plane wrecks, and all sorts of cool placed that I now want to dive.

2–The Olympics. I am an Olympic junky…really and truly. We cancelled cable, but NBC has an excellent app for Amazon Fire Stick, so I can still watch all kinds of events. And as an added bonus, I can pick and choose what events to watch based on the type of sport, and then see all of the full events or just highlights. Sweet!

3–Harry Potter. I’m finishing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and am loving it. I found this list of 6 real-world Harry Potter locations. Definitely adding them to my bucket list.

4–Google/Quantum Computing. I don’t profess to completely understand this stuff (or understand really any of it). But I think it’s cool nonetheless. Google simulated a hydrogen molecule using quantum computing. You can read about it here.

5–Vermillion, SD and USD. Last weekend I went back to Vermillion, South Dakota to see some of my college and sorority sisters. We had tons of laughs, more than a few tears, and very little sleep. But it was great, and much-needed. I went to college and law school at The University of South Dakota (USD), and honestly feel like a piece of my heart will always be there. Such great memories!

What I Read (Northern Michigan)

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When I travel, I always find time to get a bit of reading time in. Car trips, flights, and relaxing by a pool or on a beach afford ample time to read fantastic books. Here is What I Read while traveling to Northern Michigan.

Books Finished:

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

Mystery, romance, mental illness, friendship, murder…this book has a little bit of everything. The mixture seems crazy, but truly works out to become a book that I had a hard time putting down. And unlike some of King’s other books, it’s not incredibly long.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Frederick Stonehouse

I picked this book up at a shop in St. Ignace. Mike and some friends of ours were going to be diving shipwrecks in the Straits of Mackinac, so this book really stood out to me (although it is not in the same location or legal to dive). Ultimately I was able to visit Whitefish Point and see the bell off of the Edmund Fitzgerald, so reading this book was timely. The subject matter is fascinating, and the mystery of what exactly brought the ship down definitely lives on.

 

Books Abandoned:

None.

Friday Five 8-5-2016

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This is the thirteenth installment in my weekly series, called the Friday Five. In this series, I’ll tell you about five random things that I love, whether they be books, travel, music, movies…or whatever. So without further ado, 8-5-2016’s Friday Five!

1–Poldark. I started watching this show on Amazon, and I love it. I reminds me a bit of Downton Abbey in its character interactions, but it’s also totally different. It’s set in the 1700s, so it’s a completely different time period than Downton Abbey. If you’re in a ‘show hole,’ it might be worth checking this one out. It’s on PBS, although I’ve been watching it on Amazon Video.

2–Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I’m a huge Harry Potter nerd, so Mike pre-ordered this for my birthday. I just finished Act One last night (I’m trying not to binge read it), and I’m hooked. Some people have criticized it because it lacks the rich narrative and exposition of the other Harry Potter books. But, it’s also a script for a live stage show, so it would be silly to have all of that information. And I’ve read all of the previous books, several of the short stories on Pottersmore, visited the theme parks at Universal Studios (see my thoughts on them here, here, and here), and watched all of the movies, so I can picture all of this while I’m reading. So I can’t say that I feel like I’m missing out.

3–Other Magical Books. Once I finish Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, I may be missing me some Harry Potter. Fortunately, I found this list, of 10 Books For Adults That Are Just As Magical as Harry Potter. So, hopefully that will help me from my withdrawals.

4–Ride with Larry. Larry’s wife Betty was one of my professors in college. And one summer, Larry and Betty led a trip to France for me and three other students, so they are dear people to me. Larry has Parkinson’s Disease, but it doesn’t affect him the same when he’s riding a bicycle. Consequently there was a team of bicyclists, including Larry and Betty, and a team of filmmakers who rode for Parkinson’s awareness. This documentary will be released on August 9, 2016. I’ve pre-ordered it, and I hope that you will as well.

5–Skydiving. I’m going to preface this by saying, I’m not interested in jumping out of an airplane. But a friend of mine just did it last weekend, and loved the experience. Then I stumbled across this article this week in Nebraska Rural Living. So, I won’t do it, but I’m fascinated by it, and wanted to pass along information to those who may be crazy willing to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. 😉

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