celebrating books & the literary lifestyle
I’m back with some vacation and book recommendations after traveling to the East Coast during early July.
Earlier this year, we purchased an RV (motorhome) for travel and fun. It has been one of the best decision we’ve made, and even during the pandemic we have still been comfortable traveling because we can keep to ourselves both on the road and at campsites.
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I haven’t posted about a book for awhile because I’ve haven’t read much since the new year. I’ve been pretty busy with other activities and also took the time to watch all the best picture nominations for the Academy Awards. I was so happy to see Parasite win best picture. If you haven’t seen Parasite (English Subtitled) you can watch on Amazon Prime (click on picture below). Even though I liked all the movies I saw, except Joker which I couldn’t finish, Parasite is the only one I am excited to experience again, and I will soon when I make my husband watch it!!
But I’m logging in today to tell you about the book I’ve been slowly reading since the new year. At first I thought that maybe I wasn’t liking this book so much because I was reading it very slowly. But after fully experiencing it and finding out it was inspired by real people and of course a real place, I am going to recommend it:
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I’ve been to Key West before, so I know it’s not considered a family vacation spot. However, we were all going to be in Florida anyway, and I’ve been missing my favorite quirky island. Who knows when I would be so close again??
So we took our kids to Key West!
We found a lot to do there as a family. The kids complained it was “too much walking” and “too much stuff for adults.” Ha, yes, have to agree there. But we (all) still had a great time!
Here’s what we did in Key West with kids:
Continue readingI want to recommend new historical fiction about an American actress who married the Prince of Monaco. It was delightful:
Meet Me in Monaco: A Novel of Grace Kelly’s Royal Wedding by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
Grace Kelly is attending the Cannes Film Festival in 1955 when she first meets Prince Rainer of Monaco. This story covers their awkward first meeting and builds to the royal wedding that captured the world’s attention while intertwining a secondary story about “normal” people who meet because of Kelly’s visit to Cannes.
Continue readingI picked up The Cuban Affair: A Novel by Nelson DeMille because I was eagerly anticipating a cruise to its settings (Key West & Cuba).
Mac, a 35-year-old veteran has settled in Key West as a fishing boat captain. When he is approached by an anti-Castro group to charter his boat to Cuba for a dangerous mission under the guise of a fishing tournament, Mac accepts the job with the hopes of earning $3 Million for his trouble.
This book is set during the “Cuban Thaw” (2014 or 2015) when America was relaxing its restrictions related to Cuba. But between the time I picked up this book and actually read it, my own travel plans suddenly changed due to President Trump’s policy reversal that Americans can no longer travel to Cuba.
Continue readingOne of my favorite reads over the past few years has been The Paris Wife
I didn’t previously know much about Martha Gellhorn, but this woman was a real journalist and author in her own right without being tied to Ernest Hemingway. She was his second wife between Pauline and Mary. (The Paris Wife is about his first wife Hadley.)
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You’re taking your kids to New Orleans???
That is a question I got when I announced our fall travel plans.
Yes, yes we did, and it was awesome. There’s a ton of stuff to do in New Orleans as a family while still having good time as adults.
Of course it is a different experience than when I went there 4 times in my college era, but at this point in my life that is OK!! I would not likely take them in the spring closer to Mardi Gras.
My other hobby besides reading is planning vacations!! And because I did so much research to arrange for our two-week tour of the West Coast from Oregon to Los Angeles, I decided to write posts on all of our many stops.
Here are all the links below in case you missed something that interests you. I’ve covered where we stayed and what we did as well as other important details for planning your own trip.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OR
San Francisco and The Beat Museum
If you have any questions just leave them in the comments sections of each post. I’m happy to help!!
I was actually surprised when my husband suggested adding Disneyland to our epic West Coast vacation, but I wasted no time researching and planning for this experience.
Luckily I’ve had the Disney credit card for several years and had built up enough points to pay for a chunk of our stay.
I had nearly finished planning our epic summer vacation through Oregon and California (hitting Redwoods, a lighthouse, San Fran, and Disney) when I realized that we couldn’t go across the country and not swim in the ocean!! So, I added two more days on to our trip to hit a beach near Los Angeles before our reservations at Disneyland.
As is my nature, I did A LOT of research to see what beach area may be best for us, and ultimately I decided on Laguna Beach. I got the impression that this area – a former artists’ colony – would be more relaxed and casual. I am definitely more comfortable in an “offbeat” atmosphere over anything “glam.”
So I am happy to report that we had an amazing and relaxing time at beautiful Laguna Beach and would definitely go back. It also hosted a very special reunion for me!
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