“Read a book and take a look at the TV in your head.”
— O.G. Readmore
What are you reading this summer? At my house, we’re reading “Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World,” Harry Potter 6 (again), “Monsterology” and a lot of other fun stuff. We are spending a lot of our time at the library because it’s air-conditioned.
Have you been staying cool? In Portland, it has been hotter than hot — last Sunday (7/26/09), it was 93 degrees. On Monday it jumped to 103 . Tuesday and Wednesday were even worse — 106 degrees both days! Down to 96 degrees on Thursday and 94 on Friday. Saturday? Ninety-five degrees. And on Sunday it was 94 degrees. Today (8/4/09) it has been right around 84 degrees, which seems perfect after last week. (I tracked this information from the Weather Underground site — it’s fun to dig around there.)
My family and I have been going to the movies a lot, since we don’t have air-conditioning at our house. So far, we’ve seen “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (aka HP6), “Aliens in the Attic,” “Up,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” (aka Night at the Museum 2), and some older films, including “Yours, Mine & Ours” and “With Six You Get Eggroll.” (Both of those films are from 1968 — it has been fun to compare how they made films in the “olden days” compared to now.) It’s cheaper than air-conditioning, plus you get previews. There are a few films coming out that look really good, and are based on books. It’s nice, if you can, to read the book first before you see the movie. But if a good movie inspires you to read the book it was based on, then that’s good, too.
“Where the Wild Things Are,” “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and “A Christmas Carol” are all due in theaters in the next few months. Of course, many of us are already looking forward to Harry Potter 7, which will be released as two films.
Remember to read the books, too! And I do hope you’ve been staying cool, wherever you are.
Best,
Ms. Nancy