The library haul

• Three books by the poet about whom I am writing a story. (This is somewhat daunting, as I have not read poetry regularly since college, which was lo those many years ago. But so far I like her stuff, and I am not too intimidated about interviewing her when I return.)
• The Kite Runner. Thanks, grumpy girl -- I'd forgotten that this was on my list.
• The Saskiad. Thanks, Phantom; it looks great, and it's plenty long!
  

Also on the reading list for our trip, along with the Austen and Bass books:

• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. I found this on our bookshelf the other day; I've never read Stegner, but after a few pages of this novel about friendship, I am hooked. (Plus, it's light -- in weight, not in substance -- which is another bonus.)
• Many, many magazines. I've hoarded last week's New Yorker and the latest Gourmet. I couldn't keep my hands off the most recent Atlantic -- some really interesting stories, including one about a British spy who infiltrated the IRA, and another about Iraq -- so D will catch up on it as we travel. And then last night my sister and brother-in-law gave us two recent Rolling Stones and an Esquire -- perfect airplane reading.

So I think my extremely neurotic hoarding of reading material is done. You'd think they don't have bookstores in Puerto Rico from the way I'm acting... but there are few things worse than running out of stuff to read while on a beach vacation. (Ok, that is a ridiculous statement. There are lots of things worse than running out of stuff to read at the beach. But I still don't want to do it.)

I've also got the clothes I'm taking piled up on the loveseat in our bedroom (packing is so much easier when you're heading to a climate so different from the windy and frigid one you're currently experiencing), and other assorted things I don't want to forget are stacked on the dining room table. In part, all of this advance preparation is because we leave early Thursday morning (like, 6 am, if not earlier, in order to catch our 9 am flight out of Logan), and because I work all day Wednesday. In part it's because I am a crazy planner. But mostly it's because I. Can. Not. Wait. To. Go. So apologies if the all-vacation-all-the-time blogging is not particularly interesting. We'll soon return to our regularly scheduled pre-baby neuroses anyway.