Mr. Counterbalance and I are headed to a wedding up north this weekend and are extending our stay for a week in Napa. Much as I rolled my eyes at Napa the entire time I grew up in the Bay Area, I find that while some of my angles have hardened with age, my attitude towards Napa has not. Instead, it has mellowed and since Napa itself seems almost entirely over itself (finally!), it's a perfect time to visit.
I'll be blogging about it all at my new (not yet launched) wine blog. I'll announce its launch here in the coming days for those who wish to check it out and follow along. Of course, no vacation is a proper vacation for me without lugging along a pile of books. As always, the pile is ambitious, but I'm confident I'll have quite a variety of reading at the ready. My pile thus far:
- Flaubert & Turvenev The Complete Correspondence Edited & Translated by Barbar Beaumont
- Flying to America by Donald Barthelme
- By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolano
- The Exquisite by Laird Hunt
- Couch by Benjamin Parzybok
For kicks, I've thrown in Delaney's dhalgren. I could just make my life easier and bring only the dhalgren...but then I'll get antsy and feel trapped without options. While I'm steadfastly against The Kindle (for reasons I can't properly articulate) I can see its use in moments like these when I'd like to bring my entire library along for perusal...just in case.
