Hurricane lamps. Go bags. There are many ways to prepare for a hurricane, but let me be honest: the most important part to me, once safety needs are met, is making sure I have a reading list that will keep me entertained once the power goes out.
In preparation for Hurricane Sandy sweeping over the east coast this week, I scoured my bookshelves and put together my own Hurricane list.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
You should read this novel if you haven't already. I honestly can't remember the first time I read it, but every few years, I pick it up again and revisit Manderley. Through the eyes of the unnamed narrator, readers are shown the world of Rebecca, Maxim de Winters's deceased first wife. She haunts every corner of Manderley, the eyes of every servant in the household, and the hearts of every visitor to the estate, but most especially, she haunts Maxim.
The Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
I read these books as a teenager, tracking down copies in used bookstores and inhaling them as fast as I possibly could. There were princes and sword fights and little girls who wanted to be knights instead of ladies. There were cats who could talk, goddesses who guided the worthy and so much magic. I still love the stories, and now I read through them a lot faster than I used to.
You Suck by Christopher Moore
Do you like to laugh? Do you like vampires? Okay, scratch that. If you like to laugh, you have to read almost anything by Christopher Moore. He's so incredibly funny, and I love it. I started picking him up as beach reads a few years ago, and now I grab one when I see one in a store. This latest purchase I haven't read before, but I'm looking forward to it.
Other reads for a rainy weekend:
Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolfe
Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers
The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
Calvin & Hobbes