Back in the Saddle Again....(I think)

Today was the big day - the first day of second grade. There were some nerves on the walk to school, but as soon as the girl saw her best friend, I literally felt the pull of her body towards her friend as they embraced. They hadn't seen each other for 3 weeks after spending the summer together at day camp so there were big smiles all around. I can't wait to hear about her day.

So, I've been back home for a few days and when I wasn't at work I was making tomato sauce and doing laundry. I did go to the farmers' market on Sunday, but unfortunately there is no photo as I didn't have a camera here. I spent 8 hours on Sunday doing this with tomatoes. I don't really have words for how tired I was afterwords. I don't know how those pioneer women did it. This year I prepared 30 meals worth of sauce, unbelievable that I made dinner for one month, in one day.

Chicago was fun as always and it's great to enjoy old favorites as well as new pleasures. Highlights of our trip included the new German U Boat exhibit at the Science and Industry Museum - it's inside now - and yours truly got to enjoy the Harry Potter exhibit by myself there. There are many costumes on display and props from the movies. I even got to throw a bludger! The detail of the props is AMAZING and I would have loved to have brought home a replica of the Marauder's Map if only it hadn't cost $45. (!!!!!! for a piece of paper !!!!!!)

One of my favorite parts of the trip was visiting the Old Town Oil Shop. It's my idea of heaven - casks upon casks of oils and vinegar to try and bring home.



You can taste as much as you want, then when you decide what you'd like, your oil or vinegar is poured into a lovely bottle from these silver casks. That way you know exactly what you're getting. I brought home some olive oil and an amazing black current balsamic vinegar.

There's so much more. I've been reading so hopefully I'll get to reviewing books in the next day or so. There are also new books to share. But for now, I'm going to celebrate the first day of school by treating myself to a movie - Julie and Julia. Originally, I had quietly boycotted this film. While I loved Julia's book, I actively disliked the few chapters I read of Julie's. In addition, from what I've read and heard, Julia was not a fan of Julie - she had no interest in her project. So....is it a bit insulting to Julia that the film we now have of her life includes Julie? I'm not sure. But, now the reviews are so good, I've decided to go anyway. C'est la vie.

Photo from Seasoned Solutions Culinary Tours.

Where in the world is.....Tara?

Here I am!

It's been a strange week here at Chez Books and Cooks. After a long weekend of working (me), the girl traveled off to visit her grandparents for most of the week. It's been very quiet around here! Every evening, we're not sure what to do with ourselves.

We celebrated our 9th anniversary yesterday, so took a little mini-trip on Monday to one of those lovely old river towns, Stillwater, MN. I hadn't been there for a few years so was eagerly anticipating browsing in the many used book stores I remembered and hoping to find a few more green Viragos for my collection. Alas, things have changed. There are only two bookstores there now; one that sells new books and the other that sells 'rare' books, that is to say, expensive. There was an extremely small literature section at the rare bookshop which surprised us. My husband made the astute point, that if he wanted to read, say a history book (there were a lot of those), he would read a current one with updated information rather than one that is 60-80 years old.

In any case, we had a lovely time, and spent the evening at a beautiful bed and breakfast after dinner and drinks overlooking the river. Other than that, my schedule has been very off, full of dinners out and cleaning in expectation of my in-laws coming to stay this weekend. This involved a thorough cleaning of the girl's room and much trash removal of various do-dads.

Incidentally, she will be arriving home soon! I cannot wait to put my arms around her. I can tell it's going to be trouble when she goes away from home based on the meal I'm planning for tonight after only 4 days away...


flank steak
salad
chips with homemade salsa and guacamole
lemon cake

All her favorites.

Something sort of bookish, is that I went to see The Time Traveler's Wife yesterday. Despite the lackluster reviews, I had hopes that this would be a satisfying movie and it just sort of...wasn't. I cannot remember details of the book, but I do remember how incredibly moved I was by the story. The dialogue in the move seemed stilted to me. It wasn't until later in the film that I felt connected to it, and in fact cried from the part when they're trying to get pregnant until the end. I cried during the book too; it all just broke my heart. I'm not sorry I watched the film since I would have always been curious, it's just that this book perhaps doesn't translate well to film.

Plans Change

So I was all set to have Memoir Week here on Books and Cooks, thanks to the memoir reading binge I've been on. But as I was writing my first post on Tuesday announcing memoir week I was called in early to work. Which was a good thing! And then I spent most of, okay all of my kid-free time on Wednesday trying to get into Harry Potter after the first show I showed up for was sold out. I finally did see it after buying a ticket online, retrieving it, standing in line for a half hour, then sitting in the theater for another half hour. Was it worth it? I'm going to say Yes. I'm not sure how close it was to the book, I read that back in 2005 after all. I did love that there was a bit of humor in this installment and enjoyed the romantic tension between the characters. Alan Rickman is fabulous.


So, here I am on Thursday. I think that it is too late to begin memoir week and I will hold that thought for next week. I will instead tell you about another book I read recently, The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri.




Reading this book was like putting on an old comfortable sweater. The plot is familiar: a young woman has been facing tough times in life and love and decides to travel. In this case, the young woman whose name is Kate travels to the homeland of her mother's family, Ireland, and finds herself in a small village. She is immediately taken in by a lovely but lonely woman and instead of moving on like she expected, Kate stays on for a bit. She soon begins learning how to make lace with the village women and because pretty things are hard to find in small villages in Ireland, they begin to create beautiful lingerie out of the lace. We get to know the lace makers, the challenges and struggles that they have faced. We get to know the village priest who thinks lacy lingerie is Evil, a storyline that seemed a little far-fetched. I guess I just don't see what fancy underwear has to do with religion. But I let that go, since there was so much to enjoy about this book, including a little romance. Except for the priest, this is a warm and gentle book, one to curl up with. For some reason, I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did, perhaps because it seemed formulaic. But it brought me pleasure and I am happy to recommend it.

The Divine Miss P

Miss Pettigrew, that is. I avoided Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson for a long time. I knew that it was Persephone's top seller and I generally avoid books on bestseller lists, or that everyone likes on principle alone. Over time, I have found that this policy doesn't really serve me, as I've come to learn after reading these sorts of books after they've fallen off the radar. In any case, I saw the preview of Miss Pettigrew - the movie - a few months ago and thought I'd better read the book before I saw the film.

I finished the book earlier this week and found it utterly delightful. I'm sure most know the plot but for those who don't, Miss Pettigrew is a down on her luck governess who ends up at the apartment of the lovely Miss LaFosse about a job and they spend a whirlwind of a day together, the best day of Miss Pettigrew's life. This book was originally published in 1938 and it seems to me it would have been quite risque for that time, in the most wonderful way. While many of the situations and misunderstandings that occur seem....highly unlikely...this delightfully funny book made me smile and cheer for its heroines. Has anyone read anything else by Watson? She had 5 other books published and now I am curious about them.

Having finished the book in good time, I had tentative plans to see the film last night with a girlfriend. The date having fell through, my husband who cleared his calendar for the event sent me on my way. Lest you think this was particularly generous of him, keep in mind that he is planning on watching basketball with his friends non-stop for the next 2 days.....tournament time, you know. I took myself to a new theater with plush seats and lots of leg room and after watching about 10 previews immersed myself in Miss Pettigrew's world yet again. I think because I saw the preview before I read the book, I had the actresses images in my mind for these characters so that wasn't a big stretch. The film was very entertaining, 'not as good as the book' as we like to say. The bones of the story are there and almost all of the characters. Many of the situations and lines come straight from the novel. There are changes in the story, for dramatic effect I am certain, and some of the more unrealistic aspects are adapted, or addressed earlier on. It was a fun film experience and especially nice to see on the big screen.

I couldn't help myself.......

I finally had to read Coraline. After reading 3 blog reviews of it in the past couple of weeks and seeing the trailer, I knew I had to just do it. I don't know what I was waiting for! Coraline was a fantastic, frightening, escapist read and I think it took me less that 2 hours to finish it. Coraline is a young girl who moves into a flat with her parents and discovers a parallel but creepy world on the other side of a mysterious door. There are parents that look like hers, but have buttons for eyes. They want to keep Coraline with them and when she doesn't want to stay they try everything in their power to make her. Coraline is amazingly brave. Naturally she is terrified, but she is able to keep her mind clear and focus on the task at hand - saving her family and some other unfortunate souls. This is obviously a very dark book, but there is plenty of humor, too. Musical mice, theater-loving dogs, and a very special talking cat . This book is meant for children, obviously older ones as this would be much too frightening for the younger set.


I watched a pretty amazing film last week called Water. Water is set in India in 1938 and tells the story of a young girl who has been married off, widowed, and sent to live out the rest of her life in a widow's ashram at age 8. She becomes close to another widow, a young woman forced into prostitution and the film shows what happens when this woman attempts to escape from her fate. The film is beautifully shot and though the subject matter is grim, the music and the setting are a joy. It took the writer of Water many years to have this film made because there was so much protest in India. She persevered and we have her to thank for providing us a chance to see this other way of life. Unfortunately, these practices go on, there are still widow's ashrams and child brides. As a mother, watching this film brought up many emotions in me about my own child. I am reminded of the scenes in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan when the young girl's feet are bound. I am reminded of the interview of an African woman planning to have her daughter circumcised because that is simply what is done. She knew it was against the law, but was ambivalent about the medical complications that could occur and stated that she believed it didn't hurt much. I come back to this story, when a mother and father send their child away to a life of sorrow. It all makes me want to give my daughter the education, knowledge and drive to fly away and succeed in this life on her own terms, to be everything she can be. I cannot imagine living in a culture that would force me to mutilate her body or send her to a hopeless life far away. I thank God I don't have to.

Oh! Hello!

Well, I didn't mean to be gone for a week but there it is. My Dad came up from Florida for some business and stayed with us for a few days. It was a great visit and I didn't get much reading or computer time in.

I did watch a fantastic film last week, The Inheritance, based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. I didn't read the book first, though I proably should have. The movie was wonderful, absorbing, touching and beautifully filmed. It certainly fed my recent interest in books set in India and I particularly enjoyed the scenes filmed there. I have found myself trying to understand the 'class' system in India. I suppose, in the way that I understand the one here in the US. I know what poverty here looks like, the various interpretations of 'the middle class' and of course the wealthy. I want to know what that looks like in India - what defines a middle class household - education? jobs? conncections? background? - and what is their place in society. Does that sound strange? I've just always had this desire to know how people live, how they really live. I suppose that is one reason I love books so much, because I can be transported.

After my last read, I thought I could use something more upbeat so I decided to reread The Bell Jar, the autobiographical novel by Sylvia Plath. I'm kidding. My bookclub will be discussing this on Thursday. The Bell Jar is such a moving and frightening portrayal of mental illness. At the beginning, it seems a typical young woman's coming-of-age story about Esther Greenwood. But it is soon apparent that everything is not as it should be. I think this book is important because the layreader - that is to say one who experiences everyday ups and downs really gets a picture of what real depression looks like. How debilitating it is, and how its sufferers are held in its grasp, seemingly helpless. As much of a stigma mental illness has now, it's hard to imagine what that would have been like in the 1950s. Certainly frightening, considering the drugs used, and electroconvulsive shock therapy. I couldn't help thinking of poor Rose Kennedy, given a lobotomy and sentenced to a life as an invalid. The life of a young woman, exhibiting unstable behavior who doesn't respond to some of these extreme therapies is horrifying. Fortunately for Plath, she survived this early bout with depression, but her recovery was not a permanent one as we know.

**************

I'm feeling kind of lousy today, you know, when your child gets sick and you get it from them only it's 10 times worse? It's that sort of illness...no sympathy desired, just an explanation for my activities for the rest of the day. I'm going to try watching The Jane Austen Bookclub - have had it from Netflix for weeks now. I'd like to read today too, if my cloudy mind allows. I finished another book last night (review to come) and for the first time in a while am not in the middle of anything. I feel like returning to India so perhaps that will be.

An Addiction

I am rather out of practice blogging since the break I took at the end of 2007. It certainly isn't helping my situation that the library came through and fulfilled my request for the entire Up series minus the most recent installment, 49 Up. Which should be arriving via Netflix Saturday or Monday. I mentioned this series a few posts back and found that many people are fans of this series - how is it I not known about it until the past year? In any case, I have watched them all (except the most recent) this week and would like to listen to the director's commentary on 42 Up as well. I just find the series completely addictive. I don't know what it is exactly - in most cases the subjects of the film are not that different from you or I. I suppose it's just the factor of being able to 'find out' what has happened to them - I always wonder whatever became of people I used to know. It's just human nature, I suppose. I can't help but think that my child will be 7 in another year - so what does that mean? The movie states "Show me a child at 7 and I'll show you the man." That is to say, within one year, my child's future 'self' will be set in some ways. I find that alsolutely mind-boggling.

Miss Ranskill

I'm feeling a bit emotional at the moment. I've just been to see Atonement and thought it was wonderful. I really enjoyed watching the film, even though my heart was breaking knowing how it would end. There were quite a few previews and a couple caught my eye. The first film I've known about but hadn't seen the preview for was Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day which looks perfectly charming. The second was for Young@Heart - this is a documentary about a chorus of elderly people singing rock songs. Here is a link about them.

Now on to the title of this post, Miss Ranskill, Nona Ranskill that is, who was stranded on a desert island for some 3 years and returns to England to find the country is in the midst of World War II. This is the story told by Barbara Euphan Todd in this republished 1946 book, Miss Ranskill Comes Home. Nona Ranskill has returned a brave and practical woman, yet the England she returns to is greatly different than the one she left. There is humor in this tale, of a woman who does not understand the status quo; along with this comes embarrassment and confusion. I spent the first part of the novel feeling so badly for Miss Ranskill - to the point at which my husband told me 'it's just a book, you know!' Well, yes it is, but so well told I really felt for the heroine. I couldn't help but think, as annoying as I think many of us consider 'the media', what a different welcome Miss Ranskill would have had in 2008. She would appear on the news, be cared for at a hospital, be provided for and her family would be found. I don't like to give the plot away, but let's just say Miss Ranskill experiences a quite different 'welcome'. This is the tale of a great and abiding friendship that transcends sex, class and even life, of a woman who must find a way in this new world this she does not quite understand and how she does it with strength and grace and love. A most remarkable book.

New Stacks

Welcome to my first post of 2008! I realized I haven't done a post on new book acquisitions in a while and I have a few things to share.

Here are the books I received as gifts:



Thunderstruck and The Art of Simple Food were from my husband and I think he made terrific choices. Thunderstruck is by Erik Larson, author of Devil in the White City - which I loved (and my husband devoured last week). The Art of Simple Food is going to be a great read and a great resource. It is written by Alice Waters founder of Chez Panisse and seems to be more of her own work than her other books (which have generally been co written according to what I've read). The third book, The Florist's Daughter is a memoir by a local woman and was given to me by my in-laws. I am really looking forward to it. Not pictured is a giftcard to Borders (yeah!) which I've already begun using by ordering Michael Pollan's new book.

Half Price Books had a big sale and here's what I picked up - I shopped two different locations:



From left to right:

Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood - I love her writing and thought I should try her short stories.

My Place by Sally Morgan - An autobiography of an Australian Aborigine - I've been interested in this topic since I read Bryson's book on Australia.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly - There are so many great blog reviews of this.

Falling Blossom by Peter Pagnamenta and Momoko Williams - Published in the US as Sword and Blossom, this is a love story between a British officer and a Japanese woman.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - A book I always think I ought to read.

The Chimney Sweeper's Boy by Barbara Vine - Well, I love Barbara Vine!

The Ghost Writer by John Harwood - A purchase directly related to great blog reviews.

Daughter of Earth by Agnes Smedley - A Virago Modern Classic and my bargain purchase at only 80 cents.

The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher - An old love of mine, this has the same floral cover my copy had and doesn't look as though it's been read. I had wanted to replace this book, but was not crazy about the new cover.

Whew! What a way to start the year.

I have also been spending time lately watching a few films. I have been enjoying the Up Series, starting with Seven Up. This series began following British children in 1964 and checks in with them every 7 years. It's just a fascinating social document and I look forward to watching the rest of the series ( the most recent is 49 Up, released in 2005).

I have also had the great pleasure of watching Cranford. How you might ask? Ah, the power of Y** T*b*. My girlfriend from work and I have been delighting over the series and we agree that it is one of our favorite 'period' productions and would love to own it and watch it over and over.

What I Love

a gingerbread house

I don't mind taking the credit for the pretzel 'logs'


the idea of making a tastebook

Check out this post from 101 cookbooks. You can create your very own beautiful cookbook from your own recipes. The only problem as I see it, is, that most of my recipes would be difficult to write down since I am fond the the 'eyeball it' and then taste method.

the original A Room With a View film

I have been rewatching it and confirm that it is perfect and marvelous in every possible way. Every character is perfectly casted, most of all the young and innocent Helena Bonham Carter. The music brings me joy and touches my soul every time I hear it. The new version doesn't hold a candle.

a nice juicy read

I recently enjoyed Linda Holeman's (author of The Linnet Bird) The Moonlit Cage. This is the story of a young woman growing up in a village in Afghanistan during Victorian times. She is the sort of girl that never quite feels as though she belongs, that she wants more than seems to be available to her. A series of events in which this young woman seeks to change her fate brings her to Victorian London. A few of the characters from The Linnet Bird appear in this book. This book had adventure, history, a foreign land and its culture, romance and a villain. What more could I want? This book may still be available from bookcloseouts. I am currently reading Maisie Dobbs and enjoying it immensely. I will certainly be reading more of this series.

a year with frog and toad

We saw this last night and it was really wonderful, certainly the best show I've seen yet at the Children's Theater (and I've liked them all). The music was so good, sort of a 30's big band sound.
********************

I have entered the 'too much to do and not enough time to do it in' phase of December and find myself looking forward to the new year. (Be forewarned, a whine is coming.) Due to a variety of reasons, it is not practical to spend Christmas with my family and I will again be traveling to my in-laws to spend Christmas. Naturally, as the wife, I am responsible for all the holiday preparations and then do not even get to stay in my own home. I wish that we could start to have our own traditions and wonder if this will ever come. Thank you. I needed to get that off my chest. Blogging will be light in the coming weeks, though I am looking forward to a few end of the year wrap-up sort of posts. Take care!

Oops I Did It Again...

I ordered more books from Bookcloseouts. Here they are:


Reading Groups by Jenny Hartley was recommend by Simon a few months back. There are some nice reading lists in the back.

The Widow's War by Sally Gunning was recommend by Gentle Reader.

The Viceroy's Daughters by Anne de Courcy and Ladies and Not-So-Gentle Women by Alfred Allan Lewis are nice big biographies of women - I love these sorts of books.

Title Deeds by Liza Campbell - I read about this book last fall in Vogue - and again this fall by its US title.

The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes is a novel about Australian women traveling to the UK to reunite with the UK born husbands.

Here are my latest mooches and used book purchases:


The Brimstone Wedding and The House of Stairs are my 2 latest Barbara Vine acquisitions.

Celia by E.H. Young is the book on these piles I'm most excited about. It's been eluding me until now.

The Optomist's Daughter by Eudora Welty - another Virago

Masie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear - There was a meme a while back and one of the questions was 'What character in fiction would you want to be?' So many people answered Maisie Dobbs and I just knew I needed to find out what all the fuss was about.

The Matriarchs edited by Susan Mitchell is a compilation of twelve Australian women's thoughts on their lives. I think I'm the only person on Librarything with this one!

City of Dreadful Delight by Judith R. Walkowitz - The subtitle is Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London. It looks very scholarly.

************
A Meal to Please the Masses

It's rare to prepare a meal that everyone is equally excited about. Last night I prepared Broccoli with Wonderful Peanut Sauce from Mollie Katzen's new cookbook The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without. I figured that if you were dipping broccoli into peanut sauce, you might as well dip the rest of your dinner, too, so I prepared broiled chicken marinated in lime juice, olive oil, and cumin, and quinoa mixed with lime juice, cilantro, olive oil, and soy sauce.

(Changes I made to the peanut sauce recipe include: using a bit less water, 2 whole cloves of garlic, and more soy sauce than called for.)

*************

I've been feeling quite smug for the past week that I hadn't picked up the cold my family has been sporting but my luck has ran out. I'm still in the beginning stages with my headache and swollen throat, soon to be followed by the stuffy nose and cough. And there's so much to do. Anyhow, I'm skipping the gym today and throwing myself at the couch to watch Perfume, a movie based on a very strange and creepy book. I read the book a few years ago and Danielle has reminded me that I must watch the film.

Enjoy the weekend!

Friday Fumblings

Whew. If there was an award for Mom of the day, I'd be in the running today. I have baked a butterfly cake (from scratch) complete with three colors of frosting, tied many tiny butterflies to lengths of curling ribbon and attached them to my chandelier, soon I'll go sell books at the aforementioned book sale, followed by dinner and more preparations for tomorrow's party.

*****

Bookclub was held at my house last night when we discussed Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. I was somewhat surprised by the reaction: 3 people liked it, 2 "did not like it and would not recommend it", and 1 thought it was 'okay'. Hmmm. We had a good discussion nonetheless and voted on what we'll read in 2008. I'm fairly pleased with the list. I didn't feel the suggestions this year were the greatest...and other people must have felt the same because we added three titles spontaneously that no one had suggested. One was my husband's idea. Here is the list - the titles I've already read are bolded.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich
Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
There are No Children Here by Alex Kottowitz
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I was a little disappointed but not surprised that no one voted for Half of a Yellow Sun.

*****

I was very envious recently when so many UK blog writers wrote their thoughts on the new version of Room With a View shown on television. My clever friend from work who is also a fan of all things 'period' found it online, I won't spell it out for fear of it being removed but the initials of the place are Y** T***. You can watch it in 10 segments. I liked it.....but I have loved the original 1985 film for years and have watched it many times - though not recently. The new film didn't live up to the old version for me, so I'm going to re watch it- the old version - and see if it lives up to its place in my memory.



*****

Nutmeg asked me in a comment to list Nigella's books from favorite to least favorite. Here goes:

1. How to Eat - for reading pleasure and recipes
2. How to Be a Domestic Goddess - about baking - same thoughts as number one
3. Nigella Bites - I love the TV show this book was based on and have some favorite recipes from it- chocolate cake anyone?
4. Feast - I haven't cooked much from this but it's a terrific read.
5. Forever Summer - Similar in style to Nigella Bites (that is to say, less wordy - which is my favorite thing about Nigella - her writing). There are a couple recipes I make regularly.
6. Nigella Express - I don't see myself using this much. This is also less wordy that her previous books.

I would suggest How to Eat or HTBADG to start with. I think those really represent how Nigella cooks and much of the rest is a bit diluted - in my opinion.

Have a lovely weekend - after the party I'll be making my shopping list for Thanksgiving.

Atonement

Atonement by Ian McEwan is the sort of book that has pages of international praise inside the cover and sits on the bestseller shelves at Barnes and Noble for weeks at a time. The sort of book all the bookgroups are reading and the sort of book I generally avoid for a long time, but often wind up reading once the storm has died down. This is a bit embarrassing to admit, but I'll be honest here and tell you that what finally pushed me to pick this up off of my shelf was the trailer for the film adaption coming out later this year. It looked like a film I would enjoy and I would rather have read the book first than the other way around.

Atonement is a book about misunderstandings and how people perceive things differently. In the book, a young girl, Briony misconstrued multiple situations which ultimately leads to tragedy for multiple families. Part of the misunderstanding involves a note. I am very aware of men writing about women and it struck me that the event that occurred after the intended (Cecilia) received the note would only happen in a book written by a man, sort of a male fantasy. As a woman, I find it hard to imagine most women having the same reaction Cecelia has.

I enjoyed this book and thought it very well written, but I didn't love it. I never felt emotionally connected to it except for feeling so much anger towards Briony. I was fortunate to have longer stretches of time to read this novel, and felt that was the best way to read it. I don't know if I would have gotten very far if I'd had to keep putting it down. The last section of the novel helps to explain the rest of the book and why the previous three sections are so different from one another. There is a sort of 'twist' in the ending which I have encountered in at least one other book. I did not appreciate it in that previous book (The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve in case you are wondering) however I thought it was better executed here, and I could appreciate it more.

I would still like to see the film version when it comes out and I am interested to see how it has been adapted, particularly in light of the ending.

I am ready.

I am ready for Book 7.

I have seen the new movie. I found it positively entertaining and I loved it. It is rare that I go to adult movies, even more rare that it would be an 'action' movie, but I just love these. I could watch it all afternoon.

I have re-read Book 6, I finished this afternoon. I thought it got off to a slow start but picked up once Harry and Dumbledore began their travels into the past.

I will pick up my reserved copy of the book Saturday morning but unfortunately I have to WORK all weekend and the first long stretch of time I have to read will be Sunday evening. I hope to finish it then. I really would like to get the end on my own, without any 'spoilers'.

I have also been reading Margaret Forster's Keeping the World Away. I have been enjoying it, but put it aside to read Book 6 and plan to resume reading it tonight. I have also been working on putting more of my books into Librarything. I have a helper that likes to carry the books to the computer, then stack and count them. The reason I am just entering this batch is that things are going to be rearranged here soon. I absolutely cannot wait - something has been on order since March.

I am looking forward to reading everyone's thought on the book next week - have a great weekend.

Weekend Happenings

Not a very clever title but there it is.




We have had an enjoyable weekend here despite the rain and general gloomy weather. I have finally made the time to watch the most recent BBC/Masterpiece Theater production of Jane Eyre and I absolutely loved it. The actors playing the lead roles were so perfect in their parts and it was filmed so beautifully. Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books and I think it lends itself so well to these dramatizations. I watched the second half last night. There was a storm outside and I had the door open and the lights off and it was quite the perfect mood for the film. I found my heart beating a little faster and a few tears in my eyes and thoroughly enjoyed watching it.

I finished a book this weekend, Missing by Mary Stanley. I found her novel Retreat in Half Price Books a few years ago, enjoyed it, and was never able to find any more of her books here. My recent discovery of bookcloseouts provided me with this and another of her novels. Missing is the story of a family with three daughters that appears quite perfect on the outside, while there is turmoil and secrets on the inside. One of the sisters goes missing, and the story takes off from there detailing the lives of the rest of the family after this occurrence. I enjoyed this book, it was absorbing, and Stanley writes well. She has an interesting way of writing something shocking or horrible in a very matter of fact way, that you read a line, and say to yourself 'wait- did it really say that?' I think Maeve Binchey has an interesting way of doing that as well. I will not say more about the plot, only that I appreciated the ending.

In other weekend news, today was one of those days that you feel you have offered every opportunity to your child only to have them complain and ask "what's next?". We spent the morning at a neighborhood festival which included a parade, followed by the afternoon spent seeing a play and doing crafts at the Flint International Children's Festival. We have reached the point in the day in which we say "entertain yourself now, please" and it is not coming easily. Back to work tomorrow.

Two Films in One Week!

Somehow, I've had the fortune to watch 2 films this week.

The first was Stranger Than Fiction starring Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson. I thought I would like this film, being about an author, and it turns out I really enjoyed it. Will Ferrell is not the sort of actor I imagine in a dramatic role, but he was perfectly cast as an ordinary quirky man who finds himself in an extraordinary situation. The part of the movie that I loved was when you saw the reaction the characters had to the book being written by Thompson's character once they read it. They were moved by it to such an extent that it really showed the power of the written word, the power of books. I can certainly relate to that.



The second movie I saw was Miss Potter with Renee Zellweger. I enjoyed this as well, particularly the beautiful locations and scenery. I'm still not sure how I feel about the drawings coming to life as it felt a bit precious. I am now intrigued by how much of the movie was an accurate portrayal of Potter's life. The recent biography Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear is presently in my amazon shopping cart. Everything always leads to books, does it not?

A book and a film

I have finished Jane Harris' The Observations and enjoyed it very much. It is reminiscent of those other Victorian 'bad girl' novels such as Slammerkin, The Crimson Petal and The White, and Fingersmith, though I would say not in the same category of accomplishment. It is a bit of a romp, our narrator Bessy is quite funny, and the story contains a bit of mystery, a ghost, and a lunatic in an asylum. I don't think this book takes itself too seriously, which is why I think it works. All in all, a fun, entertaining read. For me it fit the bill for a long weekend at work with short bursts of reading in between.

I have finally gotten around to watching The Queen. I thought it an absolutely wonderful film and Helen Mirren was magnificent. I thought it was interesting how the tone of the movie changed, at least in my opinion, from being quite negative towards the Queen in the beginning and more gentle towards the end, coinciding with Tony Blair's appreciation and understanding of her.