In spite of all my devotion, in the early days of my marriage, there were moments when, like a wolf domesticated by humans, I caught a scent of my old ways and felt hemmed in. A beautiful young man walking by on the street, the sight of teenagers high in the park, sometimes threw me off balance; I could feel myself teeter on the edge of my new existence, and imagined the thrill of kissing a man I barely knew, or the sharp kick of amphetamine between my eyes.
From The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
Just a teaser for your Feature Friday...
Have a great weekend ladies!!!
Showing posts with label Feature Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Feature Friday. Show all posts
19.6.09
12.6.09
Feature Friday
"Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes, unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved. ever thine. ever mine. ever ours."
This book is SO going on my night stand.
This book is SO going on my night stand.
22.5.09
Feature Friday (long post)
Hello Ladies!
2.5 hours from a sunny weekend. What are you all up to? What are you reading? I finished Edgar Sawtelle last night. I must confess to some "skimming" of the last 100 pages. It was a long one. Looking forward to your reviews.
I guess we should start thinking about a June meeting. Where did the month go...seriously. Candice, still up for hosting?
So for Feature Friday I had a hard time coming up with a new book! How odd. I skimmed the New York Times Best Seller List and didn't come up with much. Not interested in Hard Cover...though our Chuck Palahniuk's Pygmy sits at #3.
The Paperback Fiction List is as follows:
1. VISION IN WHITE, by Nora Roberts (not a huge fan)
2. THE SHACK, by William P. Young (read it)
3. THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, by Mary Ann Shaffer (read it)
4. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (Jane Austen bores me to death...but what is this about "Zombies"??)
5. CITY OF THIEVES, by David Benioff (a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men - I think I've had my fill of coming of age from Edgar Sawtelle. Not knocking Edgar...but I need something else right now)
PAPERBACK NONFICTION
Top 5 at a Glance
1. THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Reading in a couple months)
2. AUDITION, by Barbara Walters (WHO CARES!?)
3. LONE SURVIVOR, by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson (Navy Seal Afghanistan story - note to self BD might enjoy this)
4. IN DEFENSE OF FOOD, by Michael Pollan (Pollan proposes a new answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." -- Oh so this book is Rocket Science. No thanks.)
5. EAT, PRAY, LOVE, by Elizabeth Gilbert (Read it)
So I turned to the Globe and Mail Best Seller List to see what us Canucks are reading...
Paperback Fiction
1 Angels and Demons, Dan Brown (read it -- going to see the Big Screen adaptation tonight)
2 The Book Of Negroes, Lawrence Hill (Candice highly recommends!!! On my list)
3 Sail, James Patterson and Howard Roughan (some mass market paperback high suspense and drama...could be a pretty good beach read)
4 Phantom Prey, John Sandford (sounds like a horror movie, in print)
5 The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (read it)
Paperback Non Fiction
1 Three Cups Of Tea, Greg Mortenson (reading in a couple months)
2 Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
3 Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama (Obama? Really? Canadians are reading 'Bama stories but not Americans?)
4 Audition: A Memoir, Barbara Walters (REALLY? People care?)
5 The Audacity Of Hope, Barack Obama (We LOVE Obama I guess)
So I found my Feature. Infidel by Ayann Hirsi Ali. It had caught my attention during a peek through Coles last week. Not surprisingly, it's one of Heather's Picks. Should I invite Heather to join our club? I think she'd get along great.
In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West...to read more click here
2.5 hours from a sunny weekend. What are you all up to? What are you reading? I finished Edgar Sawtelle last night. I must confess to some "skimming" of the last 100 pages. It was a long one. Looking forward to your reviews.
I guess we should start thinking about a June meeting. Where did the month go...seriously. Candice, still up for hosting?
So for Feature Friday I had a hard time coming up with a new book! How odd. I skimmed the New York Times Best Seller List and didn't come up with much. Not interested in Hard Cover...though our Chuck Palahniuk's Pygmy sits at #3.
The Paperback Fiction List is as follows:
1. VISION IN WHITE, by Nora Roberts (not a huge fan)
2. THE SHACK, by William P. Young (read it)
3. THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, by Mary Ann Shaffer (read it)
4. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (Jane Austen bores me to death...but what is this about "Zombies"??)
5. CITY OF THIEVES, by David Benioff (a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men - I think I've had my fill of coming of age from Edgar Sawtelle. Not knocking Edgar...but I need something else right now)
PAPERBACK NONFICTION
Top 5 at a Glance
1. THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Reading in a couple months)
2. AUDITION, by Barbara Walters (WHO CARES!?)
3. LONE SURVIVOR, by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson (Navy Seal Afghanistan story - note to self BD might enjoy this)
4. IN DEFENSE OF FOOD, by Michael Pollan (Pollan proposes a new answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." -- Oh so this book is Rocket Science. No thanks.)
5. EAT, PRAY, LOVE, by Elizabeth Gilbert (Read it)
So I turned to the Globe and Mail Best Seller List to see what us Canucks are reading...
Paperback Fiction
1 Angels and Demons, Dan Brown (read it -- going to see the Big Screen adaptation tonight)
2 The Book Of Negroes, Lawrence Hill (Candice highly recommends!!! On my list)
3 Sail, James Patterson and Howard Roughan (some mass market paperback high suspense and drama...could be a pretty good beach read)
4 Phantom Prey, John Sandford (sounds like a horror movie, in print)
5 The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (read it)
Paperback Non Fiction
1 Three Cups Of Tea, Greg Mortenson (reading in a couple months)
2 Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
3 Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama (Obama? Really? Canadians are reading 'Bama stories but not Americans?)
4 Audition: A Memoir, Barbara Walters (REALLY? People care?)
5 The Audacity Of Hope, Barack Obama (We LOVE Obama I guess)
So I found my Feature. Infidel by Ayann Hirsi Ali. It had caught my attention during a peek through Coles last week. Not surprisingly, it's one of Heather's Picks. Should I invite Heather to join our club? I think she'd get along great.
In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West...to read more click here
1.5.09
Feature Friday!! The Disappeared
Hello Ladies!
Spring has arrived! What are you all up to this weekend? I am throwing open the windows and starting some spring cleaning. After a long winter our old house just smells...old. I also have about 100 windows to clean. Spring clean up the yard. Dust off the patio chairs and sink into Edgar Sawtelle in the +17 sunshine. I made the mistake of clicking on the link on the side bar - the Reading Group Guide. This book goes where I never expected it would. It totally revealed the story line so I do NOT recommend reading it unless you like that kinda thing.
I've got Edgar Sawtelle going in the evening at home and Twilight going at my desk at lunch...okay and I read a bit when I'm supposed to be working too. I was going to dive into another Phillipa Gregory (The Virgin's Lover) as soon as I was done, but this book, The Disappeared, has caught my attention. I LOVE historical fiction and I LOVE a love story. This book blends the two. Maybe I'll save it for a pick for next year, if I can wait that long. BD thinks that we should only pick books for Book Club that we have already read. What do you gals think of that format? The month where everyone is reading your book, you would have to read another one of your choosing.
Either way...here's Heather from Chapter's review of The Disappeared.
A Beautiful Blending of Truth and Fiction
I have often noted in my reviews that I love great historical fiction. The stories can cover a brief moment or grand sweep of time. It is simply that beautiful blending of truth and fiction that always seems to strike a chord. The Disappeared by Kim Echlin is one such story. The book centers on a single love story, the intense romance between Anne and Serey and is set against one of the most tormented moments in human history: Cambodia under the reign of Pol Pot.
Anne is a high school senior when she falls in love with the slightly older and exotically charismatic Serey who is in exile from his beautiful Cambodia. Their romance begins in a small café in Old Montreal, moves through intense exploration and love making. But Serey cannot stay with his new life. Compelled to discover the fate of his parents and friends, Serey knows he must pull himself from the passion he feels and return to his home. He promises he will be in touch, and, at the right moment, they will reunite forever. But once gone, Anne never hears from Serey despite endless letters and efforts to reach him.
Years later, unable to bring closure to her feelings, Anne goes to Cambodia to search out the man she knows is the love of her life. Woven beautifully into her story of love rediscovered -- in language which is both poetic and heartbreaking -- are the unspeakable horrors wrought by the now retreated Khmer Rouge.
As Anne works to understand the man who becomes the father of her child, and all that is Cambodia, we come to learn how easy it is to allow distance and the burdens of truth to insulate us from bearing witness to war and its aftermath. But as Anne herself says, “If we live long enough, we have to tell, or turn to stone inside.”
From its first page, The Disappeared takes us into the land of kings and temples, fought over for generations. It reveals the forces that act on love everywhere: family, politics, forgetting. This is a story that will embrace you from the first page and stay with you like a good wine.
Spring has arrived! What are you all up to this weekend? I am throwing open the windows and starting some spring cleaning. After a long winter our old house just smells...old. I also have about 100 windows to clean. Spring clean up the yard. Dust off the patio chairs and sink into Edgar Sawtelle in the +17 sunshine. I made the mistake of clicking on the link on the side bar - the Reading Group Guide. This book goes where I never expected it would. It totally revealed the story line so I do NOT recommend reading it unless you like that kinda thing.
I've got Edgar Sawtelle going in the evening at home and Twilight going at my desk at lunch...okay and I read a bit when I'm supposed to be working too. I was going to dive into another Phillipa Gregory (The Virgin's Lover) as soon as I was done, but this book, The Disappeared, has caught my attention. I LOVE historical fiction and I LOVE a love story. This book blends the two. Maybe I'll save it for a pick for next year, if I can wait that long. BD thinks that we should only pick books for Book Club that we have already read. What do you gals think of that format? The month where everyone is reading your book, you would have to read another one of your choosing.
Either way...here's Heather from Chapter's review of The Disappeared.
A Beautiful Blending of Truth and Fiction
I have often noted in my reviews that I love great historical fiction. The stories can cover a brief moment or grand sweep of time. It is simply that beautiful blending of truth and fiction that always seems to strike a chord. The Disappeared by Kim Echlin is one such story. The book centers on a single love story, the intense romance between Anne and Serey and is set against one of the most tormented moments in human history: Cambodia under the reign of Pol Pot.
Anne is a high school senior when she falls in love with the slightly older and exotically charismatic Serey who is in exile from his beautiful Cambodia. Their romance begins in a small café in Old Montreal, moves through intense exploration and love making. But Serey cannot stay with his new life. Compelled to discover the fate of his parents and friends, Serey knows he must pull himself from the passion he feels and return to his home. He promises he will be in touch, and, at the right moment, they will reunite forever. But once gone, Anne never hears from Serey despite endless letters and efforts to reach him.
Years later, unable to bring closure to her feelings, Anne goes to Cambodia to search out the man she knows is the love of her life. Woven beautifully into her story of love rediscovered -- in language which is both poetic and heartbreaking -- are the unspeakable horrors wrought by the now retreated Khmer Rouge.
As Anne works to understand the man who becomes the father of her child, and all that is Cambodia, we come to learn how easy it is to allow distance and the burdens of truth to insulate us from bearing witness to war and its aftermath. But as Anne herself says, “If we live long enough, we have to tell, or turn to stone inside.”
From its first page, The Disappeared takes us into the land of kings and temples, fought over for generations. It reveals the forces that act on love everywhere: family, politics, forgetting. This is a story that will embrace you from the first page and stay with you like a good wine.
6.3.09
Feature Friday!!
THE READER, by Bernhard Schlink
Here is a new feature for our blog - Feature Friday! If you are like me lately there is not a whole heck of a lot of time for aisle browsing at Chapters, feeling all the glossy covers and reading jackets. This feature will keep us updated on what's currently on the shelves, even when you can't get to Chapters.
This first book is currently out in theatres and might make a good read before seeing the movie. From the Publisher...
"Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.
When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover--then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder."
Here is a new feature for our blog - Feature Friday! If you are like me lately there is not a whole heck of a lot of time for aisle browsing at Chapters, feeling all the glossy covers and reading jackets. This feature will keep us updated on what's currently on the shelves, even when you can't get to Chapters.
This first book is currently out in theatres and might make a good read before seeing the movie. From the Publisher...
"Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.
When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover--then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
