Life: It Goes On - January 11

You know, it felt kind of good to get back into something resembling a routine this week. We ate better, we got back to our walking routine, and I had time to read and get things done around the house. We've already been out walking this morning (and by "out," I mean to the YMCA). I can understand why so many like to get up and get their workouts in early; it's nice to have it out of the way and have the day to use the energy it give you. I'm still not getting up and working out before I go to work, though!

This Week I'm:

Listening To: I'll finish listening to this season of "Serial" this week then I'm hoping to get to the library book sale to find some books to listen to for the rest of the week. I've listened to more music this week - lots of 80's alternative music, some classical stuff, and some angry young men rock.


Watching: Not everything I'd like to thanks to a pissing match between our cable carrier and the corporation that owns our local NBC affiliate. It's probably going to result in us looking for a new cable and internet carrier this week. What a pain!

Yesterday, Miss H came over to do laundry and she and I watched "Crazy Stupid Love." So many great laughs!


Reading: I read my first Jane Green book this week, her latest "Saving Grace." Midway through, I tweeted that I felt like it could have been much better. To which I received a response from Ms. Green. No doubt she felt like some schmuck like me had no business make that call and I did feel bad that she had seen it. But I stick with that opinion. My review will post this week.

Making: Pizza, beef enchiladas, chicken and noodles, chocolate chip cookies and prickly pear margaritas. The best thing that was made in my kitchen this week wasn't made by me, though. Mini-me and his girlfriend came out Friday night and cooked tamales that they'd put together earlier. Delicious!

Planning: On finishing up my kitchen sorting this week. I'd like to free up enough space to do a little reorganizing but I'm not sure that will happen until I get our new bar area set up later this spring. Then I'm on to the dining room.

Grateful for: Time with each of my kids this week.

Enjoying: I got to have lunch with two friends this week, one of whom I haven't seen in a couple of years. We all used to work together and I miss seeing them every day. Time with old friends is good for the soul.

Feeling: Happy today - the sun is shining, the temperatures are tolerable today, and I'm kicking butt around the house. Life is good!

Looking forward to: Drinks with girlfriends this week. Some poor bartender will have to put up with us for several hours! What are you looking forward to this week?

Fairy Tale Friday - This And That

Easing back into Fairy Tale Fridays for 2015 with a few bits of fairy tale news:

Congratulations to Marina Warner, professor of English and creative writing at Birkbeck, University of London, who was recently knighted for services to higher education and literary scholarship. Did you even know you could be knighted for that? Dame Marina is best known, to me at least, as kind of a fairy tale goddess. Lady knows her stuff and, apparently, even the Queen is impressed!

Do you know about the new live-action Disney adaptation of "Cinderella?' I've got my concerns (so many disappointing fairy tale

adaptations recently) and it is Disney so I think we can safely assume that all of the really awful bits will be left out so as not to scar the children (never good for them to watch young women chop of bits of their feet to fit into shoes that don't even belong to them). But...Kenneth Branagh has directed it and I do adore him. So maybe. Here's what he has to say about Cinderella:

I think that she learns to turn the other cheek with strength. She has no sense of self-pity, no sense of being a victim. She makes her own choices, She doesn’t indulge in her own pain or hardships. She looks at the world with compassion. I find her such good company because she’s so un-showy, and yet she’s so charismatic. I think she really knows herself.

The movie comes out March 13, 2015. I wonder if I  can talk my ten-year-old great-niece into taking me to it?

Speaking of fairy tale movies, have any of you seen "Into The

Woods" yet? I was kinda, sorta hoping I could talk the family into going to it the weekend after Christmas but we were hard pressed to get done what we traditionally do let alone add a movie to the mix. Reviews are generally pretty good, even by those who are diehard fans of the play. Still hoping to get to see it soon; I think it needs to be seen on the big screen.

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
Published November 2012 by Free Press
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary:
When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?

In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen.

My Thoughts: 
This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for over two years, despite the fact that I told the publisher when I accepted it that it sounded "fascinating." Despite the fact that I've read several reviews since then that confirmed that it is, in fact, fascinating.

Why did I finally pick it up? Because I was looking for something I thought would be a quick read at the end of the year so that I could start 2015 with a new book. Not because I thought it would be fascinating but because I thought I could blow through it. Not really fair to any book. Fortunately, this book demanded that I not just blow through it.

The publisher's summary makes it sound as if Ms. Cahalan just woke up one morning unable to move or speak. In fact, her first indication that anything was amiss was the day she notice two spots on her arm she assumed were bedbug bites. She instantly became obsessed with ridding her apartment of bedbugs despite there being no evidence that she had bedbugs. Over the next few weeks, her symptoms began to escalate and she ceased to be able to function normally. Despite an inability to focus, extreme emotional highs and lows, and some hallucinatory episodes, every test she had, every doctor she saw told Cahalan that she was "normal."

Is it normal for a twenty-four-year-old to have to be watched over by her parents and boyfriend because she has become so unstable? Is it normal for a young woman to be hearing things? Is it normal for someone's personality to rapidly change? Cahalan's family and friends knew things were not normal but there seemed to be no answer as to why. Even after she began to have seizures.

With all of the advances in medicine, with the ability to share information greater than ever, it always amazes me how often doctors are unable to correctly diagnose patients. To be far, Cahalan's true diagnosis was relatively newly discovered and required experimental treatment. But it seemed that her doctors were entirely too quick to blame mental illness when the first tests couldn't find a physical problem. Cahalan's condition had progressed to the point where she might not have been healed had not just the right doctor become involved in her case. She knows that had she been any where else in the country when she became ill, she might not never have recovered or even died.

Brain On Fire was the perfect blend, for me, of science and personal story. Cahalan has developed much of the book from videos taken in the hospital, her parents' diaries, her own diaries from that time, and the recollections of family and friends because she recalls almost nothing from her time in the hospital. She also gives the medical explanation as to why she was misdiagnosed, how her brain turned on her, and how she was finally treated that lead to her cure. It truly is fascinating reading.

Joy Street by Laura Foley

Joy Street by Laura Foley
Published July 2014 by Headmistress Press
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher and TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary:
Each poem in this radiantly plainspoken collection offers subtle and penetrating observations that swell to a rich tapestry of ordinary life, beheld from a stance of grace and buoyancy. Starting with intimations of desire in childhood, these poems travel through ordinary domestic scenes to the blessing of a maturity in which the narrator, still embracing desire and wild promise, thrives in the midst of life's darker gifts. This collection is truly a joy to read. It puts to shame those of us who walk through our days with "the din of loneliness," ignoring life's many invitations for bliss.


My Thoughts:
I'm not sure that qualifies as a publisher's summary; it's certainly more of a glowing review the publisher wrote to convince readers of poetry to choose this slim volume. So let's just see how it compares to what I thought of the collection:

1. Plainspoken - Very true. I was never left wondering what it was Foley was trying to convey.

2. Rich tapestry - At just 33 pages, with most poems not more than a stanza, I'd be hard pressed to call this collection a "rich tapestry." There's just not enough here for me to feel that way about it.

3. Subtle and penetrating - This one's a toss up - there are some poems that definitely look deeply into Foley's life but to say that they are subtle seems to contradict #1. This is, after all, a collection which contains the poem "Queer" in which Foley announces (discovers?) quite plainly that she is gay.

Laura Foley

I very much enjoyed Foley's style and her exploration of a new direction in her life following the death of her husband, her joy in finding this new love, the pleasure she takes in her new home, and the reality of explaining this choice to others.

Drift

I eye-roll Aunt Lizzie, who can't see me over the phone, tell her I'm dating a woman now, but at ninety she's adrift in uncharted seas, till i say we may marry - and she crests the wave, her kind old voice soothing: Oh, but Laura, you're still attractive to men, grasping the rudder with practiced hands.

This is the first collection of poems I've read that read that included so many narrative poems and I quite liked that. They feel very much like Foley just sat down and jotted some thoughts about life, very organic. It is, I think, the kind of poetry I'd enjoy writing myself if I were to do that. Who knows? Foley didn't start writing poetry until her forties. There may be hope for me yet!

Thanks to TLC for introducing me to a new poet. For more opinions about Joy Street, check out the full tour.

Life: It Goes On - January 6

Mini-me was out for the day on Sunday and things just don't get done when he's around (like this post). We tend to spend a lot of time talking, watching movies, and eating when he's here. This week we watched "Moonstruck" so we could show him that, once upon a time, Nicholas Cage could act.

The Christmas decorations are down and the cats are not happy that the lovely tree we'd put up just for them to lounge under and play with it gone. I always have mixed feelings about taking everything down. I'm definitely tired of the excess but it is pretty and it always looks so bare once it's down. I'm letting it be blank for a few days so I can ponder different things I might try. How do you feel about taking down the decorations?

This Week I'm:

Serial: the story of the murder of Hae Min
Lee and the conviction of Adnan Syed

Listening To: The "Serial" podcast. If you like the shows like 48 Hours and Dateline, this just might be for you. I'm completely sucked in after four episodes.

Watching: New Year's Eve we saw "The Imitation Game" starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightly. The Big Guy and I really liked it but our friend felt like it didn't need to be on the big screen.

Reading: I'm switching back and forth between John Vanderslice's Island Fog and Jane Green's Saving Grace. Can you believe I have never read anything by Jane Green before?

Making: This past week we largely used leftovers up so nothing fancy coming out of our kitchen.

Planning: Still tweaking plans for our basement bar area and for "my" room. I'm also putting into motion a year-long decluttering plan with a room by room monthly battle plan. January is the kitchen. BG and I almost came to blows tonight when I insisted that we had to get rid of two coffee mugs because we got two new mugs for Christmas. This year is going to be an uphill battle!

Grateful for: Heaters. And fuzzy slippers. And scarves. Baby, it's cold outside!

Enjoying: The possibilities that a new year always seems to bring.

Inspired by: Melissa and The Inspired Home. Nothing too revolutionary but a lot of ideas coming together that I know will work for me with the tools to make it happen. I've already got a bag of kitchen things ready to go to Miss H!

Looking forward to: A quiet week with lots of time for the Bout of Books read-a-thon.

Bout of Books 12

After the hubbub of the holidays, I'm giving myself permission to just relax this week.
Therefore, Bout of Books Read-a-Thon. 

From The Bout of Books blog:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.

First up, Island Fog by John Vanderslice. 

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Published March 2004 by Gale Group
Source: Bought this one

Publisher's Summary:
The Time Traveler's Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's marriage and their passionate love for each other as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals--steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

My Thoughts:
Four years ago I read Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry (my review) and, while I found much to like about the book, I was left wondering "do I bother with The Time Traveler's Wife?" But I had it on my shelves already and, because it is so beloved by so many, I decided to add it to my 2014 TBR Challenge list of books. Even then I put it off to the very end of the year.

Why???? Oh yeah...time travel. A subject I've always shied away from. Until 2014 when two of my favorite books involved time travel.

When I mentioned in a December post that it was taking me a long time to read this book, many of you commented that it's a book I needed to make sure to take my time with and be focused on. So very true. It turns out to have been a good thing that I didn't have the time to blow through this book; it's a book that demands that you pay attention. And to really think. Because Niffenegger gives readers a whole new way to think about time travel. What if you really couldn't change anything by going back in time? What if you couldn't control time travel? What if someone moved back and forth in time continually?

Even though the time travel piece of this story is key to the entire novel, The Time Traveler's Wife is, at its heart, a love story.  Not just the love of a man and a woman but love of family and the pain that love can create. Niffenegger's love story is, in fact, filled with pain but also the redemptive power of love. And there is Clare. As much as I came to care about Henry, it was Clare who carried the story for me.