"Another one bites the dust!"

So, I am tearing through the Maisie Dobbs books - gotta say they are the truly quintessential escape reading for invalids!

I have two more to go - maybe I should save them - or not!

Tired of books?

I'm actually a little tired of reading. Maybe I just need the right book. I'm plowing through The Eyre Affair but it's just not grabbing me - and some people I trust have recommended it to me, so I may keep plugging.

Instead I've been watching movies - saw The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - disturbing but profound. I would be interested in other reactions. One girl told me she was very "disturbed" by the ending. Another said she was almost feeling "hysterical."

It is thought provoking.

Last night I watched The Duchess. It's based on a true story - a rather intriguing true story I might add - despite changing a lot of details - that ultimately don't seem that essential - I thought the movie seemed true to the facts I read online anyway. I don't know if I'd like the novel they based it on - sometimes I find historical fiction difficult to plow through - but the movie was thought-provoking and well done.

It was a nice diversion!!

More books read

I am really into the Maisie Dobbs books - they are just the right amount of description, mystery, character development, historical background and written well enough to keep my attention.

And they aren't very long either!!

Another book to check off the list!

Leslie sent me the Horatio Hornblower series on DVD, so I may give up reading for a few days - although a new Maisie Dobbs books just came in the mail - but I did finish Revolutionary Road - and it was sad and tragic and very well written.

Seems like everything is reminiscent of some previous writer - this has the makings of a modern Dreiser or Edith Wharton.

It takes place in the 50's after WW II - and I was struck by the portrayal of suburbia. I grew up when Granada Hills was quite rural - then "tract houses" came to town. And they were a novelty - I thought them quite sleek and modern - and I went baby sitting for families who lived in them. And much of what he says in the story about life in suburbia rings true with my memories. I have had this thought about other novels and short stories I have read.

So pay attention to social changes now - in 40+ years you may read a novel exploring their origins and effects. And won't you feel slick saying, "I knew that!"

I should be keeping a count I guess -

I woke up about 2:30 this a.m. and could not get back to sleep. The pain meds are worthless - they do nothing. Advil helps, so I took some. Ice packs work too - but I'd fallen asleep with them and they were no longer icy.

So I hobbled out to the living room and thought I'd read until I fell asleep - the couch is actually a good place to sleep, since there is something for me to lean against - I'm a side sleeper and I can't do the side thing with these bulky dressings in a regular bed. (That may be a misplaced modifier?)

I was about 3/4 of the way through the book - and it turned out to have a gripping ending - so I stayed awake until I finished!! And then slept till 9:30 or so. But I'm still feeling groggy - I think a nap will soon be in order.

These Maisie Dobbs books are a good fast read - and pretty intense. I'm usually not a mystery fan at all - but the setting for these is England after WW I - and the inherently interesting historical details make them compelling for me to read.

Guess I will have to get another one - this is #2 for me - I think there are 6 or 8 of them.

And there will undoubtedly be other sleepless nights ahead! (If not, there are afternoons ahead for reading too!)

Another book down -

I am ready to say that I am a little bit tired of reading!! Never thought I'd say that! I need to mix it up with some movies - but Dad keeps stalling a trip to Blockbuster for the movies I want. This is when it would be handy to have Netflix, yes??

But I had started this before my surgery and wanted to see how it ended badly enough to "read through the pain" as they say. (And the pain has greatly diminished too.)

This, it turns out, is a kind of Holocaust novel too - but from a very different perspective - that of a family of Jews - who will not acknowledge their Jewishness after they immigrate to the U.S. in 1936. The ending is very surprising - and a lot of tension is maintained through the middle of the book. There is some difficulty towards the end - the story seems to drift and swirl before moving forward once more.

But it's a good read. I have not read her other books - just an occasional short story - but I may check out her biography of Marilyn Monroe - called Blonde, of course!

Now I'm going to go back to the couch - 5 minutes upright is about all I can handle at the moment.

Revolutionary Road

Goodness. I don't even know where to start. Richard Yates said, "If my work has a theme, I suspect it is a simple one: that most human beings are inescapably alone, and therein lies their tragedy." I have a hard time relating to those kinds of themes, for obvious reasons (the gospel, a happy and fulfilling marriage, my family, etc.), but it was an interesting book. The American Studies classes I enjoyed most were my 50s and 60s classes, so I got to think back on things like the paint by numbers craze and the emergence of suburbia in order to better understand the book.

One thing that I was trying to wrap my mind around was why Sam Mendes decided to adapt the book into a movie this past year, almost 50 years after the book was published. (I haven't seen the movie, but it sounds like a pretty accurate adaptation.) I definitely believe that media is a mirror of our times; I probably just need more time to think on it. I would be interested to hear your thoughts if any of you decide to read it, and hope that you have that question in mind.

Like I said, I guess I have gospel goggles on, because I don't feel trapped in my marriage, and Robbie has never tried to suppress my hopes and dreams. It was a really difficult task to try and sympathize with the protagonists because they were both just sickeningly selfish, yet I was still quite shaken by the time I finished the book. Simultaneously shaken and relieved, strangely enough.

I'd recommend it. It seemed a bit daunting and slow-moving at first, but I plowed through it in a couple of days. Really compelling.

Ed. note: I just read Kenneth Turan's review, and he says that "the core of this film finally cries out to us today, makes us see that the notion of characters struggling with life, with the despair of betraying their best selves because of what society will or won't allow, is as gripping and relevant now as it ever was. Or ever will be." Interesting.

The Latest Read

We had a give and take table at one of our book group nights, and I picked up this one.

The author won the Pulitzer Prize - but I'd never heard of him. But it was a pretty good read - very Faulknerish so it took some concentration. It was a very different construct - about blacks who owned slaves before the Civil War - takes place in Virginia - Manchester County.

Apparently it was not a very common practice - but it did exist.

The stack is getting smaller - but it's still got plenty of reading material in it!

A new treasure

Bonny introduced me to the first Penderwicks books - they are like a modern-day Betsy-Tacy story about a family of 4 girls.

This is the second one - and hopefully many more will come. It's obviously light weight reading, but it has its charm - a father who scolds them in Latin, a sister who wields a wicked pen, and lots of neighbor boys to keep life interesting.

It was a lovely diversion!

Running out of reading material -

I will need to get the rest of the books in this series that Phoebe recommended - because I really enjoyed this first one.

Just the right amount of mystery and history -and a dash of Upstairs, Downstairs thrown in for good measure - made for a good read.

Airplane, doctor's waiting room or the living room couch!