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= Ugh! Don't waste your time.
Archive for November 8th, 2008
Saturday, November 8th, 2008Just So They Do Not Feel Left Out…
…I thought I’d share some photos of my cats. They are a little bent out of shape with the dogs getting so much attention in the header. So here are some of their best shots (several photos are “clickable” for larger views):
Maia - we think she is about 6 years old (she showed up at our house as a stray…pregnant with 5 kittens! She is a torti-point Siamese mix.
Gizmo - this was one of Maia’s kittens. Gizmo is tortoise shell in color with green eyes, but has the personality (and attitude) of a Siamese.
Notable Book Challenge - 2008
**Button compliments of TypoGenerator
January 1 - December 31, 2008
November 8, 2008 - Officially COMPLETED the 2008 Challenge. There are several books on my alternates which I may still read this year…but I’m counting this one done for now. I will be participating in 2009, but will wait until December to create my goal list!
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I am hosting the Notable Book Challenge for 2008 - this will replace the New York Times (NYT) Most Notable Book Challenge, but will include books from the NYT Most Notable list for 2007. The blog for this challenge is here. If you would like to participate as a contributor to the blog, please send me your email and I will invite you. Rules for participate are located on the Notable Books blog.I’m choosing 8 books to read from several lists on this site.
My preliminary list (subject to change):
- The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Moshin Hamid (from PW Best Books - 2007 and NYT Most Notable-2007) - Completed January 11, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review.
- The Gathering, by Anne Enright (from NYT Most Notable-2007) - Completed March 9, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review
- Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name, by Vendela Veda (from NYT Most Notable-2007) -Completed September 30, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review
- After Dark, by Haruki Murakami (from NYT Most Notable - 2007) - Completed October 28, 2008; rated 2/5; read my review.
- The Secret River, by Kate Grenville (from ALA Most Notable - 2007) - Completed October 13, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review.
- Bridge of Sighs, by Richard Russo (from NYT Most Notable-2007) - Completed June 7, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review
- On Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan (from NYT Most Notable - 2007) - Completed August 11, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review.
- The View From Castle Rock, by Alice Munro (from NYT Most Notable - 2007) - Completed September 28, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review.
Alternatives:
Zoli, by Colum McCann (from Christian Science Monitor Bests - 2007)
Heyday, by Kurt Anderson (from Christian Science Monitor Bests - 2007)
There is No Me Without You, by Melissa Fay Greene (from ALA Most Notable - 2007)
Out Stealing Horses, by Per Petterson (from NBCC Best Books- 2007 and NYT Most Notable-2007)
The Septembers of Shiraz, by Dalia Sofer (from 2007 Christian Science Monitor Best Books AND NYT Most Notable-2007)
New Header…
…many thanks to Michelle at 1MoreChapter who has created a new header for my blog. If you are reading on a feeder, please stop in and see my new look!
Saturday, November 8th, 2008Rebecca - Book Review
The house was a sepulchre, our fear and suffering lay buried in the ruins. There would be no resurrection. When I thought of Manderly in my waking hours I would not be bitter. I should think of it as it might have been, could I have lived there without fear. I should remember the rose-garden in summer, and the birds that sang at dawn. Tea under the chestnut tree, and the murmur of the sea coming up to us from the lawns below. -From Rebecca, page 4-
She was in the house still as Mrs. Danvers had said, she was in that room in the west wing, she was in the library, in the morning-room, in the gallery above the hall. Even in the little flower-room, where her mackintosh still hung. And in the garden, and in the woods, and down in the stone cottage on the beach. Her footsteps sounded in the corridors, her scent lingered on the stairs. The servants obeyed her orders still, the food we ate was the food she liked. Her favourite flowers filled the rooms. Her clothes were in the wardrobes in her room, her brushes were on the table, her shoes beneath the chair, her nightdress on her bed. Rebecca was still the mistress of Manderley. -From Rebecca, page 237-
Dapne du Maurier published her gothic novel Rebecca in 1938 to wide popularity. Set on the English coast of Cornwell sometime in the 1920s, the novel centers around the isolated estate of Manderley. A young woman meets and quickly marries Maxim de Winter, a recent widower who is apparently struggling to get over the unexpected drowning death of his first wife, Rebecca. The second Mrs. de Winter (who is never identified by her Christian name) narrates the story. When she arrives at Manderley she is confronted by the mystery surrounding Rebecca’s death. She meets Mrs. Danvers - the weird and frightening housekeeper of Manderley:
Something, in the expression of her face, gave me a feeling of unrest, and even when she had stepped back, and taken her place amongst the rest, I could see that black figure standing out alone, individual and apart, and for all her silence I knew her eye to be upon me. -From Rebecca, page 68-
As the novel progresses, the secrets of the house and its former mistress are uncovered. Moody, beautifully atmospheric and filled with tension, du Maurier’s magnificent writing immerses the reader in a dark tale of love and hatred. Rebecca’s ghost hides in the shadows and hovers in the minds of all the characters, entwined in the corridors of Manderley.
Rebecca is the definitive gothic novel where the house becomes just as much a character as Max de Winter, Mrs. Danvers, the shifty Favell, and the servants who populate its many rooms. Spooky and convincingly rendered, it is a book which enchants from beginning to end.
Harper Collins has re-published this classic novel in a 2006 volume which includes a note from the Author, an essay by du Maurier whereby she describes the real Manderley, and the original Rebecca Epilogue…all of which add insight and interest into the writing of the book.
Rebecca is one of those novels which everyone should read at some point in his or her life. Highly recommended, especially for readers who love Gothic Fiction and classic literature.
2008 Decades Challenge
January 1, 2008 - December 31, 2008
NOVEMBER 8, 2008: UPDATE - I have completed this challenge! The eight consecutive decades from which I read spanned 1920s to 1990s. I also read books from these decades: 1850 and 1860. This was a fun challenge. Thanks to Michelle for hosting!
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Michelle is hosting the Decades Challenge again … this time for 2008. She’s changed the rules slightly:
1. Read a minimum of 8 books in 8 consecutive decades.
2. Books published in the 2000’s do not count.
3. Titles may be cross posted (you know I LOVE that!!)
4. You may change your list at any time.
She’s dedicating a new blog to this challenge: Decades ‘08
Of course, I can’t resist. I’ve decided to make a list of books to choose from in each decade (Decades bolded in red are complete):
1800’s or Earlier
(1720’s) - Moll Flanders, by Daniel DeFoe
(1800’s) - Castle Rackrent, by Marie Edgeworth
1810’s
Emma, by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen
Persuasion, by Jane Austen
1820’s
Melmoth the Wanderer, by Charles Robert Maturin
The Monastery, by Sir Walter Scott
The Pirate, by Sir Walter Scott
The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper
1830’s
Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
1840’s
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens
1850’s
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
Oblomov, by Ivan Goncharov
Home of the Gentry, by Ivan Turgenev (Completed June 19, 2008; rated 3/5; read my review)
1860’s
The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens - Completed January 25, 2008; rated 3/5; read my review.
Consuelo, by George Sand
Toilers of the Sea, by Victor Hugo
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy (new translation)
1870’s
1880’s
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
1890’s
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
1900’s
House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton
1910’s
Of Human Bondage, by W. Somerset Maughan
The Custom of the Country, by Edith Wharton
Summer, by Edith Wharton
The Magnificent Ambersons, by Booth Tarkington
Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust
1920’s
The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
Giants in the Earth, by O.E. Rolvaag
So Big, by Edna Ferber - Completed January 17, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review
1930’s
Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier - Completed November 7, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review
My Cousin Rachel, by Daphne Du Maurier
1940’s
Embers, by Sandor Marai -Completed March 30, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review
The Power and The Glory, by Graham Greene
Independent People, by Halldor Laxness -Completed May 5, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review
The Women of Rome, by Albert Moravia
1950’s
Gift From The Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh - Completed October 28, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review
The Cairo Trilogy, by Naguib Mahfouz
1960’s
A Garden of Earthly Delights, by Joyce Carol Oates - COMPLETED September 22, 2008; rated 3.5/5; read my review
1970’s
Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Moving On, by Larry McMurtry
The Lives of Girls and Women, by Alice Monroe
Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner - Completed April 17, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review
1980’s
Paradise of the Blind, by Duong Thu Huong
Cat’s Eye, by Margaret Atwood - Completed February 29, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review
The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
1990’s
The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver - Completed July 12, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review
She’s Come Undone, by Wally Lamb
Stones From the River, by Ursula Hegi
A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth
Plainsong, by Kent Haruf
The Giver, by Lois Lowry - Completed January 1, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review
Ship Fever, by Andrea Barrett
Sacred Hunger, by Barry Unsworth