Movie with Meaning

As I was finishing the final chapters of Firefly Lane last weekend, knowing what was coming, I was struck with the memory of a movie that I'd watched as a girl of 9. I didn't recall the name of the movie but I knew the main plot and that it starred Dudley Moore. I had my husband look it up in the hopes of renting it through NetFlix. No such luck. The movie has not been made into a DVD. Bummer!

The movie is called Six Weeks. A 11 year old girl has been given six weeks to live but she doesn't really appear to be sick. In fact she is more full of life then most people. It is this love of life that Moore's character falls in love with. He sacrifices everything he has in order to spend these six weeks with the girl and her mother (Mary Tyler Moore) fulfilling the girl's list of things she'd like to do before she dies. As you can imagine it is a very emotional movie and the end is predictably heartrending. I would love to see this movie again but it appears that it has fallen into obscurity.

So today I am visiting my favorite place for buying used books, the Salvation Army, when I see Six Weeks on the spine of a book. I grab it right away, read the back in haste and discover that this is the story, in book form. Well, if that is not serendipitous I don't know what is. On the back cover, under the blurb about the author, Fred Mustard Stewart, is this paragraph:

Mr. Stewart met the inspiration for Nicky on a long plane trip from Europe to
the United States. Long afterward it was impossible for him to forget her and,
he reports, he was surprised and grateful to renew her acquaintance in Six
Weeks.

This movie was probably the beginning of my fascination with leukemia. Though I wasn't much of a reader in my school-aged years, I did read several books about girls living with this disease. Interestingly, my Mom was once told that I was likely to have leukemia. It turned out to be Mononucleosis, to my mothers great relief. Instead of fearing I was going to die, I instead lived in dread that my family would know from whom I had contracted "the Kissing Disease." Mom playful teasing now has a different meaning than it did back then. It was relief.

This surprisingly small book, only 180 pages, will make a wonderful choice for the Sunday Salon. I look forward to meeting Nicky once again.

Review: Austenland

Austenland
by Shannon Hale

On the merits of Booklogged's little review I loaded this audio book on the Zune for my listening pleasure. It has been a pleasure to listen to the slightly neurotic thoughts of an Austen obsessed, 30-something young women, not too unlike myself.

Jane Hayes is given the gift of a trip to Pemberley Hall, an Austen reenactment vacation site in England, as a sort of therapy. See Jane is so in love with Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy that no other man can compare. She is now in danger of giving up on men all together. Will Pemberley Hall suck her into her wildest dreams or will she risk the pains of the real world?

I had a lot of fun with Austenland. I loved the wishy-washy character of Jane. The story had a sitcom quality to it that was just right. Where Bridget Jones' Diary was over the top, Austenland was perfectly balanced. I enjoyed the ending and encourage an Austen fans to give it a try. Shannon Hale will go on my list of "authors to read for a little something fun."

The Sunday Salon

My reading week was much the same as it usually is: some small spots of reading after the kiddos' bedtime but nothing too productive. But Saturday made up for it all. I woke extremely early and so I picked up a book and read until I felt tired again. After sleeping in way past my usual Saturday sleep-in time I simply reached for my book again, staying in bed until 2pm. Talk about a lazy weekend. I finished Firefly Lane, then picked up Persuasion later in the evening for a little more reading pleasure.

We spent most of today at a birthday party for a little friend. But I have spent the last couple of hours sitting with my most handsome husband, enjoying his company and reading more of Persuasion when I was able. It was a dark and rainy day. The kind of day I love for snuggling under my heated blanket and filling my mind with stories.

I will finish reading Persuasion this week but I am not sure what I will read next. I still have that small stack from the library that I ought to work on but I'm leaning forwards kiddie lit. for something quick and satisfying. A friend suggested Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and I also would like to get to Love in the Time of Cholera before the movie comes out on DVD in March. But a bit more Shakespeare sounds nice right about now too. As always, we'll see what happens.

I will leave you with this quote from today's reading:

"The only time that I ever really suffered in body or mind, the only time that I ever fancied myself unwell, or had any ideas of danger, was the winter that I passed by myself at Deal, when the Admiral (Captain Croft then) was in the North Seas. I lived in perpetual fright at that time, and had all manner of imaginary complaints from not knowing what to do with myself, or when I should hear from him next; but as long as we could be together, nothing ever ailed me, and I never met with the smallest inconvenience."

Review: Firefly Lane

Firefly Lane
by Kristin Hannah
479 pages

A used ARC edition of Firefly Lane arrived in my mailbox on my birthday. How cool was that? I had read several reviews, a mixed bag of negative and positive. Even those who loved it had to admit to many of the flaws pointed out by the negative reviewers. So I pretty much knew what I was getting into.

This is the story of Tully, the gorgeous and dramatic but damaged girl who is desperate for attention but too smart to believe in love; and Kate, the average girl from the average middle-class home who is in need a friend. Tully and Kate, the Firefly Lane Girls, make fast friends, promising to remain best friends forever, no matter what. As they grow up and move into adulthood, their promise is challenged many times. Just how much can their friendship withstand?

The first few chapters were enough for me to see that the writing was quite uninspired. Not exceptional writing. It actually reminded me of my own writing style. The plot appeared forced and unlikely from the very beginning. I spent a lot of time rolling my eyes. But I didn't give up. I was surprised at how fast I was getting through it.

But along the way I was pulled in to the storyline. There were predictable parts and there were overly sentimental scenes but, though I knew how it would turn out in the end, I wanted to know how they all got there.

One of the drawing-in devices is the constant references to music of the time period. The book is divided by centuries, the titles being popular songs of the time: The Seventies, Dancing Queen; The Eighties, Love is a Battlefield; The Nineties, I'm Every Woman; The New Millennium, A Moment Like This. The fashion styles were also used as a way to show the passage of time, making reference to hairstyles and clothing trends. Using pop culture can be a great way to bring in a certain readership right from the start but it can leave a book dated quickly. Without better writing to back it up I'm afraid Firefly Lane will fade out of memory soon.

I kept thinking as I read that this book was so very much like Beaches, and the more recently published Rise and Shine. If you liked either one of those books you will probably like this one too. It is a remarkably quick read for its size and will leave the more sentimental readers with the warm fuzzies.

Total Eclipse of the Moon

Wow! We have just been outside admiring this beautiful site. I'm in awe. Truly.

Exercise Your Brain

Prevention.com is offering a weekly newsletter offering an excerpt from The Intellectual Devotional, a book I have been coveting for some small while. This week's excerpt is about the death of Socrates, a subject I an interested in because our homeschool is currently studying that time period in Ancient History. In fact, my teenager, the Eldest, is reading his second work by Plato as I type. Last week's excerpt about the cloning of the sheep Dolly was really fascinating stuff. And it only takes a minute or two to read. It's well worth the time.

I do believe that today I will take in my 40% off coupon to the local Borders and buy myself a copy of this:

The Sunday Salon

I wrote a nice little post for the Sunday Salon but Blogger wouldn't let me post it for fear of contracting a virus from my computer. (??) So now I'm trying again to post my saved post but it only saved half of the first sentence. Grrr!

Sundays are turning out to be not so good for reading, at least for me. I snatched 1.5 hours in spurts and starts throughout the day, getting me 54 pages into Firefly Lane, a used ARC copy I received that's not getting the highest of reviews. So far, I can hardly blame the reviewers.

This week was not as bookish as I would have liked either, considering my list of titles from last week. I did finish Buccaneers and The Inferno of Dante, one being a disappointment and the other enjoyable but needing more references. And I started listening to Austenland on the Zune. It's definitely chitlit but so far I am having fun with it.

For the upcoming week I am hoping to finish Firefly Lane and a nonfic. I need to return to the library. And if I have the time I will try to get through Will in the World. But I may be seriously deluding myself in thinking I will have that much time. We're already one day into the week and I have only read 2 pages. We shall see which way the winds may blow.

The Geography of Make Believe

In case you haven't all ready heard, the latest (and greatest) Bookworms Carnival is up at the The Book Ninja. And, believe me, it is totally awesome! If you are a lover of fantasy, or even if you aren't, you absolutely must check it out. Seriously! Now.

Review: Buccaneers

Buccaneers
by Edith Wharton

A group of five marriagable young ladies invade London looking for prospects. As each one marries a man of rank and/or fortune she discovers that the high life is not as ideal as one would think.

I should never have watched the movie first. Really. It ruined the book for me. There was nothing wrong with the movie. To the contrary, I really liked the movie. It just was not like the book. It was better. Compared to the modern interpretation of the movie, the book seemed boring. I feel let down.

In the movie, the main character, Annabel St. George, is naive and idealistic. She enters into a marriage that is intolerable on so many levels. Her husband, a Duke, has many issues that are unthinkable and made my heart pound in anguish and disgust. She is portrayed as innocent, simply trying to preserve herself. But in the book she is just unhappy with her life. She feels all wrong in playing the part of a Duchess. I really disliked her. And so I felt some indignation at the ending.

Though the movie is modernized for shock value, I really prefered it to the book. Now that I think about it, this is exactly the way I felt about Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. The movie starring Frances O'Connor is full of modern shock value but I love it. The book pales in comparison.

I may decide at a later date to give the book another try but for now I will leave it at "disappointing," especially for a Wharton novel.

Review: Peter Pan

Peter Pan
by J.M. Barrie

I read this story to the kiddos a couple of years ago but when I saw it on the library shelf in the book-on-tape section I thought I'd give it a listen. And what a treat I had! I am now convinced that this tale is meant to be listened to, whether read aloud by a dramatic adult or as read by Jim Dale, as I heard it. He really captures the magic of this story.

Peter Pan is the boy who wants never to grow old. He lures Wendy, along with her brothers John and Michael, to come to Neverland to be a mother to the Lost Boys, the raggle taggle group of boys who follow Peter with great devotion. They have many adventures involving pirates, Indians and mermaids.

I am so glad that I listened to this one. Whenever my juvenal side needs a little attention I will be sure to seek it out once again. Highly recommend for kids and adults alike.

Glorious Celebrations

At approximately 2am this morning I made a significant change in my life. I crossed a threshold. I made the big jump from age 32 to age 33. Yes, today is my birthday and I just love birthdays. It sounds arrogant, and maybe it is but I like the celebration of me. One day out of 365 I get to know that I am special; not a mistake or a bundle of flaws but a beautiful human soul who the Lord of Heaven and Earth gave some thought to and blessed with life.


All right. Now I'm getting a bit sentimental. I suppose what I really like about this being my day is that instead of me taking care of the needs of everyone else, I get to be taken care of. My 14 year old made French Toast for breakfast. My 10 year old gave me a big bag of Dove milk chocolates. My 5 year old's little stuffed cow sang Happy Birthday to me. =) And later my husband will take me whereever I want to go for dinner.


I don't know anyone who actually likes getting old but I love that with age comes wisdom. I am such a different person than I was at 10 or 20. I'm different even from last year, and in good ways too. Lately I have been full joy and pep. I'm sleeping well, eating foods I love and have as much energy as my kiddos. Today is a glorious day. I plan to enjoy it to the fullest.

The Sunday Salon

I thought I was going to have to skip the Sunday Salon again but in the end I managed to get in an hour of reading. I finished the last 4 chapters in The Inferno of Dante. But I want to read all the extra notes and such before I review it. It was very interesting. It made me wish I knew more about Italian history so I would know who some of the people encountered in Hell are. I was always excited when I came across a familiar name.

But that wasn't the only bookish thing I did yesterday. I took a little trip to the local Big Book Store and bought Persuasion and The Princess Bride for the new book and movie group I have just started. Persuasion will be a reread. I had planned to reread all of Austen's works this year anyway. And I have been wanting to read The Princess Bride. I read the first few chapters to the kids before we gave up. The actual story is hidden within the author's "biography" and the kids just lost all interest.

My reading plans for the next week are to finish The Buccaneers and to start Miracles by C.S. Lewis. I also have 4 books from the library that I will try to read before I need to return them. They are: Will in the World, The Bully in your Relationship, Blink, and How to Read a Novel. Gosh, that's a lot of non-fiction for me. I'll likely be begging for a good fiction by the time March comes around.

Oh, and I almost forgot that I have Austenland loaded on the Zune for my listening pleasure. And I will be picking up The Namesake on CD from the library today. So many, many books. How will I ever get through them all?

Decisions Decisions

You may or may not recall seeing my shelves before. And you may or may not remember hearing about how they are sorted. The entire right shelf contains all my classics. The left shelf goes something like this: top shelf, cook books and sewing book; second shelf, non-fiction and poetry; third and fourth shelves, fiction; bottom two shelves, childrens anthologies, science encyclopedias and homeschool books(these will soon be moving as I am running out of room for my books).

Well, I have been cataloging my books on LibraryThing for the last few weeks and have made a discovery. I have not been too consistant about sorting. I have found biographies placed whereever there is room. And I have some modern writers in fiction and others in classics. I have all of my C.S. Lewis books together on classics even though many of them are non-fiction. As I tag the books on my LibraryThing account I am finding I need to move these books around but I am now stuck as to what to do with those modern writers that I feel have written classics, like Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, even Margaret Mitchell. Where do I draw the line between fiction and classic? Books published before the 1960s? If the authors are dead? Maybe both? Can a non-fiction title be a classic? I hadn't thought of these intricacies before but now I fear someone looking at my LibraryThing list might think me an idiot for how I label my books. I would sure appeciate any assistance you wonderful people could offer me.

Women and Fiction

Surveys consistently find that women read more books than men, especially
fiction. Explanations abound, from the biological differences between the male
and female brains, to the way that boys and girls are introduced to reading at a
young age.

I found this article very interesting and true to my own experiences.

Hat tip to The Common Room.

But, Enough About Books...

Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells?

Most of my time is spent homeschooling my three kiddos, cooking and cleaning but occasionally I like to spend some of my time with other hobbies. I like to always be creating something. When I've gone too long without making something I start to feel backed up inside. I love crafts of all kinds but my biggest passion is for quilting. I love the patterned fabrics and the patterns I can create with the fabrics. It's like putting a beautiful puzzle together that is soft and cuddly.

My Butterfly Quilt is the last one I completed. It was for a quilting contest 3 years ago. I was supposed to make something that reminded me of home. In the town we were living in there was a large butterfly mural downtown. I created the pattern myself and worked on it nonstop. When I finished it I realised that the contest had ended the day before so I wasn't able to enter it. But I am so glad that I worked on it. I learned a lot about my own abilities and the importance of quality.

Review: The Tale of Despereaux

The Tale of Despereaux
by Kate DiCamillo

I'm finally getting around to reviewing this delightful little tale. I listened to it last week for the Sunday Salon and quickly passed it on to my kiddos. It was one of those cosy fantasy stories that make you wish the world was filled with little mice that would rather read books than eat them; mice who honor the human princesses they love.

That is the main premise of the book. Despereaux is an extraordinarily small mouse who is different than all other mice. He behaves as if he were human. It is also the story of the lovely Princess Pea whom the mouse is in love with. And the heart-broken rat, Roscuro, plays a large roll in the story as well. And don't forget Miggery Sow, the girl with the ears like califlowers.

I'm not going to tell you anything more about the story. It didn't win the Newbery Award in 2004 for nothing. You really need to read (or listen to) the tale for yourself. It is a treat, like the perfect bowl of soup. =)

And when you're finished reading the book you will be happy to know that the animated movie will be released in theaters at the end of summer. It sounds like a family movie night to me.

Putting the I in iPod

...or the U in Zune, maybe?

Carrie over at Mommy Brain posted this fun meme.
Here's what you do:
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.
4. NO CHEATING.
PS. my commentary is in blue.

Q: What does next year have in store for you?
Why Georgia - John Mayer
Sounds a little ominous.

Q: What does your love life look like next year?
Feelings Show - Colbie Caillat
I do wear my feelings on my sleeve.

Q: What do you say when life gets hard?
Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
Aw, a vacation.

Q: Song that reminds you of good times?
Innocence Maintained - Jewel
Youth; good times that.

Q: What do you think when you get up in the morning?
Goodbye - Hootie & the Blowfish
As I turn over and go back to sleep.

Q: What song will you dance to at your wedding?
Consider This - Anna Nalick
Funny. The line is "Consider this a warning." It's about not trying to change me or I'll kick you to the curb. How romantic!

Q: Song that reminds you of your first kiss?
No Such Thing - John Mayer
Apparently I've never been kissed.

Q: Your favorite saying?
Building a Mystery - Sarah McLachlan
Sounds very similar to "Curiouser and curiouser."

Q: Favorite place?
Satellite - Anna Nalick
Doesn't that sound like a great name for a club?

Q: Most Missed Memory?
Come Back to Bed - John Mayer
;)

Q: What song describes your best friend?
All in All - Lifehouse
And she is too.

Q: What song describes your ex?
Easy by Barenaked Ladies
Easy by bare naked ladies? Maybe that's why he's an ex.

Q: Where would you go on a first date?
The Sun Doesn't Like You - Norah Jones
Ok, so we won't go to the beach.

Q: Drug of choice?
Paper Bag - Anna Nalick
Or possibly whatever is inside the paper bag.

Q: What song describes yourself?
Catalyst - Anna Nalick
The catalyst to what?

Q: What is the thing you like doing most?
Neon - John Mayer
I suppose that means going clubbing?

Q: The song that best describes the president?
This Time - Bryan Adams
Yes, this time could you be a person of strong moral character? Please?

Q: Where will you be in 10 years?
Waiting on the World to Change - John Mayer
Much as I am now.

Q: Your love life right now?
Cuts Like a Knife - Bryan Adams
But it feels so right. =)

Q: What is your state of mind like at the moment?
Magic - Colbie Caillat
I like that.

Q: How will you die?
My Dear Country - Norah Jones
It may be the death of me.

The Sunday Salon

I enjoyed last Sunday so much that I made a repeat performance. Listening to Peter Pan while working on this Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. Have a great week!