Rolling in Smoke

I've been a bit of a nervous wreck this week. I got the news Sunday about the big fire in the Yosemite Valley. My Dad lives there and was evacuated Saturday night. Currently his house is still standing but he is surrounded by fire on three sides. We've been praying he is spared.

Then I heard yesterday about the earthquake near L.A. Lovely. Mom and other family live about 20 minutes from the epicenter. Everyone is fine. The only damage was a broken plate. In fact, Mom was driving and didn't even feel it.

So far everyone is safe and sound but not yet out of danger. Sometimes living in Calif. has its drawbacks.

Review: Amsterdam

Amsterdam
by Ian McEwan

I am once again in one of those flouncy moods where i don't want to read anything that I ought to or that I've committed to so I went to the shelf and picked up the first book that looked really interesting. McEwan can do no wrong by me so I figured I was in good hands.

After the death of a mutual lover, two friends make a pact. Each of these friends makes a moral sacrifice for his work that has consequences that neither could foretell and that will effect their friendship and bring new meaning to their pact.

McEwan is a master of character development and plot twists. Some books deal with how innocent mistakes can ruin people. Some books deal with how not doing something can affect a life adversely. This one is a study in the ends justifying the means, or not, as the case may be. The two protagonists are very different, one with more noble and lofty goals than the other, yet they end up making the same mistakes for the same reasons. What happens in Amsterdam (the city and the book) is just plain irony.

Review:One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
by Ken Kesey

McMurphy gets himself thrown in an insane institution as a way of getting out of a prison work camp. What he encounters there is the oppressive therapy doled out by Nurse Ratched to the beaten men on her ward. If you weren't insane when you came in you will be before the end. But McMurphy is determined to buck the system, and not alone either. His thwarting of the Nurse and her schemes helps the other patience to regain their sanity too. Can he succeed or will he be defeated? You won't know till the very end.

I've never seen Jack Nicholson play McMurphy and I didn't know what the book was about except that it involved an asylum. I went into it totally blind which is a great way to read a book and form your own opinions about it. I was a bit worried early on that it would expose me to some scenes that I'd rather not go near but it wasn't horrific. I've read worse. It certainly kept my interest (something I can't say about Cranford unfortunately).

After finishing the book I spent a little time checking out the SparkNotes Online to help my understanding. It's always a good sign when your own prospective is written out by those who ought to know. The major theme of the book is conformity vs. individuality. Conformity is imposed on "us" by a governing force and self-expression is seen as outside the norm and must be squelched. Those who fight against the system become the biggest targets for the conformers. In this case they are simply scheduled for electroshock treatments and lobotomies until they no longer have the ability of thought, let alone expression.

It was an interesting read; one that I felt I ought to experience but it is not a book I feel the great need to hold on to for future rereads. It is compelling but uncomfortable.

The Lady of Shalott

I have just spent a most pleasant evening with my children learning all about the beautiful and tragic Tennyson poem The Lady of Shalott. First I read the poem out loud to them. Then we listened to the Loreena McKennitt song while we followed along in the book. Then we googled for images and found many, including the one above by Yang Zhang which is very similar to the one by Waterhouse but much cleaner and with a lovelier Lady.

The Lady of Shalott knows that there is a curse on her if she looks out the window down into Camelot so she sits at her loom weaving a magic tapestry looking at the images she sees in her magic mirror of the people that travel in and out of Camelot. She is content for a while but soon becomes weary of looking at the lives of others. One day she sees Sir Lancelot reflected within the mirror's frame. As she looks out the window at the real Knight her mirror cracks and the curse is in effect. So she writes her name on the side of a boat and floats down to Camelot, singing a song with her final breath. When Sir Lancelot sees her dead in her boat he says a blessing to her.

To see some of the rich artwork inspired by the poem and to read it for yourself check out this site. I encourage you to read the commentary as well. It is very interesting stuff.

This is just one of a series of Tennyson poems in connection with legendary King Arthur that I am reading for the Arthurian Challenge.

Review: The Painted Veil

The Painted Veil
by W. Somerset Maugham

"Lift not the painted veil that those who live call Life."
Sonnet-Percy Bysshe Shelley

My husband picks out most of the movies we watch. The Painted Veil with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts was beautifully done. Very moving. It was later that I learned that it was based on a book.

Kitty married Walter not out of love but of necessity. She needed out of her mother's house and he was available. But when she betrays his love with another man Walter is determined to punish her by taking her with him to a Chinese village with an outbreak of Cholera. Her time spent there will change her in ways she could never foresee.

At first the writing was a bit awkward. The dialog seemed like the script of an old black and white movie. Heard from Kitty's prospective the writing reflects how frivolous and immature she is. As her heart changes so does the writing style. I liked the writing style most of the time but occasionally there is a sentence that needed to be reworked; a clause written in the wrong place or something. A number of times I had to reread a sentence slowly before I understood what he was saying. This detracted from my enjoyment but only a little.

I had scenes from the film in my head as I read and it seemed like the book was following the movie pretty closely but then I hit a scene and thought, "Wasn't Walter supposed to be at this gather?" Then, "So when are Kitty and Walter going to visit the village together?" Then, "Wait! She doesn't make that revelation yet." Somewhere in the middle of the story there is a shift. The movie turns into a love story but the book is stuck in the unforgiving stage. The parts of the movie that I love the most don't exist in the book. But Kitty's development remains the same. After a while I forgave Maugham for writing a book differently than the movie I loved and saw the beauty that it held of its own accord. Maugham's creation is not as romantic but it is just as moving.

The Sunday Salon

It's been a slow reading week for me but I managed to finally finished The Painted Veil by W.Somerset Maugham. It was different than the movie but it was still a worthy read. While in Ashland I had picked up a used copy of another Maugham book, Of Human Bondage. I plan to add it to the reading stack for next month.

In the meantime I have just picked out three sources of fresh reading material: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Cranford, and Writer to Writer.

Been Busy Lately

It has been a very busy week since the last time I posted. I spent the weekend with my husband in Ashland, OR for the Shakespeare Festival. It was the perfect way to celebrate my 15th anniversary with my sweetheart. But I have to say, the play of A Midsummer Night's Dream was quite the disappointment. We were not expecting a modern interpretation in which the fairies are actually grown men in tutus and platform, knee-high boots dancing under a disco ball. But we agreed to return sometime when we can watch a true Shakespearean play performed properly. I did have a blast walking through the shops in downtown, including a number of used book stores. Here you can see the Elizabethan Theater where Othello was performed(the real one). There was no way to get a picture of the entire thing straight on.

The walk through Lithia Park were absolutely gorgeous. Hubby took this photo that reminded him of the lamppost in Narnia.We returned home from our trip to scorching heat. When the temps are triple digits by 10am we are grateful to have a public pool nearby. Between lessons, swim team and life guard training, plus the laps I swim for exercise, we stay happy, healthy and cool.

Our family came up with a project to keep us occupied this summer, because occupied children are not quite so quarrelsome. We do a couple of projects each week from The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls. Our friends join us as we pick a theme and learn a few new activities. Today was pirate day. We made our own bandannas from fabric(I'm a quilter so I have lots) to tie on our heads. Then we made folded paper hats, boats and water bombs. We found the instructions in the books to be not always very clear but one of our friends knew how to do it and helped when we got stuck. We listened to the Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack while we worked. Another friend brought "maggoty bread" like they would have had to eat on a ship. They we grilled cheese sandwiched with a little cooked rice and they were tasty. The pool actually had some pirate booty leftover from a party they hosted earlier in the season so the kids got a treat of tattoos, suckers, eye patches or felt captains hats. The kids had a blast and so did the parents.

With all of this going on I have had little time to read. I am making my way very slowly through The Painted Veil by M. Somerset Maugham. Finally, a book I can get into! I loved the movie and am loving the book.

On a final note, I watched the movie of Chocolat. It is so very different from the book. It is still a chick flick so it didn't rate high for me but it was mountains better than the book. For those who loved the book (like a close friend of mine did) you may be happy to know that a sequel has recently been published: The Girl with No Shadow. In the UK it is published under the title of The Lollipop Shoes.

Review: Chocolat

Chocolat
by Joanne Harris

I'll make this short and sweet. I didn't like it. I didn't like how everyone that you are supposed to dislike is connected to the church. I didn't like that those you are supposed to feel sympathetic towards are just as rude and ignorant as those you are supposed to hate. I didn't care for the amoral flavor. And I don't agree with the premise that life would be happy for everyone if we all just followed our desires and disregarded the rule. Not to mention the book was boring throughout and anti-climatic at the end. That about covers it.