Monday, May 29, 2017
Life: It Goes On - May 29
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| The guys are at the beach |
This Week I'm:
Listening To: While I'm driving, still Ruby, which is such a tough read. These past few days, I'm enjoying the quiet of BG being gone.
Watching: Lots and lots of Grace and Frankie while I'm working on projects in the family room and quite a few episodes of The Mindy Project during the evenings when Miss H and I are hanging out. Also, while my dad, a huge fan of it, was here today, we watched the Indianapolis 500.
Making: Tuna salad, grilled burgers. Otherwise, Miss H and I have been eating a lot of takeout.
Planning: On getting on the ball and getting some painting done tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll get some of the other things on my list checked off as well.
Thinking About: Remember how last week I was feeling remarkably calm? Yeah, this week, I'm thinking about all of the things and I'm pretty sure I will never get it all done.
Enjoying: Some time with my sister before she moves. We went to the town my dad grew up in and put flowers on the graves, visited my mom's cousin, and stopped at the ice cream place my grandpa and grandma used to take us to when we were little. It was a good afternoon!
Feeling: Remember how last week I was feeling remarkably calm? Yeah, this week, not so much. Even with the long weekend. How can it only be 33 days to the wedding?!
Looking forward to: Next weekend, we're having a virtual bridal shower for Miss S. She can't get down here to have a real one so my sister and and sister-in-law have put together a Facebook Live shower. Party goods have been sent and food is being shipped so it will feel like a real shower. They are the best aunties!
Question of the week: I'm kind of a chihuahua and I'm trying to find ways to keep myself calm the week of the wedding (short of medication and alcohol!). What are your best tips for keeping calm?
Friday, May 26, 2017
The View From The Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman - Guest Review
Published May 2017 (reprint) by William Morrow Paperbacks
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher and TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review
Publisher's Summary:
An enthralling collection of nonfiction essays on a myriad of topics—from art and artists to dreams, myths, and memories—observed in #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman’s probing, amusing, and distinctive style.
An inquisitive observer, thoughtful commentator, and assiduous craftsman, Neil Gaiman has long been celebrated for the sharp intellect and startling imagination that informs his bestselling fiction. Now, The View from the Cheap Seats brings together for the first time ever more than sixty pieces of his outstanding nonfiction. Analytical yet playful, erudite yet accessible, this cornucopia explores a broad range of interests and topics, including (but not limited to): authors past and present; music; storytelling; comics; bookshops; travel; fairy tales; America; inspiration; libraries; ghosts; and the title piece, at turns touching and self-deprecating, which recounts the author’s experiences at the 2010 Academy Awards in Hollywood.
Insightful, incisive, witty, and wise, The View from the Cheap Seats explores the issues and subjects that matter most to Neil Gaiman—offering a glimpse into the head and heart of one of the most acclaimed, beloved, and influential artists of our time.
**I don't know what I said about this book when it arrived in the mail that made my husband decide it wanted to read this book. Whatever it was, it convinced him that he needed to read this book right away. I told him he could as long as he wrote a review. Now that he's finished, maybe I'll finally get to read it. In the meantime, here's his review.**
The Big Guy's Review:
Yes, this book caught my attention, not only by the look, but also because it has a large number of essays on a great variety of topics, which fits my attention deficit personality. Evidently I have been living in a can as I was not that familiar with Neil Gaiman's work outside of Coraline, but I will now seek out some of his other stories.
This book provides one with a real insight into Neil's life, works, thoughts on literature, music, art, history and all of the good things in life. He opens up about his childhood and how he had his nose in a book most of the time and was a ward of the librarians as he did not always have the funds for his habit and all of the authors and titles he would have liked to read. I get the image of Neil as that egghead junior chicken on the Foghorn Leghorn cartoon.
In his formative years Neil explored deep recesses of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Graphic Novels (before they were called that) with many authors I am not familiar with and also plan to explore. I can really relate to the content of his genre choices as a youth as I was provided with many horror, fantasy and good choices of mainstream books from an intelligent brother, a few teachers and an old family friend as a teen.
Having written some in college and having too many excuses to not write now, I haven't written much in a long time. Gaiman's insights might just motivate me enough to start doing some short stories. I think this book is an outstanding read, certainly for anyone interested in writing, but also for anyone interested in good literature, so I give it two thumbs and a big toe up.
Thanks for your review, BG! You always come at a book from a different angle than I would. For other opinions about The View From The Cheap Seats, check out the full TLC tour. Thanks to the ladies at TLC for including us on the tour!
Find out more about Neil at his website, find all his books at his online bookstore, and follow him on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, and his blog.
Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
DNF: The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
Published April 2017 by Random House Publishing Group
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Publisher's Summary:
A young American woman, Alexandra Boyd, has traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, hoping that life abroad will salve the wounds left by the loss of her beloved brother. Soon after arriving in this elegant East European city, however, she helps an elderly couple into a taxi—and realizes too late that she has accidentally kept one of their bags. Inside she finds an ornately carved wooden box engraved with a name: Stoyan Lazarov. Raising the hinged lid, she discovers that she is holding an urn filled with human ashes.
As Alexandra sets out to locate the family and return this precious item, she will first have to uncover the secrets of a talented musician who was shattered by political oppression—and she will find out all too quickly that this knowledge is fraught with its own danger.
My Thoughts:
Before blogging, I read Kostova's debut novel, The Historian. Except for an ending that made me want to throw the book across the room, I thoroughly enjoyed that book. It was a wild ride combined with well-researched and well-written story. I was definitely looking forward to seeing what else Kostova had up her sleeve. But The Swan Thieves, Kostova's sophomore effort, left me flat. It lacked the adventure and pacing of The Historian that I was looking forward to.
The Shadow Land doesn't make that mistake; Kostova amps up the ride almost right from the start. That's exactly what I asked for, right? But you've got to buy into some pretty unlikely action and I didn't. I really did try to get past that, to allow Kostova to introduce me to Bulgaria, its past and its people. She's good at that and she convinced me to read nearly 200 pages while I tried to invest myself in the mystery at the heart of the story.
Considering the difficulty I've had falling into any book in the past few months, I might well have said to The Shadow Land "It's me, not you." That might well be true, even. Regardless, at that point, I couldn't muster the interest to keep reading. Given my reaction to this book and The Swan Thieves, it's likely that I'm through with Kostova. I doubt she'll miss me.
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