Bit by bit my apartment is getting back in order. Today I vacuumed out and reorganized the front hall closet and the broom closet, and then tidied up the living room so I can finally put up the Christmas tree. Ahhh... my brain feels soothed.
Minion's just discovered the new basket I put all the cat toys into. She looks intrigued: "What are ALL my toys doing here?" She's testing out one of her straws. Now she's crawled back into the safety of her tunnel, to contemplate this new change to the universe.
The other day Fernando opened the balcony door. Haley ran up, took a long hard look at the inches of snow, then said: "Now what'd you go and do that for? Ruined a perfectly good balcony."
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Series: My Best Reads of 2010 #1
I read about a book per week this year. Over the next few days I'll post what stood out (including some from Dec 09 that I didn't read in time for last year's list.)
You will find...
* I gave these reviews a lot of thought, so they should be tidier than the initial impressions I wrote throughout the year.
* As I wrote I discovered that one of the things that *makes* a book for me is if there's a particularly meaningful or touching relationship between two characters (usually a protagonist and a side character.) So I mentioned these.
* I didn't read any 2010-published mystery or romance books this year.
Fiction #1:
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson - UK author (March 2010)
There are a lot of romance and mystery novels that try to recreate Jane Austen, but Major Pettigrew is a true Austen successor. It's about: A petty man in his 60s whose horizons are broadened when he gets mixed up in the dramas of the Pakistani-English woman he's falling in love with. Simonson satirically but affectionately portrays a small English town, and uses romance to gently nudge her protagonist in the direction of Character Growth.
Special Relationship: You know a book's about to get good when the rigid Muslim nephew needs a place to live, and stuffy white Pettigrew offers to take him in.
Did I cry? Not that I remember.
Further Reading: Jane Austen of course. If you've only ever watched/read Pride and Prejudice, or Sense and Sensibility, make sure to seek out Persuasion. It's about a woman who rejected the man she loved on bad advice, and now he's back in town... and still hurt! Anne is a much quieter heroine than her Austen fellows, but I loved her.
Other cover:
Imaginary Casting: Michael Kitchen as the Major.
You will find...
* I gave these reviews a lot of thought, so they should be tidier than the initial impressions I wrote throughout the year.
* As I wrote I discovered that one of the things that *makes* a book for me is if there's a particularly meaningful or touching relationship between two characters (usually a protagonist and a side character.) So I mentioned these.
* I didn't read any 2010-published mystery or romance books this year.
BEST BOOKS I READ IN 2010 - PUBLISHED IN 2010
Fiction #1:Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson - UK author (March 2010)
There are a lot of romance and mystery novels that try to recreate Jane Austen, but Major Pettigrew is a true Austen successor. It's about: A petty man in his 60s whose horizons are broadened when he gets mixed up in the dramas of the Pakistani-English woman he's falling in love with. Simonson satirically but affectionately portrays a small English town, and uses romance to gently nudge her protagonist in the direction of Character Growth.
Special Relationship: You know a book's about to get good when the rigid Muslim nephew needs a place to live, and stuffy white Pettigrew offers to take him in.
Did I cry? Not that I remember.
Further Reading: Jane Austen of course. If you've only ever watched/read Pride and Prejudice, or Sense and Sensibility, make sure to seek out Persuasion. It's about a woman who rejected the man she loved on bad advice, and now he's back in town... and still hurt! Anne is a much quieter heroine than her Austen fellows, but I loved her.
Other cover:
Imaginary Casting: Michael Kitchen as the Major.
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