Stuff - Lost Sounds and Books

I've been offline too much. Too much schoolwork and elder care issues and just regular work. I need 2 maids!

I've been catching up with my magazine  reading and found two interesting items in the Smithsonian Magazine.

The Top Ten Books Lost To Time - these books have been mentioned in other works or diaries, but they can't be found. If you run into them, you will be famous! The authors are many-unknown-but-inspired-by-God writers (including an Arctic explorer monk) Homer, Jane Austen, Sylvia Plath, Thomas Hardy, William Shakespeare, Herman Melville, Robert Lewis Stevenson, and Ernest Hemingway.

The Museum of American History has experimental sound recordings that Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Emile Berliner made. However, there is no machine to play these voices.

The Museum and the Library of Congress joined forces to recover the audio. Hear a test batch of recordings by Bell and his associates.

Books - Book Review - Midnight on Julia St - Ciji Ware

I received a copy of this novel from Sourcebooks.

This novel is set in pre-Katrina New Orleans; it's a reprint, but many of the locations described by Ware still exist. The neighborhoods and buildings that she talks about are close to the banks of the Mississippi River and weren't wiped out during the Katrina.

 Corlis McCullough is a television reporter who moves to New Orleans from California. She doesn't realize that her ancestors have ties to the city, until she starts getting visions and discusses them with an aunt who knows the family genealogy.

But, the visions are not figments of Corlis' imagination; they are events that really occurred around the 400 block of Canal St., the main business street which divides the "New" New Orleans (the American side) from the "Old" New Orleans (descendants of the original French and Spanish settlers and the free people of color). The time frame of the visions is the 1830s.

At first, she is disturbed by them, but she enlists the new friends to find out what the visions mean. She is also researching the proposed razing of a historic building that housed businessed that used to be owned by free African-American many years before the Civil War.

I took this novel to Atlanta, when I visited my friend. I was also supposed to be studying for two finals. I would pick up the book as a reward for studying for certain amount of time, and my friend thought that I was spending all my time reading instead of studying. I left my copy for her to read; since she has a young family, she has to be selective about her reading. I highly recommended the book to her.

The novel deals with the razing of the Sanlin building.

Behind this modernist facade, there is an older building. Here's an article that describes the history of the building:


Ware was able to capture a historical event in an interesting manner and also combine it with a modern story. I had a hard time putting it down, and if you like works with a bit of the supernatural and history, you will enjoy it also.

Books - Book Review - Tout Sweet - Karen Wheeler

Sourcebooks kindly sent me a copy of this memoir.


Karen Wheeler had a interesting life: a great job and home in London, a French boyfriend, and a few good friends. However, her outlook changes, and she decides to buy a home in a village in France and to move there. 


Since other foreigners have moved to France and renovated homes, her experiences weren't as frustrating as Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence. She made friends with a neighbor, who chided the craftsmen who didn't do a proper job. Wheeler made her renovations slowly and even did a lot of the work herself.


However, not all is perfect in this new life. She has a falling out with one of the ex-pats, she must drive far to eat in a decent restaurant (gasp!), and she must adapt to not being able to walk to grocery stores to buy organic fruits and vegetables.


She is still able to make a living as a fashion writer by doing freelance work. And her life has balance. "It is June and the courtyard is in full bloom. The French have a word for this e'panouie. But it doesn't apply to flowers, It can also be used to describe the blossoming of a person.. I am never short of company. In fact, I have made more genuine friends in the short time that I have lived here than I did in almost two decades of living in London."


Wheeler gives a realistic view of a major lifestyle change. The discouraging events are described as well as the small triumphs.


If you are tempted to chuck it all in and start over in another place, this memoir will give you an idea of what you would experience!

Books - Book Review - Hash - Torgny Lindgren

Kevin From Canada offered an intriguing review of this novel,so I decided to take the plunge!



An old man in a nursing home in Sweden writes in his notebook. He was a journalist until his editor found out that everything that he wrote was fiction. The editor forbade the journalist to write another word; he followed the order until the editor had died. He assumed that he was now free from the edict.


The old man writes about two men in northern Sweden who ride a motorcycle looking for the best hash (a type of stew, with everything thrown into the pot). The first man is Robert Maser , an ex-Nazi official; he now works as a peddler selling clothes. The other man is the school teacher, Lars Hogstrom.


Lars contracted TB in his childhood and spent most of his youth in the sanitarium. When he was cured, he really didn’t want to go out into the world. ““The whole sanitarium, all its corridors and stairs and lobbies, full of the constant smells of stewing, and new-bake bread and cloves and oranges. Where in the world shall I be able to find such nourishing and well-cooked food?” He was particularily fond of the potted pork with mashed turnip and potato and pickled gherkin or beetroot. And herring pie with melted butter.”


Living in a foodie-loving place such as New Orleans, I can understand someone being fond of food, but these entrees sound unappetizing to me.


Lars asks for and get assigned the most tubercular school district in the northern Sweden. Both he and Robert are newcomers and find out (funnily) that they share a love of music and sang together some evenings. And later on, they go on the hash quest during the summer.


Everyone in the district makes their version of hash (even the winter ones) and wait for the men to taste and comment on their hash.


When Lars and Martin go to Ellen’s home, to taste her hash, “they broke off small fragments with their fingers and pressed them against the roof of their mouths, where the hash dissolved on its own accord and trikletle over their tongues and molars. They didn’t chew, they let the air filter in between their lips so that nothing of the experience would be lost, and they delayed swallowing as long as they could.”


Between the story of the people in this region of Sweden, the novel goes back to telling the story of the journalist and his life in the nursing home. This portion of the novel (and Lars’ unethusiatic return to work) can be seen as a comment on the government’s policy to take care of everyone. The home had an obligation to take care of the journalist but now the administrators were worried about the costs; he kept on living and didn’t die.


Two words of caution. The novel is a bit strange. It doesn’t really follow in the traditional pattern, but you will get accustomed to the rhythm. Another think is the descriptions of what is put into the hash can turn your stomach. Don’t read this after a nice meal.


The format reminded me of Magnus Mills’ works. Both authors make commentaries on their worlds, but there is really not too much action. Both writers have the characters going in circles or loops as they live out their lives. You have to be in the right mindset to enjoy this novel and any of Magnus Mills’ works.


I am going to look for more of Lindgren’s novels to discover whether they follow the same pattern.

This novel follows a similar format as Star of the Sea: a  headline, a little summary about what will happen in this chapter, occasional photographs or drawings, and ballads.This story of the aftermath of the Civil War, told by many voices.



I started this novel in January but had to put it down, because of my spring graduate classes. I did have to review the beginning parts of the novel so I could pick it up again.


Eliza Duane Mooney, Mary's daughter from Star of the Sea, decides to walk from Baton Rouge, LA to a northern territory state, to look for her brother. The boy, Jeremiah, was a drummer boy for the Confederates and never came back. She heard (and I don’t know how!) that he was still alive and living up North. But, her trip was anything but pleasant; be prepared for graphic descriptions of her troubles.


Up in the cold northern territory (it's not a state yet, but it's close to Canada), the acting governor is trying to forget the horrors of war. James C. O’Connor was sentenced in Ireland to live in the penal colony of Australia, managed to escape and moved to the United States, where he fought on the Union side of the Civil War He became important on the lecture circuit, telling his story.


Two women play an important part in the telling of the novel. A former slave, Elizabeth Longstreet, lived in his home; she later moved to Liberia. O’Connor married the very rich socialite, Lucia-Cruz Rodriguez y Ortega McLelland.


You need to read this novel continuously. There are many characters, telling the story from their viewpoints, so that it’s easy to lose your place.


I learned about many aspects of the Civil War that I didn’t learn about in school.


I found this novel more difficult to read than Star of the Sea. Even though both deal with events that disrupted the lives of many people (The Irish Potato Famine vs the Civil War), O’Connor brought these events down to a personal level, so we could experience what the characters felt. However, the effects of the Civil War marked everyone more deeply than I thought possible.


This counts as a book for the War Through the Generations Reading Challenge - Civil War.  I've set my goal low this year due to graduate school.

Books - Book Review - Maintenance of Headway - Magnus Mills

In a large European city (most probably London), there are bus drivers who go round and round on their routes. The purpose of their work is not to take people from point A to point B, but to maintain the balance of the bus system.


If you finish the run too early, you will be chided. If you finish too late, you will also be chided. When obstacles are in the way (such as street repairs), the managers throw hissy fits and the drivers become stressed out.


The conversations between the bus drivers goes something like this. Jeff comments: . “ “Is there a difference between early running and running early?” he enquired. “Not really, “ I said. “Early running is the generic form. Running early is the deed itself.””


As in all of Mills’ novels so far, there are wry comments and commentaries on British life. For example, during a break, the guys were talking about the university graduates  (who were hired by the company) and their failure to come up with an appropriate slogan. The narrator commented that it was a waste of taxes. However, Edward remarked “”The purpose of taxation is to spend other people’s money, “ he explained. “Therefore, by definition, it cannot be wasted. “”

In another phase of Mills’ life, he worked as a bus driver in London. So, the novel probably has some realistic scenes in it.

Books – Book Review – The Return of the Black Douglas – Elaine Coffman

This book was sent to me courtesy of Sourcebooks.


A new genre is emerging in the historical romance novels: people traveling back to the Highlands of Scotland.


Elizabeth Douglas is there , doing genealogical research, instead of being on her honeymoon. Her fiancé decided he wasn’t ready to marry her.

Despite having degrees in anthropology, Elizabeth was a romantic at heart. Her twin Isobella, on the other hand, was logical and clinical; she was about to complete her medical residency at Johns Hopkins.

They are transported to the past in the same location to the early 1500s, but they don’t realize it at first. When Alysandir Mackinnon, the head of his clan, sees Elizabeth walking around in shorts and a blouse, he just couldn’t believe his eyes.

Elizabeth is really enjoying her time in the past. As an anthropologist, there is a treasure trove for her to find

The funniest part happens when Elizabeth is trying to prove that she is from the 21st century. She shows Alysandir a movie trailer of Braveheart from her Iphone. He points out what is historically incorrect. Elizabeth also tries to speak an English that has less of the Romance language influences, so that no one is asking her what she is saying.

Elizabeth does long to return to her time. She wants a shower, she wants to brush her teeth, and she wants to be able to read books, activities that are not so common in the 16th century.

The novel has good historical information, that was fun to learn. But as much as enjoyed reading this novel, I still don’t want to live in those times.

Stuff - not reading fiction

I feel like I've fallen off the Earth.

I am taking two classes in grad school. I have been reading a lot of non-fiction but no fiction. I did have a chance to read one book during Spring Break, but it was one that I read yearly, so I went through it quickly.

I take my final exams in a couple of weeks, so after that I can hit my TBR pile.

Books - Book Review - If the South Had Won the Civil War - MacKinlay Kantor

This was my first book for the Civil War Challenge. It was very short, because it was an article for Life magazine. 

I was able to borrow an older version from the library. I don't know whether the reissued version has the illustrations that the older one has.

I am not going to present all the of events that Kantor visualized but here are some that I thought were important:

1. Grant died, and Atlanta didn’t burn.
2. The Confederates won the Battle of Gettysburg.
3. Lincoln evacuated the White House in a wagon and spent time in a prison. He moved back to Illinois
4. The new capital of the United States was in Ohio; Columbus was renamed Columbia
5. Confederate States of America had 13 states.
6. Washington D.C. became Washington, District of Dixie.
7. Texas was a country for a long time.
8. The slaves in the south were freed in the 1880s, but it was a gradual process that there were no lynchings and discrimination.
9. Cuba became a state in the Confederacy and REL Stuart, Jeb Stuart’s son, was the hero of the Spanish American War, not Teddy Roosevelt.
10. Alaska remained a part of Russia .
11. Woodrow Wilson (CSA President) wanted the USA and Texas to be united, after they all fought in WWI. Teddy Roosevelt (US President) and Roy Smith ( Texas ) agreed but it didn’t become reality until the 1960. That’s when the Russians started its campaigns to take over the world. 
12. Washington became the capital of the new USA .

I enjoyed reading this book. One event, Grant's early death, could have really changed the course of history.

You do need some basic knowledge of American history to understand the implications of this alternate history, but you will enjoy reading what could have happened.

Books - Book Review - After Leaving Mr. Mackensie - Jean Rhys

This book counts for the 2011 International Book Challenge.

A young woman constantly asks old lovers for money. She goes to bars by herself, and the men keep asking her to go back to their apartments or hotel rooms with them. She looks for sugar daddies and her life style is scandalous to the family.

I had to look at the copyright year to find out why I wasn't really shocked; it was originally published in 1931, and proper young women didn't do these things!

Julia Martin lives in Paris. She is getting older; she is now in her 30s. She finds it harder to get money, she drinks too much, and she must find cheaper quarters as each year passes due to the drop of income.

After meeting another guy and deciding to go back home to London to see her family, she finds that her francs don't go far after the exchange rate. She tries to be a better daughter and sister but discovers that she just can't do it. Her sister has an idea of Julia does for a living and is jealous that Julia doesn't  seem to care too much about responsibility.

This novel is a bit dark and depressing.

But, it still applies today. Many women still want have the easy life, and they don't realize that youth won't last. There will always be someone younger!

(I gave the lady on the cover a bikini :})

Books - Book Review - Napoleon’s Buttons - How 17 Molecules Changed History - Penny LeCouteur and Jay Burreson

One of my classmates from graduate school recommended this book on the class forum.

Two chemists wrote another view of history: certain objects have shaped world events, and this is the first record of how it happened.

For example, they used Napoleon’s loss in Russia. Besides the rough winter, the Russians burning all the crops,  and a lack of supplies reaching the French troops, the authors believed that tin and quinine also caused the downfall of Napoleon on the Russian front.

First of all, tin, which was used in the uniforms as buttons. Tin crumbles when the temperatures drop. The soldiers couldn’t button their coats, and the cold penetrated them. 

Quinine, which fights malaria, was not available to the troops either. That portion of Russia has swamps, as do other cold places. Swamps don’t exist just in the Deep South and other tropical areas. So, possibly, malaria helped to wipe out the troops.

This book also examines the chemistry of the elements or compounds. If you don’t like reading about organic chemistry, you can skip this portion of the chapters.

However, you might miss some interesting facts. Caffeine (which I am addicted to in the form of coffee) and tea and cocoa (in chocolate) differ only by one CH3 group!

Check here for the table of contents. Other events that are covered include, the Salem Witch Hunts, the start of industrial dyeing, WWII events,development of anesthesia, contraception, and other topics. I look at some of the dates and can’t believe that if I had lived just less than 100 years ago, a lot of diseases could have done me in!

Books - Book Review - The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

This books counts for the International Book Challenge.

Munna, later known as Balram Halwai, was born somewhere in the interior portion of India. He did learn how to read, but he didn’t have much of a chance in life. He wasn’t even given a proper name; Munna means Boy.

His father is a rickshaw driver, his mother is dead, and the grandmother is a true matriarch. He and his brother survive the best they can by working in tea shops and other minor jobs. He has to practically bribe someone to teach him how to drive; the tutor is so horrible to Balram, telling him he will never drive, because he is of the sweetmaker caste and doesn’t have the brains to learn such a difficult task. He does master the car.

The ruling family comes back to the home village of Balram, and he is employed by them to be the driver.

The novel is set up in an unusual manner; Balram is writing a LOOOONG letter to Wen Jiaboa, a Chinese Premier, who is coming to visit India. Balram’s is a memoir, an essay of the defects of Indian society that prevents its advance, and a reflection of what attributes India needs to adopt to have the economic prosperity of China.

Some of the facts of India not progressing are known to me: corrupt government, disdain for anyone living in the provinces, crazy traffic, high pollution levels, beggars, and discrimination according to caste, even though it’s been outlawed. However, Balram shows us the people who work just a tad better off than the squatters. He has to sleep in a dormitory with the other servants, he has a filthy bed with a net to keep out the roaches and other vermin, he shares a communal bathroom to keep clean, he works 7 days a week, and other indignities. He notices workers who are constructing skyscrapers live in tents next to the building, and there are no sanitary facilities for them.

The one thing that I didn’t like and other reviewers have commented on is that Balram reveals a murder that he commits too early on, in one of the letters to Premier Jiaboa.

Despite this being a bit depressing, I found it hard to put down this novel. I wanted to know what Balram would do next in the big city.

I also liked learning about some little things:

• Empty Johnny Walker bottles can be sold; they make great containers
• Regular working people don’t have time to do yoga or to meditate
• Used, dusty books from the UK and the USA are sold for a fortune in markets
• Chauffeurs and maids can’t go into shopping malls; a guard keeps them out.

Caveat: you need a strong stomach to read this novel. Don’t read anything after a big meal.

2011 Reading Challenges

My reading really dropped during my first semester in grad school,so I am hoping to read some of the books that I didn't read in 2010.

Check out A Novel Challenge for more reading challenges.

Dewey Decimal Challenge

Master Level - 3 Books

1. Enigma - The Battle for the Code - Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
2. A book about the Arctic (saving this for the summer)
3. New Orleans Architecture - Vol. III - The Cemeteries - Leonard Huber, Peggy McDowell, and Mary Christovich (just looked at the pictures :} )

War Through the Generations Reading Challenges - U.S. Civil War

Dip Level - 3 to 5 Books

1. March - Geraldine Brooks
2. Redemption Falls - Joseph O'Connor
3. If the South Had Won the Civil War - MacKinlay Kantor

2011 Read 'n Review Challenge

I will read most of the books on my TBR stacks that I either started and never finished, or the ones that I never even cracked open.

1. Microscripts - Robert Walser (I won this novel in July 2010, looked at it, but haven't started it yet ;{)
2. Travels with Charley - John Steinbeck
3. The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck
4. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
5. New Voices - A Collection of Soviet Short Stories - Raduga Publications - Moscow
6. Shorter Fiction - Oscar Wilde
7. Lady Susan - Jane Austen
8. Martin Sloan - Michael Redhill
9. Moby Dick - Herman Melville (Daily Lit - still need to read a few more emails)
10. To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
11. We - Evgeny Zamyatin
12. William - An Englishman - Cicely Hamilton
13. The Coming Race - Edward Bulwer-Lytton
14. People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks
15. The Law of Eternity - Nodar Dumbadze

Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge 2011

Sheep Man - 3 Books

1. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - A Memoir
2. and .3 - still deciding

International Book Challenge

Marco Polo - 10 books or more

This is an easy one for me: I am a member of the International Fiction Book Group of New Orleans.

1. After Leaving Mr. McKenzie - Jean Rhys (London and Paris) COMPLETED
2. The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga (India) COMPLETED
3. Through Black Spruce – Joseph Boyden (Canada)
4. The Shipping News - Annie Proulx
5. Suite Française - Irène Némirovsky (France)
6. Purge - Sofi Oksanen (Estonia and Germany)
7. After the Fire, a Still Small Voice - Evie Wyld (Australia, Viet Nam, Belgium)
8. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute  
9. By Night in Chile Roberto Bolaño
10. The Restraint of Beasts - Magnus Mills (Northern England)

Books - Book Review - The Winter Sea - Susanna Kearsley

Review Copy - Courtesy of Sourcebooks.com

Carrie McClelland, a Canadian historical fiction writer, is working on her newest book about the attempt of James Stewart trying to regain his throne in Scotland in the early 1700s. Carrie went to France, where the King and his entourage were in exile, to learn more about this king and to be inspired. However, she was getting writer's block.

She took a quick trip to northeastern Scotland, to visit her agent and to meet her agent's baby.

While there, she runs into Slains, a castle where some of the planning to return King James to Scotland took place.

Carrie takes her agent's advice and starts to write the novel through a woman's viewpoint and starts dreaming of things that really happened. She writes as though possessed.

This novel switches from the present day to the 1700s. I liked reading about the writing process, how even being in an very inspiring place can lead to no writing.

Carrie follows her instinct and the story starts to write itself.

I learned a lot about this period of history and I enjoyed Kearsley's writing style and how she set up the novel.

One place sounded familiar: Kirkcudbright. I started looking at the atlas and found out that I probably saw the name on the bus ride that I took from the Dumfries to Newton-Stewart, on my way to Wigtown, Scotland. It was cool to read about a place that I actually saw!

I read this novel as quickly as I could. I really wanted to find out about King James and the roles that Carrie's characters played in this historical event.

Books - International Fiction Book Club of New Orleans

We meet at the Blue Cypress Books at 6:00 p.m. to discuss the novel.
Map to: 8126 Oak Street - New Orleans, LA 70118

NEW MEMBERS and Out-of- Town VISITORS ALWAYS WELCOME.

Contact Isabel at 504 975 5064 or workingwords100@yahoo.com for details.

No attendance records are ever kept, so if LIFE gets in the way, it's ok. If a book doesn't interest you, you aren't obligated to attend the meeting.

We read books that are meet these conditions:

Foreign author, foreign setting

Foreign author making observations about US setting

US author going to a foreign place

A couple of non-fiction works are OK also.

2011

January 19 - After Leaving Mr. McKenzie - Jean Rhys

February 16 - The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga

March 16 - The Heat of the Day – Elizabeth Bowen

April 20 - Through Black Spruce – Joseph Boyden

May 18 The Shipping News - Annie Proulx

June 15 Suite Française - Irène Némirovsky

July 20 Purge - Sofi Oksanen

August 17 After the Fire, a Still Small Voice - Evie Wyld

September 21 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

October 19 By Night in Chile Roberto Bolaño

November 16 The Restraint of Beasts - Magnus Mills

2012

January 18 My Son’s Story - Nadine Gordimer

February 8 (moved due to Mardi Gras) Foe - J.M Coetzee

March 21 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

April 18 Island Beneath the Sea - Isabel Allende

May 16 Dancing to Almendra by Mayra Montero

June 20 Rose - Martin Cruz Smith

July 18 Saturday - Ian McEwan

August 15 Little America – Henry Bromell

September 19 A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

October 17 Heat and Dust - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

November 21 No Place for Heroes - Laura Restrepo

2013

Jan 15 On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town - Susan Loomis

Stuff - I want to be Daryl Dixon

I finally finished my first semester in library school. I learned a lot and I worked a lot. Yeah.

Next semester, 2 classes.

I haven't had too much time to blog, but I've read a bit.

I got hooked on the AMC show, The Walking Dead. I found this survival quiz. I answered the questions differently each time, but I still can't get to be Daryl Dixon, the guy with the bow and arrow.If you figure out the right combination, let me know.

Only six episodes were filmed, so I was curious to see what might happen next. The tv show is based on The Walking Dead graphic novels by Robert Kirkman. I read no 2 and 3 and decided that I that won't read anymore. I don't want to confuse myself too much between the show and the novels.

Books - Book Review - Purge - Sofi Oksanen

After reading reviews by Simon and Reading Matters, I was hoping that this book was available on this side of the world, and I am lucky that it is.

I liked it so much that I will recommend it for my book group.

It's not an easy read. Two women are caught up in history, and the men don't treat them well. Their stories are interwoven throughout the novel, but there are dates at the beginning of each chapter, so that you won't get confused as to whose story you're reading.

Aliide Truu grew up in the Estonain part of the USSR during WWII, but the story really begins when she is a young women, during Stalin's reign of terror. She has some information that the local KGB wants and will do anything to get it from her. Warning: Don't read this part on a dark, stormy night nor after you've eaten something.

Zara grew up in the other side of the USSR - Vladivostok and lives with her mother and grandmother. She goes to work in her maternal grandfather's homeland, Germany, but it's not a wonderful experience. She manages to escape her pimps and ends up in Aliide's home.

Aliide distrusts Zara, thinking that Zara has been sent by thieves to "case out" her home. But, Aliide is not a rich woman; she knows how to grow some vegetables and cans them for the winter. Zara helps out in this task and gets to know Aliide more.

Once Zara feels that Aliide won't turn her over to immigration, she tells her how they are related: Zara's grandmother is Aliide's sister.

I won't tell you more of the plot, because I will give away too much.

This novel poses important questions:

• If a women has to choose to save her child or her husband, who should be sacrificied?
• Was it selfish of Aliide to do what she needed to survive the Stalinist terror, given the decision that Ingel (Zara's grandmother) made so many years ago?
• What is home in a society that all should be shared?

It was hard to read this book; certain portions are truly horrific. I did more homework, but I still wanted to find out more, so I gave myself permission to read a bit, but I had to sacrifice my sleep. And it was worth it!

Some people didn't like how Zara escaped and called it unrealistic. It isn't; I saw several episodes of Law and Order: SVU where people escaped their pimps. L&O:SVU is based on actual events.

Here are some of the book covers for other translations of Purge. There is a reading guide availble, if some of the storyline is confusing. And here's a brief history of Estonian Germans to explain how Zara's grandfather ended up there.

Stuff - Having a little bit of Fun

I was hoping to catch up on my blogging (I'm not even reading my favorite ones right now, as much as I used to), but I just learned of more homework that will help me in my final project, which is a biggie. So, I don't have the time to catch up.

The fall has finally arrived in New Orleans! I went bike riding twice this past weekend, and I didn't faint from the heat. I loved looking at Lake Pontchartrain and the blue skies.

I attended a lecture by artist William Cordova. His work is really modern, and I don't understand everything, but it was interesting to hear.

Here are some of his works:
http://www.artpace.org/aboutTheExhibition.php?axid=317

http://laxart.org/exhibitions/view/william-cordova-untitledchicanas/#images

http://www.arndtberlin.com/website/artist_963_image

The interesting fact that he revealed is that since graduating he has built up a body of work and has made many contacts in the art world by applying and receiving artist's residencies. He didn't want to be a "starving" artist and didn't want to work at a day job and come to his studio, with little energy to do art. He says that since the recession, more artists are starting to do what he has been doing. Smart idea. He is currently at a residency in A Studio in the Woods.

Later that evening, I was the "bartender" at the opening for Cemeteryscape exhibit opening, at Hotel Le Cirque. I I served wine for this benefit for Save Our Cemeteries. I met a lot of nice people and learned about a new restaurant that I want to go to by talking to one of the chefs there.

Stuff - This is where I have been

No, I haven't been on vacation. I've been in school!

I am in the Master's Program for Library Science at Louisiana State University. I've spent the last week of August just getting familiar with using the program that keeps me in contact with the professor and my classmates.

The professor has included a lot of supplementary reading to help with the homework and future work. It's a good thing that I enjoy reading, because it's been a lot.

I am a bit behind, because I have to learn to use a program and my final project is based on it! This is the week for doing that reading.

I don't have to travel to Baton Rouge to take the class. The professor is in a special classroom that has a satellite feed. I attend my class in New Orleans and can see/hear her. If I want to ask a question, I press this button, and the camera on my site sends my video feed to Baton Rouge.

I attend this type of class on Saturdays. The rest of the time, I do my homework and readings from the on-line board.

It's been an adjustment for me. I don't watch as much TV anymore; I am having serious Law and Order withdrawals. Work has been very hectic lately, so I come home tired but know that stuff is waiting for me. (No, I don't have time at work to do my homework!) I have been reading but having no energy to blog. I write a lot for my homework, so I need to find a balance for doing things that I like to do.

Here's a sample of the homework that I need to do. Wish me luck and send me some energy.

Assignment: Multidisciplinary Sources

Due date: Saturday, 11 September 2010, 09:15 PM

Submitted, Graded

Assignment: Biology Question Set

Due date: Saturday, 11 September 2010, 08:00 AM

Submitted, Graded

Assignment: Botany Question Set

Due date: Saturday, 18 September 2010, 08:00 AM

Submitted, Not graded yet

Assignment: Zoology Question Set

Due date: Saturday, 25 September 2010, 08:00 AM

Not submitted yet (3 days 12 hours early)

Assignment: Astronomy and Chemistry Question Set

Due date: Saturday, 2 October 2010, 08:10 AM

Not submitted yet (10 days 12 hours early)

Assignment: Environmental Sciences Question Set

Due date: Saturday, 9 October 2010, 08:00 AM

Not submitted yet (17 days 12 hours early)

Assignment: Geosciences Question Set

Due date: Saturday, 16 October 2010, 08:00 AM

Not submitted yet (24 days 12 hours early)

Assignment: Physics and Mathematics Question set

Due date: Saturday, 23 October 2010, 08:00 AM

Not submitted yet (31 days 12 hours early)

Books - Book Review - For the King's Favor - Elizabeth Chadwick

I received this novel as an e-ARC from Sourcebooks. It will be released in two days, on 9/1/10

This is the first novel that really spells out what some mistresses of kings were: rape victims.

King Henry II of England (in the late 1100s) was the guardian of the orphaned Ida de Tosne. When he selected her, it was one of the worst nights in her short life. She later becomes pregnant and has a child. Since she was brought up as a Catholic, she was not comfortable that she was living in sin and had a child out of wedlock, even though none of these events were really her fault.

Ida realizes that Henry will not be interested in her for much longer, so she starts to look for a decent man to marry; otherwise, Henry might marry her off to someone who would benefit him but not be good husband for Ida. She manages to attract the attention of Roger Bigod, a nobleman who has to work hard to regain the lands and castle that the previous Bigod had lost.

What I liked about this novel was the aspects of life outside the court. Roger had to work very hard. Once he was a hostage in Germany with his liege; he left his family for many months and had no contact with them. He was a traveling judge; he had to hear cases and decide the outcomes. He had to renovate his castle. He and Ida had to turn over a lot of jewelry and other treasures to the royal treasury from time to time. He had to spend more time than he wanted at court, to give advice to the king and administer parts of the kingdom. He also had to gather soldiers and go off to fight in several battles.

Ida's life wasn't easy either. When Roger was not home, she had to oversee the renovations, raise her children, run the household, oversee other management issues, and keep her spirits up, despite not being to communicate with Roger as much as she wanted to.

Some things that I take for granted are wonderful for the people of the times. Farmlingham, the home for the Bigod family would have "plenty of windows and these would be filled with glass." (I guess some castles had open window, in spite of the cold winters.) And the whitewash on the walls was applied with brooms, not paint brushes.

The food was also interesting. One of hostages, who spent time in Germany with Roger, was looking forward to having "a hot eel pie and a horn of honest Norfolk ale brewed by the Gythe at the Tub at Yarmouth." In May 1199, the Bigods had a small outdoor party held at Farmlingham. The menu included: "..dainty fritters and pies, cold roast fowl, bream from the mere, custard tarts and honey cakes studded with raisins."

Many of the names and words had a strong French influences; I then remembered that England had been under Norman rule since 1066.

The only quibble that I have is that sometimes when the main characters spoke, they sounded like 21st century denizens instead of 12th century.

Elizabeth Chadwick has complied links that tell the history behind her novels. So, by reading her works, you will be learning some English history at the same time but in a fun format.

A note on ebooks: This was my first time finishing an ebook. I like being able to find information more quickly, but I missed holding the book and marking pages with my darts. Even though my laptop is light, I had to lie down on my back to read the novel and couldn't lie on my side, as I sometimes do when I read a book. No, I won't buy a Kindle or Ipad. I think that I will stick with paper copies as long as I can.