Dancing In The Library

Enjoyed this video so much I'm posting it here.

Uptown Funk - Library Books

You can tell a book is real...

Library Books

The Foundling by Georgette Heyer - loved it!

This one is going to go on my top picks or must reads or whatever that list in my head is where I keep the books I really liked.
The Foundling is a great adventure story with a little bit of romance and a cast of very entertaining characters:

The Duke, he's super rich and a nice guy but he's short and he was sickly as a child so everyone bullies him and he runs away from home for a few days on his own just to see if he's really a man or only a Duke.

Tom, the crazy kid who gets into trouble constantly but isn't such a bad guy.

Belinda, the ultimate dumb blonde who will do anything for a purple dress or a ride in a fancy carriage.

Harriet, (I like Harriet) who seems to be turning out very well despite external forces.

Gideon, the soldier that could kill someone with his bare hands but mostly just laughs off the insanity around him.

Liversedge, the bad guy, he'd hate to kill anyone but maybe for the right price he could overcome his sensitivity to violence and in the mean time he likes to manage the kitchen with his excellent skills.

      There's a few more besides these but you'll have to read it to meet them all.  The story is great, lots of twists and turns and plenty of comedy and drama to make it seem very true-to-life.  I laughed right out loud a couple of times.  I'm going to have to read this one again and find a website where they tell you what some of those old expressions mean.  For example, I know "pockets to let" means out of money but there were a bunch of other ones I had to guess at the meanings from the context, especially when the bad guys are all plotting together.

The Reluctant Widow

 Yesterday I finished reading The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer  , it was entertaining, adventure/mystery/romance with some twists and turns and nothing disgusting.  The Reluctant Widow is the story of a gentlewoman who has been forced to either live with her relatives as a dependant, or go to work as a governess.  She is on her way to begin work when a case of mistaken identity lands her in the middle of a inheritance dispute where a woman is needed to marry a man who is close to death so that his property will pass to her rather than a cousin.  The man dies the same day as the wedding and then important documents turn up missing and there's a lot of drama surrounding the funeral and the missing papers.  Everything works out in the end.  I found the story both implausible and predictable but still good enough to keep me reading.

Note to Anita Stansfield

The book club ladies convinced me to read your books.
I actually like them.
I have to say one thing; rich people in England got married by license, not by banns.  The rest of the anachronisms I'm ignoring, but this one you've tried to pass off one to many times.
I told myself if one more wealthy landowner informs his bride-to-be that they just need to post the banns I was going to have to take my disgruntlement public.
So there you go.
Check the Parish Registers if you need to.  1700's, 1800's, it says right in there, whether by license or by banns.  Rich = license, other status = banns.
Don't worry, I've banned myself from posting this three weeks in a row.  One crack at your artistic license is going to suit me fine.

Nativity Movie

I love this version done by Catherine Hardwicke, The Nativity Story is so well done.  It's in 10 parts where I found it on YouTube so you will have to watch it in pieces but I have seen a full version of it.  It makes me cry every time I watch it.

Love You More by Lisa Gardner

   I finished reading an advance copy (thanks to my sister who manages a bookstore) of Lisa Gardner's Love You More which goes on sale next week.
   Overall, I liked it.  I had to read it all the way to the end to solve the crime and with the well developed plot the ending made sense.
   There were brief sex scenes, a few words of profanity, and some violence.  Issues of rape, incest, spousal abuse, and violent crime were mentioned more than once.
   The questions posed by the author; Who do you love?  Who would you kill for?  Who would you die for? Who would you live for even if living was almost unbearable?  Made the book thought provoking as well as an interesting murder mystery.
   The story was suspenseful without being too horrific, it was a bit of a nail biter but I could read it alone in a room at night.  If this is a good example of her writing I think I'll enjoy picking up a few of Lisa Gardner's other books.  I just saw this book advertised in the Costco magazine so I'm sure it will get some attention.

Thursday Thoughts - Half Baked by Stevenson

    I know, I know, I talked about this on Monday, but Half Baked by Alexa Stevenson is still very much in my thoughts.  I finished the book.  It's a "tragedy with a happy ending" and aside from some profanity that may not have been entirely necessary to make her points, I found it strongly meaningful.  I laughed and cried, sometimes over the same few words.  I'm still not sure if I liked the book, I know I don't want to read it twice, as it brought all kinds of anxieties bobbing to the surface of my mind like little bits of flotsam from a ship I sank long ago.  I remember when I was younger I would work out the long chains of horrible events likely to occur in the near future similar to, but much more dire than, the If You Give A Mouse A Cookie type books.  It's good to know I'm not the only one who somehow left that behind by having children.  Now I don't have to imagine it, stuff just happens.  I can be grateful that all five of mine have been of the "shaved sharpei" variety; I'll never be able to squelch that little giggling voice chanting 'shaved sharpei' when I see a healthy baby (I'm already wrestling with it over my cuddly five month-old) as it's a little too apt.

Mommy Monday - Half Baked

I'm reading a book called Half Baked, it's about a woman who had twins at 25 weeks.  One died, the other survived.  I can't put it down but I am torturing myself by reading it.  Here I am with my five healthy kids and my worst day involves simple sleep deprivation and a bit of screaming and crying and here is this woman dealing with things I don't have the mental parameters to begin to empathize with.

Thursday Thoughts - Half Life by Farooki

   I just finished a book called Half Life by Roopa Farooki.  The first chapter kind of got to me because of the way the woman described herself, bits of it resonated with me and when I see the negative parts of myself through this kind of resonance it's good for me but it kind of shakes me up as well.  I'm not sure if that makes sense...  By the end of the book the themes are forgiveness and letting go, kind of a "truth will set you free" message.  Basically the woman leaves her husband suddenly one morning because she is desperate to find some peace and a resolution to a tragic part of her past.  She travels half way around the world and in trying to make peace with her past she sets life straight for another person also involved in the tragedy.  (Spoiler follows!) Then, at the end she goes back to her husband with so many things resolved that she can finally admit to him things that she has been keeping back for their whole marriage.  It's a sad book but it's got good insight and I couldn't put it down.  It does have a few swear words and some adult content; for those who are sensitive to them probably not one for your reading list.