The Big News!

The big news of the weekend is that I finally finished Bleak House. I turned off the DVD player and made a reading commitment and plunged in to the end. I can read pretty quickly if I get focused.

I think what was kind of hard for me in reading the book was it went on and on and new characters were constantly introduced, the writing style changed from first to third person and it was kind of like a Desperate Housewives style of story line with comedy, drama and mystery change ups. (More proof to me that Charles Dickens would have been writing for TV or films had he been a live today!) I wondered while I read it what it would have been like reading it as a newspaper serial which was how it was originally published. I think Charles Dickens could have easily gone on for another 3,000 pages and probably not taken a breath or let up in any way. Reading it in book form made it a bit tedious although the story kept me going to the end.

I didn't like this book as much as Great Expectations, But I am glad I read it as my goal is to eventually have read all of his books.

The Mushrooms Made Me Mad

It has not been a happy week.

Can I just say that I really mean it when I say, "Thank God it's Friday!" All I have to say about that is that I was so undone and upset with everything going on in my world (read serious man problems) that I was angry with everyone today. I suddenly realized I needed to take a moment to relax when I realized that even the poor, left over mushrooms that I found in my refrigerator at noon today were making me angry.

Being a cook who likes to use everything up and not waste food, I realized that I was angry at them because they needed to be cooked. I realized I needed a bit of a reality check, or more likely a fantasy check into a winter weekend of major media infusions. Mushrooms aren't my favorite food and I only eat them when the recipes I'm making require them. There weren't enough of them to make my usual leftover mushrooms dish, a hot or cold salad of mushrooms cooked in vinegar and spices, drizzled with olive oil and garlic. But I realized, as I counted the number silently in my head, that there were enough of them staring at me so I could not just throw them out either. I handled the anger by cooking them soundly this evening in oil and butter with garlic and sprinkled some salt, pepper and parsley flakes on them. I don't read Mastering the Art of French Cooking for nothing!

Of course now it's the weekend and I still am dealing with the difficulties going on in my life but there is brie cheese to eat and Sex and the City 2 to finish so I'm going to work through things. I'm enjoying the mind numbing movie entertainment so much I am considering on watching the entire six seasons of Sex and the City which I have on DVD in it's entirety except for the last three episodes. I don't have the last three episodes because some bright, Hollywood executive decided to split the last season in half. So each DVD of season six only has three episodes! Hello?! And the bright, European version only has the first half of the last six episodes on it's sixth season episode DVD. So, Carrie starts the affair with Mikhail Baryshnikov and I really don't know what happens after he puts the jam in her tea.

But I digress......

In between the TV and cheese, I will be working on Bleak House and I am happy to announce that I just finished, My Life in France. That's the big news. I am now starting Oprah by Kitty Kelly. More on that re read when I get farther into it.

Have a great weekend!

Bleak House Update #2

It's been a hard week.

Tuesday night I was up until 3am trying to straighten out a work related problem. It was hard to fall asleep because my mind was racing. The alarm went off at 8:00am. No mercy.

So last night I was too brain dead to work on finishing the final 40% of Bleak House.

I slipped my Sex and the City 2 DVD into my player.

Mind numbing entertainment.

I wonder what Charles Dickens would have thought of Candace Bushnell?

Bleak House Update

As I noted in an earlier post, I am currently reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens and am almost 60% through it.

I am enjoying it as I do like Dickens very much, but it is very long and sometimes I find myself pushing my way through a bit.

If the truth be told, I never read a Dickens book until a few years ago. I started with Oliver Twist
and it was so amazing that I quickly moved onto Great Expectations: and then read A Christmas Carol. My goal is to eventually read all his books, so when The Guardian's Reading group announced this month that Bleak House was their book of choice, I decided to join them.

The reason I never read a Dickens book was quite frankly, I used to have very base tastes in books, (ie, mostly romance, chick lit. Not that there's anything wrong with romance and chick lit. I occasionally dip my toes back in those waters, but what can I say? I was young. I can't base a whole life of reading on them.) The other reason I was hesitant to read Dickens was that they were old and the subjects did not seem interesting to me, and to be honest there had been so many movies, cartoons, musicals made about various books that I already knew the plot lines.

When I finally picked up Oliver Twist and started to read it, I was totally sucked in and I realized WHY there were still movies and all kinds of media projects being made on Charles Dicken's stories. They feature characterization, dialogue and story lines about human nature that are still relevant today. I simply could not believe how amazing his writing is and could not believe I had deprived myself of this author for most of my life. Anyone studying scriptwriting or dialogue should read all his books. Period.

So, I am enjoying Bleak House and I am quite curious as to what will happen to Esther and Ada. I am still reeling with the cast of characters and scope of the story. My favorite part so far was Caddy's relationship with her Africa consumed mother. Having experience working with NGO's today, I nearly cried with laughter over some of the points Dickens makes. Some people are still consumed with causes to the point of ignoring everything around them today!

Yes, Dickens makes many subtle and not so subtle points about the human character. It is totally amazing and a tribute to his genius how they are still able to move us so many years later. He was simply brilliant!

Happy 200th birthday Charles!

Books Are Calling My Name

Being a life time book worm and book addict, I have come to conclusion that I have read more books than I can remember and need yet another outlet to calm that nagging compulsion of constant reading, book handling and bookshop shopping. If I'm not reading books, then I read about books, or I'm buying books, or looking at photos of books on tumblr. (I will eventually start a blog linked to this one there too.) I have noticed that there are many co-addicts who will understand me and I hope to share my book angst here with those who understand it.

I am currently stuck in freezing Europe. House worn and feeling overly active due to copious amounts of coffee. I am currently working my way through Bleak House (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens. At over 1000 pages, I have decided that I need company and support to get me through this giant tome of book. I am simultaneously loving it and wondering when it will end and how I will get through it. Because.....well.....there are many other books I need to read. They are sitting on my shelf staring at me and hiding from me in my E reader. But they are there and they are calling my name.

This is not going to be a review blog, but more like a journal for me to document the books I read and post links to articles or blogs about books. I am hoping others will enjoy. Feel free to comment and we can share thoughts about books and recommend good books to read.

The E Readers are here to stay so smell as many books as you can!