Book #16-22...before bed ramble
After getting back from Italy I needed a break. That and the trip was much much harder on me than what I would have imagined. I even got a bad ear infection as a souvenir and spent much of August loosing my balance here and there thanks to it. Fun times. I have never valued the health of my ears as I have since the ear infection. They are painful and the worst part is not knowing where your foot is landing when you loose your balance. Ears...they are good guys to take care of!
I did lots of reading while in Italy. I started with a book no one should read when traveling internationally with in-laws (it will depress you), then ended with a series of books I'm ashamed to be a fan of but that certainly cheered me up. Which makes me wonder how much validity this class I took had where it asked how much we identify with female protagonists of novels?
Book 16: "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri.
This is a book I would recommend anyone to read, particularly those in international relationships, those who have just moved to the US and those who want to understand what it is like. Or to someone who is too happy and needs to take their happiness down a notch. If that is you, this book will put you into a fit of melancholy. Jhumpa does a solid job at telling the life of an Indian family who moves to Boston, MA so the husband can pursue a career at MIT. The couple struggle to find their Indian identity among the Bostonian crowd and finally find other Indian immigrants who they cling to like family. The husband becomes a professor and is satisfied with that but their cultural life and identity is shaken forever. For example, they have two children who they would want to raise Indian but even with all of their efforts their son and daughter fail them. Their son marries an Indian girl who promptly has an affair and divorces him. The daughter marries a nice Jewish boy. The dad dies of a heart attack in a hotel room while working on a project and the mom is left destitute and looking for help.....nice novel...right? Well, it is good in the "tear your heart out" kind of way. It depressed me but enriched me culturally. I would read another Jhumpa book though...maybe in February when Jersey is full of ice and the Costco nearby, that resembles an immigration center, is packed with terrified immigrants from all the corners of the warmer areas of the world are crashing their cars over the slippery ice to get to the big store and stock up on toilet paper as the next storm is approaching...then during that miserable weather, I will curl up with the cats and delve into some dark book exploring the horrors of international marriages and mistakes.
Book 17. MUCH BETTER
"Wedding Night" by Sophie Kinsella
This book is perhaps the vitamin C kick I needed after reading "the Namesake." It is about an impulsive woman, Lottie, who thought she was getting engaged with her lovely boyfriend Richard. She has the whole wedding planned out in her mind and is thrilled at getting married. When Richard doesn't propose but rather laughs at her for her idea she flies out of the room and deserts him. She then bumps into an old boyfriend, one she had steamy nights with as a teenager, and is convinced that this is a sign to marry him!***Dr. Hahn would scowl if he knew the trash I was enjoying*** So Lottie and Ben, old boyfriend, run off and get married a few days after re-seeing each other. Lotties older divorced sister, Fliss, is appalled and tries to keep them from consummating the marriage so Lottie can get an annulment once she realizes the big mistake she made. The ways Fliss tries to prohibit them from consummating the marriage is the best part of the book. In the end Lottie realizes her impulsive marriage was a mistake and annuls it. Great book.
Books 18-22...."Shopaholic Series" by Sophie Kinsella
18 "Confessions of a Shopaholic"
19 "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan"
20 I read half of "La Casa in Collina" per Cesare Pavese (in Italian) and hey!
I read half a real Italian book in Italian!...then couldn't deal with the anticipation of reading:
20 "Shopaholic Ties the Knot"
21 "Shopaholic & Baby"
22 "Mini Shopaholic"
Let me preface by saying how ashamed I am at how much I thoroughly enjoyed the Shopaholic series. As a Master of Library Science with a BA in English Literature I know I should be reading more high brow literature, expanding my knowledge of Italian writers, and knowing the works of the most current political journalists. But, there is something to be said for fun and fluff and this type of, dare I say it, literature, does have its place in the world. First of all, the shopaholic series was written by a Sagittarius which instantly makes it better literature. Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott were both Sagittarius and they have insights into peoples human reactions that other signs don't have. They know how to describe emotions because they are very sensitive creatures and creative creatures. That said I liked the way Kinsella accurately describes the shopping impulse of Becky in the first book and develops that character, and her horrific spending habits, in the other books. The one thing I didn't like was Becky's husband Luke and how bland he was with his wife's horrible addictive spending. It just didn't seem realistic for a man to react so softly to his wife purchasing 6 dining room tables and a life size giraffe decoration. I know that my little home goes through frequent scrutiny if an extra serving spoon is in the kitchen. But then again, houses near NYC are so teeny tiny that you can expect to notice the smallest of addition to the place because there simply is no room. Dreams of buying a cedar hope chest are in my mind but that will have to wait for a day when we live far from NYC. While we are in the mini-house we will have mini everything. Except cats, those are ok to be big.
Off topic of books and on the topic of mini. Is it just me or is anyone else done with skinny jeans? Skinny jeans are mini jeans and the denim seems to get smaller as the years of this trend progress.
I went to look for a pair of jeans the other day and all I could find that were fashionable were the skinnies. I tried on at least 10 pairs before deciding that knees need more room to bend when sitting and that the denim in skinny jeans for women is decidedly inferior to the denim in men's jeans. I miss the days of flare legged jeans.
Those looked so much better for going out than skinny jeans stuck in those sad little short booties that can't decide if they want to be a boot or a shoe. I would love for real women's couture to take a feminine step that fits our thighs and shoes that are pretty and practical. As of now, men's clothes are much more better made and practical than women's. And if you doll up a man's sweater or jacket the right way it will look better than women's. For example, then I will stop rambling and go to bed, I bought an amazing Barbour jacket in the men's section for seriously a tiny fraction of the cost than the women's section. It was also 80% off in June so it was a steal.
It was a size small, so women's M, and is just adorable and perfect for fall weather and running errands. I never knew about Barbour and waxed cotton coats so this was a surprise for me! After buying the fantastic coat I meandered to the ladies section and you know what? They don't even put hoods on the ladies jackets nor do they waterproof them with wax! Are we ladies just supposed to get drenched in the rain? Now what would Coco Chanel do?! She would go buy a man's jacket...that is how she started after all. Plus men's sales are a better deal most of the time.
I did lots of reading while in Italy. I started with a book no one should read when traveling internationally with in-laws (it will depress you), then ended with a series of books I'm ashamed to be a fan of but that certainly cheered me up. Which makes me wonder how much validity this class I took had where it asked how much we identify with female protagonists of novels?
Book 16: "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri.
This is a book I would recommend anyone to read, particularly those in international relationships, those who have just moved to the US and those who want to understand what it is like. Or to someone who is too happy and needs to take their happiness down a notch. If that is you, this book will put you into a fit of melancholy. Jhumpa does a solid job at telling the life of an Indian family who moves to Boston, MA so the husband can pursue a career at MIT. The couple struggle to find their Indian identity among the Bostonian crowd and finally find other Indian immigrants who they cling to like family. The husband becomes a professor and is satisfied with that but their cultural life and identity is shaken forever. For example, they have two children who they would want to raise Indian but even with all of their efforts their son and daughter fail them. Their son marries an Indian girl who promptly has an affair and divorces him. The daughter marries a nice Jewish boy. The dad dies of a heart attack in a hotel room while working on a project and the mom is left destitute and looking for help.....nice novel...right? Well, it is good in the "tear your heart out" kind of way. It depressed me but enriched me culturally. I would read another Jhumpa book though...maybe in February when Jersey is full of ice and the Costco nearby, that resembles an immigration center, is packed with terrified immigrants from all the corners of the warmer areas of the world are crashing their cars over the slippery ice to get to the big store and stock up on toilet paper as the next storm is approaching...then during that miserable weather, I will curl up with the cats and delve into some dark book exploring the horrors of international marriages and mistakes.
Book 17. MUCH BETTER
"Wedding Night" by Sophie Kinsella
This book is perhaps the vitamin C kick I needed after reading "the Namesake." It is about an impulsive woman, Lottie, who thought she was getting engaged with her lovely boyfriend Richard. She has the whole wedding planned out in her mind and is thrilled at getting married. When Richard doesn't propose but rather laughs at her for her idea she flies out of the room and deserts him. She then bumps into an old boyfriend, one she had steamy nights with as a teenager, and is convinced that this is a sign to marry him!***Dr. Hahn would scowl if he knew the trash I was enjoying*** So Lottie and Ben, old boyfriend, run off and get married a few days after re-seeing each other. Lotties older divorced sister, Fliss, is appalled and tries to keep them from consummating the marriage so Lottie can get an annulment once she realizes the big mistake she made. The ways Fliss tries to prohibit them from consummating the marriage is the best part of the book. In the end Lottie realizes her impulsive marriage was a mistake and annuls it. Great book.
Books 18-22...."Shopaholic Series" by Sophie Kinsella
18 "Confessions of a Shopaholic"
19 "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan"
20 I read half of "La Casa in Collina" per Cesare Pavese (in Italian) and hey!
I read half a real Italian book in Italian!...then couldn't deal with the anticipation of reading:
20 "Shopaholic Ties the Knot"
21 "Shopaholic & Baby"
22 "Mini Shopaholic"
Let me preface by saying how ashamed I am at how much I thoroughly enjoyed the Shopaholic series. As a Master of Library Science with a BA in English Literature I know I should be reading more high brow literature, expanding my knowledge of Italian writers, and knowing the works of the most current political journalists. But, there is something to be said for fun and fluff and this type of, dare I say it, literature, does have its place in the world. First of all, the shopaholic series was written by a Sagittarius which instantly makes it better literature. Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott were both Sagittarius and they have insights into peoples human reactions that other signs don't have. They know how to describe emotions because they are very sensitive creatures and creative creatures. That said I liked the way Kinsella accurately describes the shopping impulse of Becky in the first book and develops that character, and her horrific spending habits, in the other books. The one thing I didn't like was Becky's husband Luke and how bland he was with his wife's horrible addictive spending. It just didn't seem realistic for a man to react so softly to his wife purchasing 6 dining room tables and a life size giraffe decoration. I know that my little home goes through frequent scrutiny if an extra serving spoon is in the kitchen. But then again, houses near NYC are so teeny tiny that you can expect to notice the smallest of addition to the place because there simply is no room. Dreams of buying a cedar hope chest are in my mind but that will have to wait for a day when we live far from NYC. While we are in the mini-house we will have mini everything. Except cats, those are ok to be big.
Off topic of books and on the topic of mini. Is it just me or is anyone else done with skinny jeans? Skinny jeans are mini jeans and the denim seems to get smaller as the years of this trend progress.
I went to look for a pair of jeans the other day and all I could find that were fashionable were the skinnies. I tried on at least 10 pairs before deciding that knees need more room to bend when sitting and that the denim in skinny jeans for women is decidedly inferior to the denim in men's jeans. I miss the days of flare legged jeans.
Those looked so much better for going out than skinny jeans stuck in those sad little short booties that can't decide if they want to be a boot or a shoe. I would love for real women's couture to take a feminine step that fits our thighs and shoes that are pretty and practical. As of now, men's clothes are much more better made and practical than women's. And if you doll up a man's sweater or jacket the right way it will look better than women's. For example, then I will stop rambling and go to bed, I bought an amazing Barbour jacket in the men's section for seriously a tiny fraction of the cost than the women's section. It was also 80% off in June so it was a steal.
It was a size small, so women's M, and is just adorable and perfect for fall weather and running errands. I never knew about Barbour and waxed cotton coats so this was a surprise for me! After buying the fantastic coat I meandered to the ladies section and you know what? They don't even put hoods on the ladies jackets nor do they waterproof them with wax! Are we ladies just supposed to get drenched in the rain? Now what would Coco Chanel do?! She would go buy a man's jacket...that is how she started after all. Plus men's sales are a better deal most of the time.
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