Mem-ries

Ah Summer Break. The reason, I hear, that many go into the teaching profession. 

Me? Never had a summer break as a teacher until I started teaching in Portland. Now that I'm back in CA I have thee weeks of Summer Break. So let's see how much reading I can squeeze in shall we?

So far I have read:

the Merlin Conspiracy, DW Jones

Day Watch (russian sci-fi author, sue me I don't have the book right now)

Borderliners, Peter Hoeg 

the Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett

Goals? Why yes I have goals. sane. reasonable. perfectly obtainable ones too.

I Claudius, Robert Graves

Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens

War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy (the original which eliminates about 300+ pages, thank you very much)

the Count of Monte Cristo, Alexander Dumas

Almost done with the first: Augustus is dead, Livia's dead, Tiberius is dead, Sajaenus is dead and Caligula has ascended the throne, so not much more left to go.

Lessee anything else? Hmm I have an ipod. Lovely thing that. Makes one realise one has a heck of a lot more music than one thought and perhaps one should have gotten the largest capacity after all? Oh well.***CV

A partial keyboard either breeds creativity

or homicidal thoughts
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Recently Read:

The Foretelling, Alice Hoffman, one hundred eighty one pages
Rain, the daughter of an amazon leader, journeys toward adulthood discovering that change must come and that appearances are not the best evidence for truth. Horses, bees, bears and what life may have been really like as a member of a nomadic amazon tribe make for a well told tale.
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a Wild Murakami Chase, the Japan Foundation, one hundred fifty one pages
a collection of essays from the Murakami gathering held in Japan includes various interpretations of what makes Haruki Murakami such a popular literary figure around the world. The essay on mirror neurons was wonderfully Carrollinian
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The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, Trenton Lee Stewart, 440pp
Reynie, Kate Constance and Sticky reunite for what they believe will be a celebratory occaision. Instead they discover that their beloved Mr Benedict has been kidnapped and they set off on an adventure that will land them once again in teh evil clutches of Ledroptha Curtain and his smiling sweet scented minions: the Ten Men. Staple removers of death, killer wristwatches, deadly sharpened pencils and a clipbopard that would terrify madame guillotine are only a small portion of what these execs carry in their briefcases. One will never view an executive in the same way again.

currently reading:

Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell

Louise de la Valliere, Alexandre Dumas

.......CV

may i......

While the getting is good I'm going to list books read and recently obtained:

Twenty Years After, Alexandre Dumas 749pp
The further adventures of the musketeers only this time D'artagnan and company face the son of milady as well as the machinations of cardinal Mazarin. More swashbuckling and derring do including a kidnapping of an english leader and an attempted rescue of Charles the II from the scaffold.

The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Alexandre Dumas 649pp
Once more our heroes are called upon, only this time they are at very different places of the game board: socially, politically and emotionally. This is the longest of the trilogy and so is divided into three volumes of which the Vicomte is the first. Alas I finished it before finding a copy of the second and so had to leave D'artagnan wondering why he was betryed by Aramis and Porthos while Athos' son attempts to prevent the duke of Buckingham from killing either himself or his beloved's intended husband: Louis the XIV

The Women's War, Alexandre Dumas 545pp
In which cardinal Mazarin makes a guest appearance but only as a plot device. The story itself centers around the crowned princesses of france during the time when the events of Twenty Years After were taking place. A woman disguised as a man resuces another woman's lover from the cluthes of a suspicious husband only to have him betrayed by the husband's wife. Secret passage ways into locked fortresses and passes under rivers as well as revolting aristocracy concludes in a climax remarkably dickensian.

A Harlot High and Low, Honore Balzac 554pp
Continuation of the adventures of Lucien Chardon de Rebumpre from Lost Illusions. This novel focuses on the villainous nature of Vautrin. A political gothic novel - just replace the lecherous priest from the Monk with a crafty and viscious criminal mastermind.

waiting to read:

Louise de Lavalliere, Alexandre Dumas

The Man in the Iron Mask, Alexandre Dumas

The Memoirs of Monsieur D'artagnan,

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo

Reading Murakami,

Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell

Summer Book, Tove Jansson

The Mysterious Benedict Society and Point Rendevous

The Foretelling, Alice Hoffman

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The Real Dumas

The Club Dumas, Arturo Perez-Reverte (362pp)In which antiquarian book collecting crosses paths with sataninc ritual, a world weary devil, and a Poe-etic Spaniard living in a mildewing mansion with a headless angel filled garden. It took me about a third of the book to get involved with the story. I wonder if any of his other books are worth pursuing.
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The Amazing Kavelier and Klay, Michael Chabon (639pp) 1930's, the birth of the comic book, Prague, death defying escapes, true love, Dali, magical realism, a Max Ernst (sans Leonora Carrington) walk on: what's not to like? Well I could have done without the Oyster episode. But the dirigible cafe was great! Teabird does such a thing still exist in NY?
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Currently reading Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas****CV

Give a Spider some Scissors....

Travelled into the city yesterday. I decided enough was enough and I would go to see the woman who has cut my hair since I was 13 (yes: thirteen). Got on a nassty BART car: as someone apparently felt that their snack must be shared with the poor hungry BART seats and apples and peanut butter are the bART seats favoritist goody. (As I said nasssty).

I get off at Powell street and walk up past the cablecar turnaround, the DSW, the huge Victoria Secret across from the equally huge Disney store and get to Sutter. I go in to the store front and walk up and find out that the salon she is in in is one more floor up so after three flights I arrive. And she starts hacking away. This pleases me enormously. When I ask for a Brooksie A-line I want a Brooksie A-line not a slanted 70's c curve which is what I have been given the last two times I've gotten my haircut.

I feel so lite!

Afterwards I go to the book store and find two reads: History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer and Twenty Years After, Alexander Dumas. Then I go back to the BART station feeling all pleased and there's this guy who insists on invading my personal space to try and sell me a BART ticket I do not want nor do I need and as he will not get out of my face I have to tell him:
"Look! I just want to get my ticket without being bothered!" And after staring at him and not moving he takes a hint.

I can then get my ticket and go down to the platform and board a train where I am promptly surrounded by men in suits, with wireless laptops at the ready, headed home.
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I am still reading Perdido Street Station but as of today I have less than eighty pages to go. Mind, they are tight packed tiny font pages but - I have hopes that the Good Fairies of New York may be started tonight.

In order to accomplish this near feat of concluding the feast fest of slake-moths and oneirotic Clotho like spiders I went to a cafe and latched onto one of the comfy red chairs. Got me a lunch and a drink and settled right in. Then, how odd, I don't remember anything sharpish in my food stuffs. Hmmm, I don't recall hearing any bone like cracking. Why then does one tooth feel jagged and the other not?

Guess along with a visit to my familiar hair stylist it's time for a visit to my familiar dentist. Seems part of a molar has dissolved leaving a ten year old (most likely older say 12?14?) filling to hold up the fort on one side. *sigh*
***CV

***CV

the bell is striking twelve

Today is the last day of winter break. Tomorrow begins child care and then come Monday School begins. Heh. Yeah so I made the most of today. Went to practice and there were only ten of us! Compared to the thirty or so in a cozy 18 person sized space it was positively cavernous (or is that Jules V. speaking to me?).

Afterwards I went to the yarn shop which was: OPEN!

So I got me some Noro Sock in Go Green and I doubt they will be sox, but whatever, and I got me some BONE needles. This is for the go green goth in me (silliness now bodes ill for the kiddies tomorrow ). Also, I now have a copy of Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Then I went into work to just make sure that things were okay. Well, and to enjoy the calm that is an empty classroom.
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Finished Journey to the Center of the Earth last night and started the Scarlet Pimpernel today. Since I actually own a copy of the Count of Monte Cristo I may join up again with Knit the Classics. Still thinking.
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I'm considering a classics book group for the class as well. Two actually: one monthly and one bimonthly. Again, still thinking.****CV

Carnations and Violets

The Knight of the Maison Rouge, Alexandre Dumas (398pp) Maurice Lindey is your typical handome, brave, impulsive heroic member of the Republic. He is both patriotic and chivalric to the point that though he may be commanding the guard at the King's execution he will kill anyone who disrespects said personage. His good friend Lorin continually improvises quatrains and cites ancient poetry in response to typical conversations and is also a loyal member of the republic (with a sense of humor). Insert a mysterious beauty married to an unscrupulous Royalist, a mysterious chevalier determined to save the Queen, a loathesome cobbler and France during the revolution and what do you get? Why Mr. Dumas in all his swashbukling glory :) Oddly the end reminded me of Dickens.
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Today I started Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Conspiracy as well as Rainbow Valley, the seventh in the Anne of Green Gables series.
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In class we finished reading the Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster. I'm not sure what we will be reading next. So far I'm considering Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll or perhaps the Kin by Peter Dickinson.****CV

bookes

Mississippi Jack, LA Meyer In which our intrepid heroine narrowly misses being taken home and tried in court by the intervention of ye olde theater troupe only to reprise the role of lost native american maiden who knows how to out houdini houdini as far as controtionist acts go,writes pre silent era Perils of Pauline, does a bit of the Blue Lagoon, gets tarred and feathered whilst away from her show boat and at long last reunites with her true love (for all of five minutes). Will the Mississippi ever be the same?
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Dragonhaven, Robin McKinley I think what I love about this book is how much I can relate to it as a developmental study. I refuse to explain. Go read it now.
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Currently reading: The Knight of the Maison Rouge, Alexandre Dumas ***CV

Sage sagas

Anahita's Woven Riddle, Meghan Nuttall Sayres (350pp) Set in Persia during the late 19th century this story could still, albeit without the evil Russian army, be a modern story. Anahita is a member of a nomadic tribe. Her father has decided that she be married and is ready to engage her to the local kahn. Anahita loves riddles. In fact it is a game that both she and her father regularly play with each other. Anahita is also a forward thinker, much to the dismay of other tribe members who are quite contenet with tradition thank you very much. Included in this Cinderella like tale are snippets of Rumi, of traditional dyeing (though the cochineal did puzzle me; would not kermes or another indigeous species be more likely?) as well as appreciation for a culture we so recently seem to view too shallowly.
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The Black Tulip, Alexandre Dumas (238pp) Once past the elaborate first chapter intro (and a very gory demise ala the French Revolution) the story settles into a menage a trois romance with requisite jealousy, envy, true love and intrigue. And to think the woman these two men are passionate over is a Black Tulip. Well one of them does realise after a bit of a struggle that maybe the jailor's daughter is a bit of all right. More so when she so lovingly takes care of his off set.
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After class today a very angry woman was atthe bus stop collecting discarded bits of willammette weekly. Fine. I need to catch my bus here and I know that the woman you're (you being said very vocal angry woman) talking about could not be me so okay I'll just knit. (She did have a pretty singing voice when she chose to sing I must say). Then in the cafe two people remarked on the knitting whilst reading: I hasten to add it's stockingnette, I'm looking at it whenever I reach a corner, I drop stitches and then have to pick them up.
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Started reading Eigil's Saga. You know how sometimes people can feel a bit overwhelmed with the many choices in baby names nowadays when a baby is expected? Apparently the vikings had no such problem. I've met at least five Thorolfs and two Gunhilds as well as inumerable Thorolds, not to mention Thorirs. And talk about plot jumps.

So this one landholder recieves a group of men and settles them in an out building where their clothes can dry and then he brings them some food apologising because it is all he has (sour curds, sour whey, maybe some bread) That's okay, his guests say, something is better than nothing and they eat what he provides. Then the host offers them lots of nice straw to sleep on. Meanwhile the King and his Queen are on the same property in another building with a full on banquet. The king asks where the host is and is told he is attending some guests. So the King says, well, let the guests join us. And so they do and they all sit down to drink.

(No one says aword about the fact there is a feast in one building and refuse buffet in another.)

Well not true. Eigil starts making up insulting poetry about not treating people in a hostly way, but apparently everyone is clueless. Then the Queen along with the host/landholder decide to poison Eigil's cup (whoa 'scuse me where did that come from? What does the Queen have against Eigil? Was he going to use up all her sleeping straw??) And then Eigil cuts himself and recites something -a rune? before taking the cup and the cup shatters which apparently is an insult (!) to the host (personally I think a dead poisoned guest is a lot more insulting not to say tacky). Anyway it's decided that the men from the refuse buffet are a bit drunk and it's time they leave. So the host and Eigil leave along with Eigil's very drunk captain and Eigil offs the host. Then runs away.

I did not leave any pertinent details out. I should probaly add that while this is Eigil's saga as in he is the hero, Eigil has some anger management problems. The least of which is,when as a child, attacking another child with a battle axe after Eigil lost a game to him. Oh and then when it is realised that he did this, after a full out axe and swords battle between all the adults, being told he will make a fine Viking.......Makes me want to know who invented the first time out chair. Don't think it was a viking. Uh uh.***CV

In which the Adventure goes on after the accustomed Manner

The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas (720pp) I really don't need to comment about this book do I? Everyone knows who the three musketeers are right? Should be enough to say I read this in three days...whoa eerie coincidence. Let me meditate on that for a while. Oh wait, I know what I can say. The movie I saw of this book I think was a well done translation of the story itself. Yes, stuff was left out. Yes, scenes were edited for cinematic blah blah; and yes at least one person died differently in the book then in the novel (but then in the novel one character changed from a brunnette to a blonde wihtout one writer's blush), other than that? Well done you screen authors.
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Currently reading;

The Black Tulip, Alexandre Dumas

The Time Before History, Colin Tudge

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Recently purchased:

The Female Quixote, Charlotte Lennox (and yes it is a work of fiction written around 1752)

Have a quote from the main character to her maid who has apparently been delivered some letters addressed to her mistress:

" You are a simple Wench, said Arabella smiling: You may depend upon it, all Letters directed to me, must contain Matters of Love and Gallantry; and those I am not permitted to receive. Take them away then immediately. But stay, pursued she, seeing she was about to obey her, one of them, you say, was deliver'd to you as a Letter of Consequence; perhaps it is so: Indeed it may contain an Advertisement of some Design to carry me away. How do I know, but Mr. Selvin, incited by his Love and Despair, may intend to make such an Attempt. Give me that letter, Lucy, I am resolved to open it. As for the other - yet who knows that other may also bring me a Warning of the same Danger from another Quarter. The pains Mr. Tinsel took to conceal his Passion, nay, almost as I think, to deny it, amounts to a Proof that he is meditating some Way to make sure of me. 'Tis ceratinly so: Give me that Letter, Lucy; I should be accessary to their intended Violence, if I neglected this timely Discovery."

I love the capitals sprinkled throughout, the fact that Arabella is a French novel reading over the top melodrama queen (ould it not be aht Mr. TInsel is really not interested in her?), the tons of punctuation sans quotation marks to indicate speech (perhaps this is why the proper names are italicised?) and it is an 18th century book. ***CV

We (may) have cottage!

Knock on wood. Deposits and such still need to be made.
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Hmmm do you think I should order my madder, indigo, some weld and marigold now? This is because, if the cottage comes through then, there is a private garden that is attached and I could you know try and grow stuff in it. I know I want lavender. And I would love to grow dye plants. Instead of, you know, growing dying plants (I so do not have a green thumb, but I think if it was my plot and I was the one learning from it it would be okay. I was responsible for a garden that was in the back of my former Primary and, ummmm, the lavender did real well as did the poppies; not so much everything else.)
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I am a third of the way through The Three Musketeers. D'artagnan had a much bigger part than I remembered. Perhaps this is because Athos, Porthos and Aramis were played by such good character actors they seemed more main characterish then they actually were.
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I almost have the leg of my second scarlett sock complete (reading and stst are a good combination) and I finished one of the amber knee highs last night*****CV

NB Good thing I didn't mention woad. Apparently it's a noxious weed in CA, as is the wild marigold.

mordi!

La Reine Margot, Alexandre Dumas (468pp) Well. Dumas certainly doesn't believe in cluttering up a story with too many details does he? Really though it's the fighting, the wooing, and the conspiring we read Dumas for right? In some ways I am grateful I saw the old three musketeers on the silver screen (by old I mean the 70's versions) before reading any of the original works. It is also helpful to know that Dumas wrote for the theater. This way I did not get hung up on sudden shifts in plot and what not. Why are Coconnas and Mole at Catherine's perfumer? Why is he making a wax doll? Why is he shaking the heasdsman's hand at this moment?... oh, it's a plot twist *thwack* silly me.

I am now eagerly looking forward to reading the Three Musketeers and The Knight of the Maison Rouge.
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It occurred to me today that a fun way to read French Literature might be to start out with Balzac and then read Dumas and see the similarities as well as differences. Balzac writes romances with lots of detail in setting, politics and what not. Dumas writes romances. Period. On the one hand lots of bric-abrac on the other streamlined efficiency.

Then one could seperate the remaining authors of the period into Balzacian and Dumasian camps. I think Hugo would go into the Balzac column as would Flaubert and Huysmans.But who would be with Dumas?***CV