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Jun. 27th, 2015 09:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljQuiet day, got lots of laundry done. Called yesterday to get my oven checked but they won't get to it until Monday. So naturally everything I wanted had to be put in the oven. Ended up having a sandwich and a yogurt for supper! The oven's probably not been working for weeks but what i've been cooking has been in pots or the microwave or on the George Foreman grill and the burners on the stove still work. I'm crossing my fingers that it's unfixable and they'll give me a new stove. Probably won't be that lucky.
My mother moved into her apartment today. She's going to find it strange, she's never lived on her own ever. She said she felt ok leaving the house and feels quite safe in the apartment where she was always a bit nervous if she was in the house alone at night. She did live with one or more grandchildren but often they were gone at night, especially on weekends. She never really got used to it. I know what she means about an apartment, though, you do feel safer behind the added security of the security doors at the building entrance. I'm going over tomorrow to help unpack.
This will be a short week, too. Canada Day is Wednesday and I booked Thursday and Friday off. Need to change one or two more things for my married name. I'll be around if Mom needs further assistance as well or maybe we can take a little drive. there's a historic house near here that I've been wanting to visit.
On to the books....Most of the ones in this list I've really enjoyed. I've been lucky with books so far this year, have read quite a few really good ones. there were one or two that i hated but mostly they've been pretty good.
43. Museum of Extraordinary Things - Alice Hoffman
Takes place in New York in 1911, the man and woman don't even meet until well past the half way mark. He's a photographer at odds with his father and she's got a controlling father that runs a museum and "freak" show in Brooklyn. Good characters, good writing, kept me turning the pages.
44. Gatekeeper - John Beresford
Very good sci-fi fantasy mix. Follows a group of people that meet on a ship heading to a new colony 97 light years away. Each of them have experienced a memory loss. After the ship crash lands on the planet they discover there's already a thriving society on the planet. There is magic, warring royal houses, subterfuge and triumph. Really liked this one, good characters, good plot and really imaginative. Kindle only.
45. A Desperate Fortune - Susanna Kearsley
Another good story from this author blending in the past and present, this time a woman that gets involved with Jacobites in France between the first rising (1715) and the second in 1745. The present day woman is deciphering a diary. Naturally there is a love story as well. The characters are all really good, and the story isn't sappy at all. I quite like this author.
46. The Steampunk Bible - Jeff VanderMeer
All about Steampunk from it's original influences (H.G. Wells and Jules Verne) to the start of it as a subculture in books and now it's popularity in fashion, music, and other media. Lots of lovely photos and poster reproductions and pictures of "inventions"
47. Watching the English: The hidden rules of English Behaviour - Kate Fox
An anthropologist did a lot of research into various habits of the English to find out what makes them tick. It was interesting but a bit over-long.
48. Out of Africa - Karen Blixen
The stories she wrote about her years living on a coffee farm in Africa near Nairobi. Doesn't really resemble the movie overmuch because that was based more on her actual life and people, where this is more about other people rather than herself. In the movie, her husband has a part to play but is barely mentioned in the book and her love affair with Denys Finch-Hatton is not mentioned as such though he, as a friend, is. Anyway, it was still interesting.
49. Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
I like to read a classic now and then and with the new movie version of this coming out, I thought i'd pick it up. Very glad I did. I knew the basic story but had forgotten details (i'd seen the 1967 movie). One woman running a farm, has three men in love with her. One is steady and loyal, one is older and obsessive and one is a flash, shallow soldier so you know which one she falls for and which one she's going to end up with in the end. Lovely book, the prose is exquisite!
My mother moved into her apartment today. She's going to find it strange, she's never lived on her own ever. She said she felt ok leaving the house and feels quite safe in the apartment where she was always a bit nervous if she was in the house alone at night. She did live with one or more grandchildren but often they were gone at night, especially on weekends. She never really got used to it. I know what she means about an apartment, though, you do feel safer behind the added security of the security doors at the building entrance. I'm going over tomorrow to help unpack.
This will be a short week, too. Canada Day is Wednesday and I booked Thursday and Friday off. Need to change one or two more things for my married name. I'll be around if Mom needs further assistance as well or maybe we can take a little drive. there's a historic house near here that I've been wanting to visit.
On to the books....Most of the ones in this list I've really enjoyed. I've been lucky with books so far this year, have read quite a few really good ones. there were one or two that i hated but mostly they've been pretty good.
43. Museum of Extraordinary Things - Alice Hoffman
Takes place in New York in 1911, the man and woman don't even meet until well past the half way mark. He's a photographer at odds with his father and she's got a controlling father that runs a museum and "freak" show in Brooklyn. Good characters, good writing, kept me turning the pages.
44. Gatekeeper - John Beresford
Very good sci-fi fantasy mix. Follows a group of people that meet on a ship heading to a new colony 97 light years away. Each of them have experienced a memory loss. After the ship crash lands on the planet they discover there's already a thriving society on the planet. There is magic, warring royal houses, subterfuge and triumph. Really liked this one, good characters, good plot and really imaginative. Kindle only.
45. A Desperate Fortune - Susanna Kearsley
Another good story from this author blending in the past and present, this time a woman that gets involved with Jacobites in France between the first rising (1715) and the second in 1745. The present day woman is deciphering a diary. Naturally there is a love story as well. The characters are all really good, and the story isn't sappy at all. I quite like this author.
46. The Steampunk Bible - Jeff VanderMeer
All about Steampunk from it's original influences (H.G. Wells and Jules Verne) to the start of it as a subculture in books and now it's popularity in fashion, music, and other media. Lots of lovely photos and poster reproductions and pictures of "inventions"
47. Watching the English: The hidden rules of English Behaviour - Kate Fox
An anthropologist did a lot of research into various habits of the English to find out what makes them tick. It was interesting but a bit over-long.
48. Out of Africa - Karen Blixen
The stories she wrote about her years living on a coffee farm in Africa near Nairobi. Doesn't really resemble the movie overmuch because that was based more on her actual life and people, where this is more about other people rather than herself. In the movie, her husband has a part to play but is barely mentioned in the book and her love affair with Denys Finch-Hatton is not mentioned as such though he, as a friend, is. Anyway, it was still interesting.
49. Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
I like to read a classic now and then and with the new movie version of this coming out, I thought i'd pick it up. Very glad I did. I knew the basic story but had forgotten details (i'd seen the 1967 movie). One woman running a farm, has three men in love with her. One is steady and loyal, one is older and obsessive and one is a flash, shallow soldier so you know which one she falls for and which one she's going to end up with in the end. Lovely book, the prose is exquisite!
