Mirkwood Reflections

Rollicking Readers Book Club had another great meeting last night! Only a few of our normal crowd was able to be there - seven of us, to be exact. We had a lovely dinner together on the patio. The husband of our hostess grilled chicken and burgers for us. Our book/film of the month was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, a little departure from our ordinary reading material, considering our book club was formed to read through all six of Jane Austen's novels. But we completed that task and are pressing on to other classics. Our discussion was held after dinner and was lively and intelligent - lots of great points were brought up. (And I think EVERYONE there had read the book! WTG, ladies!) For the record, I believe that just about everyone agreed that the book wasn't at all what we had imagined it to be. Rather than being gory and filled with gratuitous violence, it was philosophical and thoughtful. I'm glad I read it, especially because I wasn't really looking forward to it...

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - 06/04/09 Excellent - Fiction (999 Category: 9 and Counting) Mariam and Laila are two very different women, brought together by war and cruelty, but they forge an enduring bond. Finally finished this. Had to actually get the novel instead of finishing the audiobook, as audiobooks don't fit well into my life right now. That aside, this was WONDERFUL! Poignant, eye-opening, terrifying, hopeful, and more. I recommend it whole-heartedly, and actually several of my friends have also read it and concur with my assessment. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde - 06/12/09 Excellent - Play (999 Category: Vintage Volumes) Jack and Algernon both pretend to be Ernest Worthing, a fictional wastrel of a younger brother, and both fall in love with women who only will marry someone named Ernest. I've read this before, but read it again for book club. It's a quick, easy, humorous read. LOVE the movie; it's one of my favorites. Wild...

OK, if you're not a vampire fan, skip this post. Yeah, just click the X now. :-) But if you're like me - a Jane Austen fan and intrigued by the Twilight series, you're probably still reading. Therefore, you may be interested in the new book by Amanda Grange, Mr. Darcy, Vampyre. Amanda Grange says, "The idea for the plot of Mr Darcy, Vampyre came to me when I was rereading some of the classic Gothic novels of Jane Austen's era. I was starting to write Henry Tilney's Diary , Henry being the hero of Jane Austen's Gothic novel Northanger Abbey , and I wanted to put myself in the right mood." (Lisa says: I cannot WAIT for Tilney's Diary !!!) "As I read The Mysteries of Udolpho , and as I followed the heroine over the Alps and into Italy, I found myself thinking, What if Lizzy and Darcy went to the continent for their wedding tour? What if they visited a remote castle and then went across the Alps to Italy? And what if, in those far flung location...

Found this meme on my friend Penny 's blog. Each letter is to stand for websites, urls, etc, that you frequent. This should be interesting... A - Agent Query B - Blogger C - Cake Wrecks D - Dressup Me (Suzy goes here) E - Enchanted Serenity of Period Films F - Facebook G - Gmail H - Homeschool Freebie of the Day I - Image search @ Google J - Janet Evanovich K - Keep Vid L - Lego (that'd be my sons) M - Michigan Works! N - Netflix O - Oakland Comm. College Job Postings P - Picasa Q - Query Shark R - Retail Me Not (coupon code site) S - Sparkpeople T - Tracfone U - Upside Down Text V - Voyages of the Artemis (Diana Gabaldon's blog) W - Weather X - Xboxwife Y - Youtube Z - Zazzle (to find fan-made tee's and other items) Now, I better go get some REAL work done! lol

I saw this over at Shelley ’s, and thought it sounded like a great question for all of you: “This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.” 1. Midwives by Chris Bohjalian 2. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 3. How to Talk so Children will Listen and Listen so Children Will Talk by Faber and Mazlish 4. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 5. Blessed Child by Ted Dekker 6. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 7. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis 8. Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright 9. Joseph by Joyce Landorf 10. The Family Bed by Tine Thevenin 11. The Hurried Child by David Elkind 12. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 13. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown 14. Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 15. Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella I never include The Bible on these sorts of lists, because I figure that's s...

Because I neglected what I SHOULD have been doing this month (but that's another story), I go t a LOT of reading done this month - 9 books. That's the most in any month so far this year. This included my first book in my C.S. Lewis category, which I'd been procrastinating. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult - 05/02/09 Good - Fiction (999 Category: 9 and Counting) Sterling High School is torn apart by a mass shooting. I'm never quite sure if I like Picoult or not, but this was definitely a compelling read. If y ou like heavy fiction, this may fit y ou well. Deep in the Heart of Trouble by Deeanne Gist - 05/04/09 Good - Inspirational (999 Category: Kindred Spirits) Essie has accepted her spinsterhood, but then Tony Bryant comes to town. But is he too good to be true? This historical Christian novel is a sequel in the edgy Christian fiction category. Realistic people with realistic problems and who don't always make good choices despite being Christians. The Martian C...

Since watching Oklahoma! (1999) this past weekend, I have recommended it to several people and the response is usually something like, "There's a new Oklahoma! ?" Well, 'new' is a relative term, but since the film version most people are familiar with is more than fifty years old, it seems appropriate here. Yep, FIFTY. The Shirley Jones movie came out in 1955, folks. That's been a few years. More than time for a remake, I think. I was already aware of this production since I'd seen a little bit of it on PBS's Great Performances a few years back. At the time, I was put off by the fact that it was NOT a movie adaptation, but rather a filmed stage production. The audience is sometimes visible, even purposefully visible. The sets are typical, although nicely conceived, theater sets - painted backdrops, simple props, etc... At the time, this turned me off and I didn't watch much of the show. (I've read recently that this production was actually fil...