November 6, 2009
Rachel Courteau was a prostitute in Arles, France in the late 19th century and in a chance encounter, she met Vincent van Gogh, thus beginning a two year relationship with him. Theirs was an odd relationship since she was a prostitute and he was fighting mental illness.
Sunflowers by Sheramy Bundrick is told from Rachel’s perspective and follows her relationship with Vincent from his time in Arles to Saint Rémy to Auvers with the latter parts of their relationship shown through their correspondence. I was drawn into this book very quickly because I was fascinated with Vincent van Gogh and his relationships with his brother and with Paul Gauguin. The end of the book was a little slower for me because Vincent had left Arles and he wasn’t as involved in the story – I wanted more of Vincent and less of Rachel. I really liked Vincent – he comes across as a kind, artistic, sympathetic man who loved his art, his family and children. He was frustrated because of his dependence on his brother and his lack of success. Rachel is also kind, but I didn’t always understand her motivations. Ultimately, this is a love story and I liked it but didn’t love it.
Sheramy Bundrick has included an author’s note in the back of the book. In her research, she discovered that in his famous “ear incident”, Vincent van Gogh took the fragment of his ear to a brothel and asked for Rachel. There is really nothing known about Rachel, so her parts of this story are purely fiction. The parts involving Vincent are based on fact and are presented as historically accurate as possible, but this is a work of historical fiction. You can listen to an interview of Sheramy on Blog Talk Radio.
Review copy provided by Book Club Girl. I am an Amazon Associate.
November 5, 2009
I’m sure most people know that the movie Amelia, starring Hillary Swank and Richard Gere, is the story of the famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart. About all I knew about Earhart was that she disappeared in attempt to circumnavigate the globe, so I was fascinated with this movie. I’m not sure how historically accurate the film is, but have looked up a few facts since seeing it, so I know that at least part of it is factual.
I realized that Amelia Earhart was a woman before her time but never knew how much she believed in women’s rights. She was a pioneer for women in many ways. I was surprised to learn that Earhart was married to a publisher (George Putnam), and of course, found this fascinating. I won’t give away any more of the little details that were revealed in the movie because I think you should see it yourself.
There is some old black and white footage of Amelia Earhart inserted in Amelia in several places and it’s uncanny how much Hillary Swank resembles her. Both Swank and Richard Gere do a great job in their roles. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, even though a few of the scenes were a little long. I recommend this movie to anyone interested in history, aviation and women’s stories.
Can anyone recommend a great book about Amelia Earhart?
November 4, 2009
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. If you want to play along, grab the new button (or the old graphic), and join the fun! (Don’t forget to leave a link in your comment if you’re participating.)
My first word this week comes from Family Sentence by Jeanine Cornillot.
1. sensimilla – “The third time, with my brother Danny, I smoked sensimilla.”
This wasn’t in my dictionary, but I did find it on Urban Dictionary and it is a special breed of marijuana plant that produces no seeds. HIGH quality. It’s no wonder I didn’t know this word.
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My second word came from One Hundred Butterflies by Harold Feinsten.
2. cerements – “Then it bursts its cerements, and emerges in a new and beautiful garb, into a brighter existence.”
I had an idea of what this meant from the context, but I wanted to be sure, so I grabbed my dictionary and it wasn’t in there. According to wiktionary, it means a burial shroud or garment.
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What new words have you encountered lately?
November 3, 2009
Just a reminder that Nicole will be interviewing me on her new Blog Talk Radio show, That’s How I Blog! tonight (Tuesday, November 3, 2009) at 7:00 pm Eastern Time. If you want to know hear often I can put my foot in my mouth, you can listen in live or listen to the archived version later. If you listen live, there’s a chat room available that usually has a pretty lively discussion going. If you have any questions or comments for me, you can send them to nicole AT linussblanket DOT com before the show, ask in the chat room or call 646-381-4606 during the show and ask me yourself. At the end of the show, Nicole and I will be discussing Labor Day by Joyce Maynard.
November 3, 2009
Quentin Coldwater is a high school senior, making plans for college. He has a crush on a friend of his and, even though he’s the smartest person in his class, he feels unsettled and unsatisfied. When he goes to interview for acceptance to Princeton, he finds his interviewer dead and he’s handed a manila envelope. The contents of the envelope cause Quentin to discover a whole hidden world and he finds himself admitted to Brakebills – a college for magicians.
At first, Brakebills seems like the answer to all of Quentin’s prayers, but he finds that he doesn’t quite fit in even there.
It’s hard to say more about the plot of The Magicians by Lev Grossman without giving too much of the story away and I really try to avoid spoilers. The book follows Quentin, and his fellow magicians, through Brakebills and after when they make a startling discovery.
I was excited when I found out that my book club had selected The Magicians, since I’d heard it described as “Harry Potter for adults,” but was disappointed when the book didn’t draw me in like I’d hoped it would. I felt like there was too much unnecessary descriptive text in the book and a lot of plot lines that were brought up and then dropped. The characters seemed stagnant to me and I kept waiting for something to happen.
There were a lot of references to other fantasy novels and I did pick up on a few of them, but most of them were over my head since I haven’t read many of the classic fantasies. Most of the other members of my book club picked up on more of them than I did. This book didn’t really work for me, but I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I’m not the target audience. The one member of our book club who is a fantasy geek said that both she and her husband loved The Magicians.
Lev Grossman has a degree in literature from Harvard and currently works as the book critic for Time. The Magicians is his third novel.
Review copy provided by Penguin. I am an Amazon Associate.
November 2, 2009
Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting one of my favorite memes, Mailbox Monday. Check out her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along. These are the books I found in my mailbox last week:
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
What new books came into your home last week?
November 1, 2009
During the summer after fifth grade, Margaret Simon and her parents move from New York City to the suburbs in New Jersey. Margaret makes new friends and adjusts fairly quickly. She and her friends worry about boys, bras and their periods.
Margaret’s father is Jewish and her mother is Christian and they’ve decided that Margaret should decide what religion she wants to be when “she’s old enough.” The problem is, she’s never been exposed to any religion so she knows nothing about any of them. When Margaret has a lot on her mind, she talks to God, but never knows what to say when people ask her about religion.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume is the story of the ups and downs of Margaret Simon’s sixth grade year. I read this book for the first time for The Shelf Discovery Challenge. In her essay for Shelf Discovery, Meg Cabot describes this book by saying, “It’s all delicious stuff, deftly and humorously handled,” and I couldn’t agree more. I loved this book and just adored the character of Margaret. She is so real and just brought back junior high so vividly – those insecure years when you do silly things to try to be “normal.” I could really relate to Margaret and my heart went out to her. I felt proud of her as she learned from her mistakes and grew as a person. I think young girls would adore this book because it would serve as a reminder that even though they feel awkward and unsure of themselves, they’re really normal for their age.
Unbelievably, this book is on the list of the top 100 challenged books of 1990 – 2000, and for the life of me, I can’t understand why. There is nothing remotely offensive or suggestive in this book. If I had a young daughter, this is exactly the kind of book I would want her to read.
I am an Amazon Associate.
November 1, 2009
Books Bought is a meme hosted by Cindy of Cindy’s Love of Books. She invites everyone to grab the logo and participate. I’ve been really good about staying out of bookstores lately, but kind of fell of the wagon this last week. This is what I bought:
What books have you bought lately?
Have you heard about the Book Blogger Holiday Swap? I participated last year, and it was so much fun, I signed up right away for this year’s. Not only did I send and receive great gifts, but I met a wonderful blogger in the process. You can sign up through November 12 and should have the name you’re buying for by November 17. Lenore’s husband designed the button – isn’t it adorable?
You might consider a Book Buddy or other product from Reading Comfort. (I love my Book Buddy!) Through the end of 2009, you can get a 15% discount simply by using the code “blogger” when you check out.
