Hooray for garden progress! My daffodils and irises are finally poking out here in MN, not blooming yet-but so satisfying to start yard cleanup these past couple weeks. Sadly most of my time will probably be occupied by digging up the many sizable tree suckers that we couldn’t catch while babies kept us busy the past couple years, but at least I get to start the season with a finished patio (which I built last year…so thrilled that my May will *not* involve hauling reclaimed bricks around like last year).
The bit about ozempic struck a chord with me for a different reason-many of my family members who live nearby and who often gather with us for celebrations have a lot of self-imposed dietary restrictions and it is a surprisingly huge hindrance to feasting together. When there aren’t actual allergies involved it’s so irritating that everyone basically ends up bringing their own food because they won’t trust that someone else’s food is acceptable. It’s so hard to actually host and offer hospitality when people are picky about what I’ve prepared, even when it’s taken those preferences into account.
A Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt was one of those surprisingly great reads for me a few years ago. It’s a “classic” quest adventure- easy reading but page-turning! People will shun me for saying it, but it’s like some of the best of Tolkien-ish without all the endless songs and odes to trees etc.
Yes I’d say 9 is great. Any time they can follow an adventure - might need help with some of the vocab occasionally but so did I, ha! Lots of Welsh and also made up words ;)
I read it a couple years ago and was underwhelmed. But I wanted to love it! The all-night vigil in the chapel at the beginning was so haunting and promising. Maybe I was expecting more magical elements? Or the deus ex machina plot device showed up one too many times. Idk. But I think I would have eaten it up as a kid and I've since recommended it to my son and my nephew.
It was definitely right time, right place for me. I think I just needed something easy and quick (plot) moving! It’s one I recommend to tween/ teens and boys esp.
Did you like (similar) Chronicles of Prydian? I felt like it took getting to book 3 for me to be really committed.
Just finished The Leopard and was delighted with it
Also now reading “The Rebel Empresses” by Nancy Goldstone - non fiction but sooooooo readable. Her “in the shadow of the empress” about Maria Theresa’s daughters was also excellent
How does the book version of The Leopard compare to the Netflix miniseries? I recently watched the 1963 movie and the Netflix series, and I am curious. Hoping to read the book later this year!
Thank you for sharing that Ozempic article. I'm going to chew on this for a while:
"We take drugs to sleep and drugs to focus. Drugs to calm down and drugs to cure depression. We take drugs to prevent babies, and drugs to prevent puberty. We erase our wrinkles and rent our wombs. We don’t have sex, we just watch porn. And now, we take drugs instead of food. Everything that makes us who we are, everything human, is under attack.
So who cares about my silly dinner parties? Let me suggest that we all should."
Oof.
Books that have re-enlivened my reading when I've been in a slump: All Done by Kindness by Doris Langley Moore (a light but unputdownable art heist novel), Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski (I flew through this one and it left me an emotional wreck), Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy (both compelling and heartening), and Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker (just super, super fun).
I also read The Juniper Tree by Barbara Comyns recently and am hoping to read either The Vet's Daughter or Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead soon. The Juniper Tree, which is based on an incredibly dark Grimms Fairy Tale, was unsettling but also mesmerizing.
Hooray for garden progress! My daffodils and irises are finally poking out here in MN, not blooming yet-but so satisfying to start yard cleanup these past couple weeks. Sadly most of my time will probably be occupied by digging up the many sizable tree suckers that we couldn’t catch while babies kept us busy the past couple years, but at least I get to start the season with a finished patio (which I built last year…so thrilled that my May will *not* involve hauling reclaimed bricks around like last year).
The bit about ozempic struck a chord with me for a different reason-many of my family members who live nearby and who often gather with us for celebrations have a lot of self-imposed dietary restrictions and it is a surprisingly huge hindrance to feasting together. When there aren’t actual allergies involved it’s so irritating that everyone basically ends up bringing their own food because they won’t trust that someone else’s food is acceptable. It’s so hard to actually host and offer hospitality when people are picky about what I’ve prepared, even when it’s taken those preferences into account.
A Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt was one of those surprisingly great reads for me a few years ago. It’s a “classic” quest adventure- easy reading but page-turning! People will shun me for saying it, but it’s like some of the best of Tolkien-ish without all the endless songs and odes to trees etc.
Yes I’d say 9 is great. Any time they can follow an adventure - might need help with some of the vocab occasionally but so did I, ha! Lots of Welsh and also made up words ;)
I read it a couple years ago and was underwhelmed. But I wanted to love it! The all-night vigil in the chapel at the beginning was so haunting and promising. Maybe I was expecting more magical elements? Or the deus ex machina plot device showed up one too many times. Idk. But I think I would have eaten it up as a kid and I've since recommended it to my son and my nephew.
It was definitely right time, right place for me. I think I just needed something easy and quick (plot) moving! It’s one I recommend to tween/ teens and boys esp.
Did you like (similar) Chronicles of Prydian? I felt like it took getting to book 3 for me to be really committed.
I haven't though I'm hoping to read them with my son. Is 9yo a good age for them? My sister recently read and loved them!
Just finished The Leopard and was delighted with it
Also now reading “The Rebel Empresses” by Nancy Goldstone - non fiction but sooooooo readable. Her “in the shadow of the empress” about Maria Theresa’s daughters was also excellent
How does the book version of The Leopard compare to the Netflix miniseries? I recently watched the 1963 movie and the Netflix series, and I am curious. Hoping to read the book later this year!
Thank you for sharing that Ozempic article. I'm going to chew on this for a while:
"We take drugs to sleep and drugs to focus. Drugs to calm down and drugs to cure depression. We take drugs to prevent babies, and drugs to prevent puberty. We erase our wrinkles and rent our wombs. We don’t have sex, we just watch porn. And now, we take drugs instead of food. Everything that makes us who we are, everything human, is under attack.
So who cares about my silly dinner parties? Let me suggest that we all should."
Oof.
Books that have re-enlivened my reading when I've been in a slump: All Done by Kindness by Doris Langley Moore (a light but unputdownable art heist novel), Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski (I flew through this one and it left me an emotional wreck), Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy (both compelling and heartening), and Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker (just super, super fun).
I also read The Juniper Tree by Barbara Comyns recently and am hoping to read either The Vet's Daughter or Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead soon. The Juniper Tree, which is based on an incredibly dark Grimms Fairy Tale, was unsettling but also mesmerizing.
If you want a doorstopper, I recently finished "...And Ladies of the Club", on a review from Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's bookshelf. It's set in a fictional small Ohio town from just after Civil War to about just after WWI. It's surprisingly good, in spite of length! Here's the review: https://www.thepsmiths.com/p/guest-review-and-ladies-of-the-club?utm_source=publication-search
Or a re-read of an old favorite? Tress of the Emerald Sea is my current five star stand-alone novel recommendation.