Tuesday, January 19, 2010

hmmmmm...

Funny how some days it's so very easy to think of something to talk about here and other days, nada zip zilch comes to mind. Today is certainly one of the latter. WAH! I apologize in advance for putting you to sleep!

Dagnabbit. The drawback to feeling more spry is a return to housewifey-ness and the er, joys, of cleaning up the house. mumble mumble grumble piffle posh. So now the bedroom has been picked up, the last of the laundry done, the kitchen has been cleaned and lunch has been eaten.

The rain has been pouring down and in between bouts of drying off the doggie (who is undeterred by the buckets of rain coming down), I have been going through a pile of magazines that (somehow) grew into a mountain. Go to bed for a month and sheesh, look what happens! ;)

We enjoyed a very lazy weekend. We finally got to see "Up In The Air" and liked it very much. Had a late lunch at one of our favorite Indian restaurants afterward, had breakfast the following morning at Farmer's Market at our favorite breakfast place and of course a trip to the bookstore. Monday we ran errands and just lazed about.

I'm reading "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro which was on a list of the top ten books of the decade. I can't remember what blog I was reading (so sorry!) but someone linked to the Time Magazine online article about the top ten books of the first decade of the 2000's.

I loved "Remains of the Day" by the same author and the plot of this one sounded intriguing and it seemed to have gotten lots of rave reviews. Well ... I think I am liking it but good gosh, it's creepy crawly. The narrative of the book is so very icy cold and distant ... part (I'm sure there is more to come) of the chilling plot line has just been revealed ... yowzers.

Here's the list from Time:

1. Never Let Me Go (2005), by Kazuo Ishiguro
2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (2004), by Susanna Clarke
3. The Corrections (2001), by Jonathan Franzen
4. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), by Junot Diaz
5. The Known World (2003), by Edward P. Jones
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), by J.K. Rowling
7. Atonement (2002), by Ian McEwan
8. Lush Life (2008), by Richard Price
9. Then We Came to the End (2007), by Joshua Ferris
10. American Gods (2001), by Neil Gaiman

Here's the link to this and more top ten lists of the decade.

10 comments:

  1. Hello Sally, I am glad you visited and were cheered by your favorite spots after quite a time of ailing. I read "Never let me go" and have quite a few thoughts on it once you get done and want to chew on it. Yes, it is distant and haunting. But odd to think it is a top of any list. Just my opinion of it being "good not great". One of my faves of the last 5 years or so that I would recommend is "These Is My Words" by Nancy Turner. A young woman just learning to read and write (historical fiction) journals about life in the old west (US) as a settler.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the book list, I should know more of these titles!

    I'm struggling over here too because I don't have much to post about these days either!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Jenny! I'm still low energy but boy oh boy, it sure is nice to be out and about again! :)
    I'm just about 120 or so pages into "Never Let Me Go" - it's starting to pick up, or my interest is getting piqued now. I'll look forward to hearing what you thought of it! I'm with you and leaning towards "good", rather than "great". And thank you so much for the book suggestion, I'll be sure and look for it when I go to the bookstore next.
    Happy almost weekend to you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Lori!
    I had only read "Atonement" and the Harry Potter one, although I did already own three others that I hadn't read. D'oh! Not only is there a mountain of mag's over here, there's an Everest of books to be read!!!
    I envy your cooking posts! I think about it but I take crappy pictures and I don't think my culinary adventures are very photogenic anyway - probably put everyone off their food. ;)
    Happy almost weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You never put me to sleep, Sally. I am glad you are feeling like being up and doing some things. Enjoy your day! Twyla

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Twyla! You are always the sweetest! & I'm so glad you don't feel the urge to nap when you read my posts! ;)
    Happy Thursday!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great list to start off the NY with. I'm going to add my fav of 09'... The Glass Castle.

    I just taught myself to crochet last winter. I googled crochet and look on YouTube. I was off and running. It was harder for my than most as I'm a leftie, but it came pretty quickly. These blankets are pretty basic stitches. I don't know if you read Lucy over in Attic 24. www.attic24.typepad.com She has some great tutorials for beginners. Give it a try, it's never too late to learn something new.

    Have to check out this list more closely, I'm looking for a new book to start.

    Hugs,
    Kate

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Kate!
    I want to say I've heard of The Glass Castle - is it a memoir??? Thank you for the suggestion, I will look it up!
    OH WOW! I'm so impressed! You're turning out all those wonderful things and you only started about a year ago?! I bet you're a natural.
    Yes, I have visited attic24 - I saw the link on your blog or you may have mentioned her in a post? Anyway, I love her blog, thank you for mentioning it!
    Well now ... I've got a lot of exciting stuff to think about - I thought for sure I was too ancient to take on knitting and crocheting. ;)
    Happy weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Sally! How funny is this? I am reading the Glass Castle. I don't even know how it got into the house, I just discovered it, and started reading it. I think it had to be one of the kid's books in HS. I like it so far.

    The thing with blogging is this: you either have lots of ideas and absolutely no time to post, or no ideas at all and all the time in the world. LOL! You have a great weekend, my friend. Pass those M&Ms!!!!! xox Pam

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Pam! Sorry to be late in replying ... I've been hiding in the pantry, eating all the M&M's bwahahhahhahaha!
    I looked up the synopsis of The Glass Castle - is it as hard going as it sounds??? It sounds so painful - compounded of course by the fact that it's true. YIKES!
    My problem with writing posts is that I'm fine as long as I don't have to write about myself - if I have to write about myself, my brain leaves my body ... it goes on holiday and I can't form sentences. ;) Gosh, I hate talking about myself ... I can only do it in short spurts.
    Happy happy weekend!

    ReplyDelete