Wednesday, February 24, 2010
"Mister Pip" - final conclusion
I finished Mister Pip yesterday and I have to take back the words I wrote about some of the characters and the story line. Dolores, finally made an astonishing impression on me. Her last sacrifice blew me away. I won't tell you what happened as some of you may want to read the story but my point of view changed drastically. Yes, Dolores was the big catalyst of the horrifying events on the island but she redeemed herself completely in the final chapters. And the storyline...it got very emotional towards the end of the book. I cried for half an hour while reading it. Later that night I was so scared that I slept with my son's toy Grover (don't blame me I still love the Sesame Street as much as I was 10).
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Book Three: Lloyd Jones "Mister Pip" ...and shaman's stories
Hello! I'm back again.If only someone invented the self cleaning kitchen I would be so grateful.So here I am with coffee in one hand and a slice of sticky gingerbread in the other. Outside there is a mixture of snow and rain. A dark and dingy day someone might say but I don't mind. I already took Nataniel outside and we sent some photos for my dad for his birthday.I feel so bad for not writing for so long. It's just I've been very busy lately. First of all I probably poisoned my dear son and husband with my delicious bolognese sauce and than I had to cure them for a week. So now I decided to go for more natural cooking. Nigella unfortunately is banned from my kitchen for a while. Now we came back to where we started - simple but delicious food. I have to admit that I'm blessed with such a wonderful son who loves to eat whatever I give him. Last Friday he even ate tofu with vegetables I made. So I make my own yeast free bread now, started to eat quinoa with apples and blueberries for breakfast, made soups with mung and adzuki beans, drink lots of fresh juices. I feel so good, light and with so much energy.
My new book "Mister Pip" is the one I read for the Book Club this week. It's not long. About 220 pages. The story takes place on Bougainville Island (near New Zealand) during the 1990s. It's shaped around a civil war between the natives and the invading redskin soldiers. The main Character -13 year old Matilda - lives on the island with her mother while her father works in Australia. After the invasion the school was closed, many have escaped while they still could. But something amazing happens when the only white man on the island (married to the native) takes up a position as a teacher. He is not trained to do that but I cannot imagine anyone more ready. Mr. Watts, as that's his name, starts to read to the children "Great expectations" written by Charles Dickens. All pupils are thrilled with the story from another world. Every school day is like an escape from terrible things that are happening in their village.I'm still reading the book so please don't blame me for wrong judgements but Mr. Watts seems like a good guy. He befriends Matilda. Very interesting is also the relationship between a girl and her mum Dolores. Dolores is very religious type and disapproves the book reading or rather the impact of the reading on her daughter. For now I can say that I didn't like the mum from the start. She didn't talk to Matilda, she stole the "Great Expectations" with terrible results for the village and she didn't even had dignity to come up clear while she could to prevent the redskins from burning the villagers possessions. It was fascinating to see the relationship people have with the Ocean and it's creatures. It was their whole world and everything depended from the quality of that relationship.One cute example: Grace, wife of Mr. Watts had made a family tree that begins with fish. It's a good read that proves that stories can often have the life changing powers.
My last sentence reminded me about the Northern Exposure. There you can often find a shaman's story that is said to have healing properties. I experience that as with every episode I learn something new, something fascinating that makes me want to think about my life.
As for the weather forecast follow up: It's snowing. Is it a Christmas miracle? I think so!
My new book "Mister Pip" is the one I read for the Book Club this week. It's not long. About 220 pages. The story takes place on Bougainville Island (near New Zealand) during the 1990s. It's shaped around a civil war between the natives and the invading redskin soldiers. The main Character -13 year old Matilda - lives on the island with her mother while her father works in Australia. After the invasion the school was closed, many have escaped while they still could. But something amazing happens when the only white man on the island (married to the native) takes up a position as a teacher. He is not trained to do that but I cannot imagine anyone more ready. Mr. Watts, as that's his name, starts to read to the children "Great expectations" written by Charles Dickens. All pupils are thrilled with the story from another world. Every school day is like an escape from terrible things that are happening in their village.I'm still reading the book so please don't blame me for wrong judgements but Mr. Watts seems like a good guy. He befriends Matilda. Very interesting is also the relationship between a girl and her mum Dolores. Dolores is very religious type and disapproves the book reading or rather the impact of the reading on her daughter. For now I can say that I didn't like the mum from the start. She didn't talk to Matilda, she stole the "Great Expectations" with terrible results for the village and she didn't even had dignity to come up clear while she could to prevent the redskins from burning the villagers possessions. It was fascinating to see the relationship people have with the Ocean and it's creatures. It was their whole world and everything depended from the quality of that relationship.One cute example: Grace, wife of Mr. Watts had made a family tree that begins with fish. It's a good read that proves that stories can often have the life changing powers.
My last sentence reminded me about the Northern Exposure. There you can often find a shaman's story that is said to have healing properties. I experience that as with every episode I learn something new, something fascinating that makes me want to think about my life.
As for the weather forecast follow up: It's snowing. Is it a Christmas miracle? I think so!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Book Two: Cecelia Ahern: "Where Rainbows End"
Pages:584
My new read...well, I've already finished it so not that new I guess...was so hard to put down that I actually ended up reading it till the 1 o'clock at night. It was a story of two best friends Rosie and Alex from the age of six or seven and finished in their fifties. It nearly gave me a heart attack as I wanted the main characters to get together so much. I absolutely loved the story and the idea of writing a book consisting of letters, emails or instant messages only.Cecelia is a genius I can't get enough of her books.
And the Book Club was such a step forward to me. It was exactly how I imagined it would be. There it was, in the library at 6.30 pm, around 10 ladies gathered to discuss a book of the month. It wasn't like school at all, thank God, but more like casual, social gathering of people who love books. I felt so good even on my way there, it was just my thing so instead of a buggy I had a bag full of books. I felt like a student again. The weather was nice and it was a pleasure to walk. I really feel very hopeful in this new journey of mine.I loved the coffee, I loved the friendly faces, the atmosphere. So now I have two books to read for next month: Lloyd Jones "Mister Pip" recommended by Jack and Judy and David Wroblewski's (not Polish though)"Story of Edgar Sawtelle"(Oprah's Book Club). The second one is extra as it won the hearts of all the members of the book club. I'm a bit afraid of that one as it has almost 600 pages, very small print and not so easy to read language (maybe that's how they write in Wisconsin) so keep your fingers crossed.
Now the most important part: Thankfully I don't have much time to read now as I WRITE. I write, write and write and feel excellent and I really love that. Hopefully in 3 months I'll finish it and then I can start preparing myself, Nik and Nataniel for the big trip to Australia. I want to go there for few years now and maybe now it will finally come true.
As for my cooking skills they seem to take a break as lately my beetroot cake looked like a volcano and my seafood sauce...was good ...but cold (I forgot to warm it up before pouring over the potatoes during a party with our friends from Dundalk). I'm forgetful again. If I wasn't sure I would think that I'm pregnant(it was like my head went for holidays during the whole 9 months). Eh, hopefully the phase will pass and I'll be a Super Dooper Master Chef again.
My new read...well, I've already finished it so not that new I guess...was so hard to put down that I actually ended up reading it till the 1 o'clock at night. It was a story of two best friends Rosie and Alex from the age of six or seven and finished in their fifties. It nearly gave me a heart attack as I wanted the main characters to get together so much. I absolutely loved the story and the idea of writing a book consisting of letters, emails or instant messages only.Cecelia is a genius I can't get enough of her books.
And the Book Club was such a step forward to me. It was exactly how I imagined it would be. There it was, in the library at 6.30 pm, around 10 ladies gathered to discuss a book of the month. It wasn't like school at all, thank God, but more like casual, social gathering of people who love books. I felt so good even on my way there, it was just my thing so instead of a buggy I had a bag full of books. I felt like a student again. The weather was nice and it was a pleasure to walk. I really feel very hopeful in this new journey of mine.I loved the coffee, I loved the friendly faces, the atmosphere. So now I have two books to read for next month: Lloyd Jones "Mister Pip" recommended by Jack and Judy and David Wroblewski's (not Polish though)"Story of Edgar Sawtelle"(Oprah's Book Club). The second one is extra as it won the hearts of all the members of the book club. I'm a bit afraid of that one as it has almost 600 pages, very small print and not so easy to read language (maybe that's how they write in Wisconsin) so keep your fingers crossed.
Now the most important part: Thankfully I don't have much time to read now as I WRITE. I write, write and write and feel excellent and I really love that. Hopefully in 3 months I'll finish it and then I can start preparing myself, Nik and Nataniel for the big trip to Australia. I want to go there for few years now and maybe now it will finally come true.
As for my cooking skills they seem to take a break as lately my beetroot cake looked like a volcano and my seafood sauce...was good ...but cold (I forgot to warm it up before pouring over the potatoes during a party with our friends from Dundalk). I'm forgetful again. If I wasn't sure I would think that I'm pregnant(it was like my head went for holidays during the whole 9 months). Eh, hopefully the phase will pass and I'll be a Super Dooper Master Chef again.
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