Passatempo "A Vingança do Lobo" II - resultado

O Passatempo " A Vingança do Lobo" em parceria com o blog D311nh4.

Contou com 152 participações.

O feliz premiado é: 

 

92. Rodrigo  Bernardo (Queluz)

Parabéns!!!!

 

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Part Of The Synopsis From The Dust Jacket:

All children mythologize their birth.... So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's collection of short stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.

The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself - all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret.  Now old and ailing ,s he at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life.  She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain.  Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter's story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.

I'm in love.  I don't think there is any other way I can put it.  After reading The Little Stranger I realized I really enjoy Gothic fiction.  After finishing The Thirteenth Tale, I'm in love with it.  I don't know how much of it I will read this year since the reading list in my head is pretty full already, but I'm looking forward to whatever I'm able to cram in.

What I loved about this book, and I won't get into many specific details, is the interaction between Vida and Margaret.  Their lives, while different in many ways, have a very tragic core to them that unites them at times and allows Vida to tell her tale.  And what a tale it is.  By piggybacking on their joint childhood pain, Vida is able to manipulate the narrative, allowing Margaret to see the truth and get distracted all at the same time.  It's a wonderful exploration of using personal narrative to tell a life story.  What parts of that story truly matter, which parts are simply window dressing, and which parts are purely fictional and only existed in the imagination.  Vida Winter is the true wordsmith of her life and it shows as she twists and weaves the truth with a bit of misleading information that fogs Margret's eyesight and keeps her from coming to the correct conclusions before Vida is ready.

There wasn't anything that I didn't love about this book.  I loved Vida's narrative style as she spun tales about her family, the Angelfields.  She brought each and every once of them to life as they interacted with each other and their home.  There is nothing out of place and every detail is needed to explain the actions of the wild twin girls, their adulteress governess and the last two remaining staff who keep secrets better than anyone.  The book is a treasure to read from the marbled green pattern your eyes see when you first crack open the cover to the carefully chosen words on every page.  This will be a book I keep and reread for a long time to come.

When 'Forget You' Just Isn't Enough!

Oscar Dreams

One quick followup to my Oscar post. I'm very pleased with all of The King's Speech victories. They helped my Oscar ballot with 17 of 24 correct. Hurrah!

I loved David Seidler's acceptance speech. He won for Best Original Screenplay. Elderly white haired gentleman who overcame a stutter - this award obviously meant the world. He began by saying that his father always said he'd be a "late bloomer". Classy and understated. Wow!

Kudos to him.

I love the movies. This year's Academy Awards show was a tad boring, trying too hard to be hip and cool. And yet, when it came down to the actual victors - they gave really heartfelt speeches, they are true to their craft, and they epitomize acting star quality. It was worth paying my $$$ and sitting in the dark and spending precious time to enjoy their performances.

Hooray for Hollywood and here's to the David Seidler's of the world. Write, write, write, create, and dream.

Oscar awaits

And the Oscar goes to.......

Hello Lovelies! I have returned!

So last night was a big night here in the downtown of wonderland. The 83rd Academy Awards! All the streets were blocked off for the fabulous after parties and Hollywood's finest were on the prowl. While sadly I was unable to watch them (I was busy wrapping a VERY long day of filming on an exciting project I can't wait to share with you, but unfortunately have no sneaky peakies of due to hush hushness), I definitely did not miss the opportunity this morning to look at the Oscar fashion!!

And here are the nominees!

Best Dressed - COLOR COLOR COLOR!!! Oh the joy of color this year. The women AND MEN came dressed to impress!

Christian Bale and Mark Walberg

Sandra Bullock

Scarlett Johanson

My lady love Natalie Portman

Jennifer Hudson

Michelle Williams

Jennifer Lawrence

Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz

Cate Blanchet

Halle Berry

Jeremy Renner

Justin Timberlake

Camilla Alves and Matthew McConaughey

But the winner for me is a tie between Mila Kunis (again! Killin in!) and the many costumes of Anne Hathaway. She was gorgeous! The red dresses are my favorite.

And for Best make-up.....

Anne Hathaway

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Hudson

Michelle Williams (more for hair though. I lover her cut!)

Scarlett Johanson

And the winner again is Mila Kunis! I think I have a new girl crush.

And I had to include this picture simply because it's precious (Amy Adams)

Stay Tuned!

XOXO

KoRn - Here To Stay

Os ofrezco hoy una de las mejores canciones de KoRn en mi opinión. "Here To Stay" cuenta con practicamente todo lo que se le pide a una buena canción, un excelente y pegadizo riff principal, un estribillo soberbio y grandes interludios. Si además le añadimos un vídeo más que interesante se obtiene un resultado óptimo.
La verdad, es que se echa mucho de menos a Head, sobre todo cuando escuchamos los estribillos de los últimos discos y no oímos esa guitarra chillando por detrás de los potentes riffs de Munky. En mi opinión, tras la marcha de Brian el grupo ha ido tirando de la mano de Munky hacia un estilo más industrial, en donde los riffs son más fuertes, los acordes agudos menos frecuentes y sobre todo algunas partes surrealistas y "locas" al más puro estilo System of a Down con una guitarra de 7 cuerdas.
Aquí os queda un clásico de KoRn, "Here To Stay":

The Fifth Servant by Kenneth Wishnia

Synopsis From Back Cover:

In 1592, Prague is a relatively safe refuge for Jews who live within the gates walls of its ghetto.  But the peace is threatened when a young Christian girl found with her throat slashed in a Jewish shop on the eve of Passover.  Charged with blood libel, the shopkeeper and his family are arrested, and all that stands in the way of a rabid Christian mob is a clever Talmudic scholar, newly arrived from Poland, named Benyamin Ben-Akiva.  Granted just three days to bring the true killer to justice - hampered by rabbinic law, with no allies or connections, and only his wits, knowledge, and faith to guide him - Benyamin sets off on a desperate search for answers.  Following a twisting trail form the streets to the shul, from the forbidden back rooms of a ghetto brothel to the emperor Rudolf II's lavish palace, he will dare the impossible - and commit the unthinkable - to save the Jews of Prague...and himself.

When I finished reading The Fifth Servant I wasn't really sure what I was feeling.  To tell you the truth, I'm still not really sure as I'm sitting here, typing up my review.  I think I may end up rambling a bit, so I apologize in advance.  If I don't end up doing that, so much the better.

The book sounds like, from the synopsis, that it's going to be a historical murder mystery.  One side of that equation worked for me, the other half I'm still a bit wishy washy about.  Where this book more than succeeded for me was in bringing the time period to life.  It's obvious that the author did a lot of research for the book and that attention to detail made the streets breathe in a way I've not felt in a historical novel before.  I could visualize in my mind streets and building as they were being described to me.  I could feel the fear and anger expressed by both Jew and Christian as tempers flared as the situation was reaching critical mass.  I'm going to be honest in saying that I really never paid all that much attention to the state of Jews in 16th century Europe.  Like most people I could have told you that they probably didn't have the best times and that they were persecuted, horrifically at times.  But I couldn't have told you much more than that.  This book gave me a glimpse into the day to day lives of Jewish people who are forced to live in a walled ghetto, surrounded by thousands of people who would gladly kill them for the smallest reason.  I felt that I came out of this book knowing a little more about Jewish culture and religion, and I feel blessed for that.

What really brought the "reality" home for me was the use of language.  The author uses Czech, German, and Yiddish throughout the book.  I'm going to admit that I found the foreign words a distraction in the beginning, especially when I had to flip back and forth to the glossary in the back.  But as the story progressed I found myself, not necessarily understanding the words, becoming more familiar with them.  They didn't seem out of place after a while and I think without them, the story would have been lacking.  If ever I read a book where words mattered, this would be one of them.

Now where this story didn't really grab me was in the mystery side.  I found the murder itself to be almost an afterthought and not really well developed.  Instead of the murder and the subsequent investigation being the vehicle and driver of the story, it seemed to interrupt the narrative.  I found myself  not caring all that much and wanting to get back to the rest of the story.  I still can't really tell you how Benyamin solves it because the end is so rushed that I'm sure I missed something.

My only other quibble, and it's slight, is the point of view the story is told in.  When Benyamin is on the page, it's all told in the first person.  When the story shifts, it's told in the third person.  Now I know most people wouldn't notice or care about that, but I found myself getting annoyed at times.  It didn't do any damage to my enjoyment of the story since I plan on reading this one again.  I have a feeling this will be a book that on each reread, I will discover something new.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  You can find more reviews by visiting the tour page.

Challenges:  A-Z, M&S

Mailbox Monday for 2/28/11

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme created by Marcia at The Printed Page and is being hosted all this month by Laura of Library of Clean Reads.

I won a hardcover of The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino from Stephanie at Misfit Salon

Finally -- some backyard birding!

I went out today and got some Wiscoy's Best birdseed, some nyjer thistle and a sock, and one of those big hooks and set up my backyard for the birds!

AB gave me a fancy feeder when we moved in here, but the birds ate all the seed pretty quickly -- and I didn't have time to even watch them do it. So today, I set it all up, turned on the camera, and took some time to enjoy. Here are the fruits of my labor.

I first chopped up the downed branches from a recent windstorm into firewood:
It was an outdoorsy kind of day. Then I set everything up. Here's the suet feeder with suet from Baby G (another present):

The crook and bird feeder and the thistle sock on my makeshift pole:


After I'd been inside for a while, the birds got brave and started dive-bombing the feeder:I had at least three different White-breasted Nuthatches
at least four or five Tufted Titmice
even Mrs. Cardinal made a brief appearance!

Here was a thrill: an American Tree Sparrow showing off his hatpin spot:
And one brave nuthatch even scoped out the suet, though he didn't eat any:

No one touched the thistle sock either, but I'm hopeful. I also had some birds who weren't quite brave enough to approach the window feeders:This Dark-eyed Junco practically pulled a Woody Harrelson and beat me up for taking his picture.

I also had a picture of a beautiful male Northern Cardinal who came as close as the rocks at the back of the yard but no closer -- however, my camera seems to have eaten that photo. Hmmm....

Here's the whole backyard, starting with the window feeder set-up:

The rocks in the back right corner, where I've placed some corncobs to keep the squirrels busy and away from my feeders:


The creek that runs behind the house:to left, behind the rocks

the center

the sunset side with the little footbridge

It's a pretty nice backyard, though it's a little small -- the septic and drain field kinda dominate. As a result, I've been researching the growing of vegetables in containers. Come spring, I'll have tomatoes, peppers, corn, carrots, herbs, and squash -- all grown in containers! More on that to come -- as soon as it warms up.

Sunday Funnies