2010 Book 25 - The Forgotten Garden

I just finished Kate Morton's novel The Forgotten Garden and loved it. But, before I get into the reasons why I loved this book let's take a look at the back-cover write-up.

A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book - a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, "Nell" sets out to trace her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell's death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. A spellbinding tale of mystery and self-discovery. The Forgotten Garden will take hold of your imagination and never let go.

First and foremost, this book is really a mystery, what really happened way back when and while I had a really good idea of what really happened about 2/3 of the way through, it was really intriguing to learn the bits and pieces and how Kate Morton fleshed out the story. (Oh and there was the relationship of the generations of women and I'm all about enjoying tales that weave in the mother/daughter dynamic.) AND, on top of the whole story-line there was the locale and how it was described...beautiful!!!

Admittedly, this isn't a book for everybody. The intrigue that is in this mystery is of a very subtle, romantic flavor and not shoot-em-up-who-dunnit. It is a mystery of why, which I love. Enjoy!!

Oh, and I've hit my goal for the year of 25 books and I still have time to probably get at least one more book in and then I can claim averaging a book every other week.

2010 Book 24 - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon over the weekend. I thought this was great!! Here is what the back says:

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7, 057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

It is a story about a boy with what I'm assuming is Asbergers. This would be another in a series where I've come across characters with this. I recently watched the movie Adam, which is a very sweet movie about a man with Asbergers; and there is a little boy in the series Parenthood, which I've taken to watching, who also has this. With watching these shows and reading the book, I am really amazed at the care-takers of these people (of course I'm amazed at any care-takers).

Okay, so back to the book.... It is a really fast read and very insightful. AND, the chapters are numbered in prime numbers (because the narrator, Christopher, is a math genius and he thinks in primes). I admit that I love prime numbers and at times when I'm working out or doing something repetitive I like to see how far I can count in prime numbers...is that weird?

Anyway, I would highly recommend this book to pretty much anybody.

(I think next year I'll come up with a rating system for my book reviews.....)

What Was I Thinking

I became my four year old self today....

There is a story in our family of a time when I was fourish sitting in the family room of my grandparents' living room, there was a football game on and all the "men-folk" (Dad, uncles, grand-father) were watching the game. I was using my snub-nose scissors cutting out paper dolls. For some reason, I decided to take these scissors and whack a chunk of hair out of the middle of my cute four year old bangs. None of the "men-folk" seemed to notice....

Anyway, that was really just to give a little background on why today I became my four year old self again.

I've been sitting here reading some incredibly boring work stuff and playing with my hair as it was drying and decided that I needed a haircut. As you may or may not know I'm in the process of growing my hair out so that I can donate it when it gets long enough. It is getting really close to being long enough, except for the ends have been color treated, so I have to let it grow out longer so as to not include the colored part in the length. Well, today, as I'm twirling my hair, I decided that I was just going to cut it....I chopped probably 3 inches off.....just whack whack whack. I probably should have gone to a professional, but whatever....it'll grow back, right?

Margarita Ball Update

Last night I went to the 2010 Margarita Ball as mentioned in my previous (slightly drunk) post. This was a dress-up event where men wore tuxedos and women wore fancy party dresses. My friend Jennifer got the tickets and convinced me that I wanted to go. When I asked what one would wear to such an event, she told me and described it as "prom for adults". This wasn't really all that helpful since I didn't go to my first prom.....but I managed to pull off a grown up fancy look and had a certain amount of fun (up until I got tired and my feet started hurting in my cute strappy sandals). Here are some things that I observed at this adult prom and I wonder how many of these would have been seen at my prom some 20 years ago....

• Free flowing margaritas while they lasted
• Silent auction, including an Audi convertible and spa trips to Fiji
• Drink tickets
• Stripper poles, with GoGo dancers (I couldn't convince Jennifer to get up on the stripper box and while I felt confident on how to get up there.....there was no way I could actually work the pole.)
• Fake boobs....lots of 'em
• Mountain of toys
• Aged women in slinky, animal-print dresses (who knew leopard dresses with spangles were in style)
• Casino tables
• Dirty-old men with very young women in very short slinky dresses
• Did I mention the mountain of toys? That was the coolest part.

I think if Jennifer asks me back next year, I will definitely do this again. It was great fun and I've learned some things that will hopefully improve the experience next time.....for one, I'll take a nap so that I can keep going past midnight.