Sunday Salon - 8/5/12

• This week I continued with my exercise routine that I started 4 weeks ago. It entails going to a gym, just for women, with a 30 minute circuit of machines as a trainer motivates us to really give it everything we've got. And then most evenings I go for a fast walk lasting ≈ 45 minutes while listening to my current audiobook. I've noticed improvements in both inches and energy levels. It's been difficult in the heat and humidity, but I feel great when I'm finished! I'm currently listening to A Discovery of Witches. At about a a third of the way through, I'm really starting to enjoy it. I don't really like to read books about vampires and romance, but this one has a lot of references to historical events and I am intrigued.

• Spent a lot of time sending out invitations for my daughter's party - it should be fun on a boat!

• Visited friends who live on Shelter Island during the summer months. It is gorgeous there! My daughter and her friends went tubing in the bay, and we both had a great day. I didn't take any pictures but here are some I found online:

• Having a hard time finishing the last 30 pages of Let the Great World Spin. I need to just finish! Reading during the summer months should be easy and enjoyable, but I find that with the family home and going on lots of day trips - I have little time to read. I will make more of an effort.

Have a great Sunday!

 

Wordless Wednesday

Our kitten - Link (also known as Paul) - getting ready to catch the ball.

Sunday Salon

• My decluttering challenge has been going along very well. Ever since I started on April 18, 2012, I have been throwing away or giving away one item every day. It has become a habit for me. Sometimes it's difficult to find an item, but I just keep looking in my drawers or closet, and I am able to find something unnecessary. I feel lighter and happier. It seems to come with having more space for the things I love and need. I just got rid of 4 pairs of hockey skates and helmets today from my garage. Some else will be able to use these. They were collecting at the local ice-skating rink. It feels good! I plan to continue this for a year and then see what happens. I love being able to know what I have in my closet.
• I read The Power of Habit  and I decided to see if the author's method would work for me with my nail biting. Now this isn't why I took this book out from the library. My friend had said it was good and I'm always trying to come up with good habits to get the most out of life - like cleaning, writing, etc.  Anyway, he mentions how one woman used his method to stop biting her nails, and I thought I should try this! I can't believe it - in just a little over a week I had stopped biting and now it's been about 6 weeks. I get manicures to encourage me to continue and I think it helps to strengthen the nails. But I'm really happy not to have to spend a lot of money on nail tips. 
• I have been listening to so many great books lately that I am so glad that I started listening to audiobooks. Thank you to my fellow bloggers!! I listen all the time - mostly when driving, but also while watering my lawns, waiting on supermarket lines, and waiting for appointments. I love to hear some of these beautiful stories come alive through their narrators. Just recently on audiobook I loved American Dervish and Middlesex. I love to drive anyway, but now I'm the driver for all trips to amusement parks and friends' homes no matter how far away they are. I always have my books to listen to on the way back home.
• Have a great Sunday!

Sunday Salon

I have been missing for quite a while from writing reviews for my blog. I have decided to publicly announce my efforts to write at least one review or post a week. I have recently read The Art of Non-Conformity based on the recommendation of Erin Reads blog, and I have found it to have had the wonderful effect of motivating me more than any other book on the topic of changing one's life (and I have read many!). Chris Guillebeau, the author of The Art of Non-Conformity, has a blog which I hope will continue to inspire me to make genuine, lasting changes to my life, as well as the new blog by Erin of Erin Reads - {re}made by hand. These past 2 weeks I have started to declutter one or more similar objects everyday. And the feeling that comes from releasing items, which had only made me feel guilty for the money I wasted on the purchase of this unnecessary item, is wonderful! There is a greater sense of peace and clarity of mind by having less clutter around. I feel more in control and in possession of a greater knowledge of the things I want in my life. Reading has been an important part of my life since my earliest memories of childhood. It makes me happy! This is one of my passions I wish to pursue on a more consistent basis and in greater depth (actually review the books). Guillebeau recommends writing 1,000 words a day. For now, my goal will be to just write my thoughts everyday after reading and then count up the words. This will help me to then write the review more easily.

The past few months I have been reading a lot of great books. I always find myself drifting towards non-fiction titles. I don't know if it is because they are quicker reads or I'm just interested in a variety of topics. But I must remind myself of the feelings evoked inside me when I read fiction: weeping as Lady Jane Grey, an innocent young girl, is beheaded in Innocent Traitor; changing my feelings daily for Jaime, the Kingslayer, in A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series; feeling as though I am a part of the magical circus in The Night Circus - I remember practicing with my brother to be circus performers day after day when we were youngsters.

I would like to read 6 books a month, with 4 being the minimum. As life changes from month to month and the crazy trials that come with being in a family of six, this will be my goal!

Hope we all have a great reading week!

Review: The Night Circus (audiobook)

Title: The Night Circus (audiobook)
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Narrator: Jim Dale
Genre/Date: Fantasy/2011
Audio Length: 13 hrs, 39 mins
Source: Audible purchase
My rating: 4.5/5

I really enjoyed Water for Elephants which is a book whose characters are part of the circus, so I figured another book about the circus would be of interest to me. However, The Night Circus is completely different. It is a magical, lyrical, and imaginative work with all the characters completely engrossed, enmeshed, and consumed by the circus called Le Cirque des Reves.

Its very soothing prose set to the melodic voice of Jim Dale lends itself to daydreaming about running away to the circus and forever living as either a circus performer or a spectator for eternity. In a world filled with black and white striped tents, ice gardens, and all sorts of chocolate sweets, Celia and Marco are set against each in a contest of magical abilities. Celia has been trained by her father, the famous magician Prospero, since the age of 5 after her mother committed suicide; Marco has been selected from an orphanage while a child to be trained by A.H., the "man in the gray suit". Neither of them fully understands the true meaning of this contest, either the rules of it or how one wins it. When they do realize the true meaning of the contest and what a folly it is, they must figure out a way to change it. They realize they are completely in love with each other, and cannot continue to be pawns in their teachers' game.

Some of the characters in this story are fascinating. I loved the red-haired twins, Poppet and Widget, who grow up in the circus as performers. They are honest, funny, and oddly mesmerizing. They have a wonderful relationship with a boy named Bailey who becomes entwined in the circus after a dare with his sister. This part of the story brings the circus to life and entices the reader to want to run and get tickets to the circus. Anyone would want to visit tents filled with clouds that you can fly from, wishing trees, or jars filled with the magic to transport you to places of extreme beauty.

As I was listening to this story, I was wondering where it was leading me. Part of me felt that this story was similar to Alice in Wonderland. In both of these stories, I thought that the authors were writing and following along where their imaginations rambled - that the plot of the story was not thought out in advance. I am probably wrong about this, but I could not help these thoughts from surfacing in me from time to time. Maybe this is what interests me about both of these books. 

I plan to visit this book again in the future. I will want to return to the innocent times during the late 19th century when the circus was one of the most entertaining places for both children and adults to visit.

Review: A Game Of Thrones (audiobook)

Title: A Game of Thrones
Author: George R.R. Martin
Narrator: Roy Dotrice
Genre/Date: Fantasy/1996
Audio Length: 33 hours, 50 mins
Source: Audible Purchase
My Rating: 5/5

This is a fantasy series I have heard a lot of great things about, and I'm very happy that I began it. It was hard to begin another lengthy audiobook, but this production was fascinating and very difficult to put down. I liked it so much that when I was about four-fifths through it, I decided to begin all over again, just to make sure I understood all the characters and their families and histories. There is much to grasp here, and I knew I wanted to continue with the next book soon. Also, when I first began the audiobook, I had a difficult time understanding the narrator, Roy Dotrice. He has a distinctive yet somewhat gruff voice. But I grew to love his interpretations of the various characters, in particular the female ones. Now I think he is the perfect narrator for this book!

The winter is coming! And the seven kingdoms should be preparing for it. They have had many years of summer and only the old ones remember and tell the stories of winter. Instead all are focusing on who will be the new king and have power over the seven kingdoms. They are not realizing what is happening up north. The children of the forest and the undead with blue eyes are returning. This is where the armies should be amassing. Instead the Lannister family have seized power after King Robert Baratheon has been suspiciously killed by a boar. The Stark family of Winterfell are comprised of: Lord Eddard; his wife Catelyn Tully formerly of Riverrun in the South; Robb, the eldest of their 5 children at 14; Sansa the eldest daughter at 11 and betrothed to Prince Joffrey Lannister, a pretender to the throne; Arya, a spirited 9 year old girl (one of my favorite characters); Bran at 7 who succumbs to the treachery of Jaime Lannister; and the toddler Rickon. But not to be missed is Eddard's bastard son Jon Sno, just months younger than Robb, who is a Eddard's son by a mysterious woman no one ever talks about. Jon has gone to the wall protecting the seven kingdoms from the north to be a brother of the Night's Watch. Meanwhile, across the sea in the land of the barbaric Dothroki there is the only survivor of the Targaryen family, Daenerys, whose brothers and father, King Aerys, were killed years ago and their family's throne wrenched away by Jaime Lannister. She is from the family of dragons who no longer exist, but may return. She plans to come back from exile and reclaim the throne.

This story reads very much like historical fiction because the details are very accurate to what could have happened in the the middle ages in Britain. However, the magical parts add another level which is fascinating with the inclusion of dragons, the undead, the children of the forest, the trees with faces, and the dark magic.

This story relates each important characters' perspective, even through the eyes of a child, and it is done masterfully. I enjoyed all the varying viewpoints and would be sad to leave one part of the story, only to once again become intensely engrossed in another part of the story. This was a wonderful listen and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Reading Plans for January 2012

I want to focus more on goals for each month and it will help me to end the year with most of the books I wanted to read finished. Time marches on and there are so many books I want to read, so a plan is the right step for me. I still want to read long books and not worry that I haven't read enough for the year and I will enjoy each book as it comes. And if that means I have to go back and reread or relisten to a portion, I will do it. It's not a race, but a pleasant jog through literature. These choices can change, but will help when I end up procrastinating not knowing which book to choose next. Most of the time I will just grab a non-fiction title because I find it easier to begin. I will try to change this with a monthly list. For now, I'm shooting for 6 titles per month which will get me to 72 total for the year. I think this is a more modest approach for me at this time. I would like at some point to read around 100 books per year and I will get there one of these years!

The Night Circus (audiobook) by Erin Morgenstern
The Myth of "Bloody Mary": A Biography of Queen Mary I of England by Linda Porter
A Clash of Kings (audiobook) by George R.R. Martin
A Thousand Pleasant Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Review: The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers

Title: The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by
         His Fool, Will Somers
Author: Margaret George
Date of Publication: 1986
Genre/Pages: Historical Fiction / 930 pages
Source: Amazon Purchase for my iPad
My Rating: 4.5/5

This novel was written as though Henry is the author and Will Somers, his fool, has added his thoughts to the King's journal after Henry has died. This "autobiography" starts with Henry's first memories and ends with Will Somers asking the King what are his actual first memories, the day before Henry dies. This is an account of Henry Tudor and his reign of England with all the details of his relationships with his wives, councilors, courtiers, and family members. It puts a positive spin on Henry's decisions as king because this novel is told as if directly from Henry's viewpoint. Somers' notes serve to give the reader background information which Henry would assume, if he had actually written this autobiography, the people reading it would know and understand. I found the notes added by the fool Somers to be witty and informative.

From the beginning we can see that Henry spent very little time with his mother and that his father was devoted to Arthur, the oldest son and future king. This was very common for the children of nobility to spend years away from their parents and be raised by governesses and other tutors. It is also shown in this novel how gullible Henry allowed himself to be, having been tricked by many of the women in his life. Maybe this is because of his lack of a close female relationship growing up, in particular with his mother.


This novel focuses on Henry's desire to bring changes to the Catholic church in England, but not to change it so much so that Protestantism would grow out of control. It's interesting to me that Henry was really a Catholic at heart, but he did not want the Pope telling him what to do, or anyone else for that matter.  Henry did not like to follow the rules, so his philosophy was to get rid of anyone who tried to control him with said rules. Henry was brought up to be a religious man as an adult, and Arthur was to be the king of England. But it did not turn out that way, when Arthur died at the young age of 15. Henry studied and knew much about Catholicism; he appears to have been very religious with his attendance at daily mass. This was a given practice for all the nobility. It is ironic that Henry's personal goals (closing the monastaries and confiscating their treasures and divorcing whenever it suited him) would lead to the rise of Protestantism in England, but this may have happened anyway with the rise of it on mainland Europe. 


It is hard for me to understand how one minute Henry could absolutely love a person, such as Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell, taking their advice for many years and knowing them on such a deep level, and then completely reverse his feelings for them.  It is difficult to try to place oneself in Henry's shoes and see if you would be able to command their heads to be chopped off.

This novel is a very good narrative about the life of Henry. It made me feel sympathy for him, and I did not think that would ever be possible. This book accomplishes the goal of getting the reader in touch with what must have been the feelings of Henry, gaining insight into his fluctuating behavior.  I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and learned even more and with greater depth a knowledge of Henry Tudor, the man and King of England.