Sunday Caught My Interest

The dog is curled up on the couch, the cat is complaining about the weather, Eldest is downstairs with friends, and himself is at a rocket launch. It would be a perfect Sunday if I just had a little more time to read. I spent a couple of days away from home this week going to Seattle for some shopping and a friend’s appointment. That all put me behind as well as eating into what little time I had to read. My book group did have a good discussion about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society mainly focused on book publicity and what makes a best-seller a best-seller. And I did get a few more pages read in The Translation of the Bones and hope to finish it this week.

Here is what caught my interest this week:

One of the actors I remember from my youth is Dirk Bograde. While his films didn’t stick in my mind (aside from A Bridge too Far) he was someone always on the edges. What I didn’t know was that he was also an author, of both novels and memoir. Fleur Fisher reviews one of his early memoirs, Great Meadow: An Evocation. From 1927-1934 Bogarde lived in a remote cottage on the Sussex Downs with his sister and a nanny. The slim book offers the reader a look at a past time, before the world changed – a boy’s recollection filtered through an adult’s sensibilities.

I have mentioned before my affection for Honore de Balzac and Tom, of A Common Reader, reviews a wonderful book called Balzac’s Omelet: A Delicious Tour of French Food and Culture with Honore de Balzac by Anka Muhlstein. What could be better than a look at all that is wonderful about France through the eyes of one of my favorite authors.

My cat had a hard day today as there were murderers in the house. That meant he had to spend the afternoon hiding in my closet after spending a morning fussing at eldest and I about his dissatisfaction with the weather, the lack of attention he was getting, the amount of attention the dog was getting, etc. Needless to say I love speculating about how my cat sees the world. Lucky for me, Diane of Bibliophile by the Sea, highlights the first paragraphs of Chinese Whiskers by Pallavi Aiyar, the story of contemporary Beijing through the eyes two cats. The opening section definitely has me putting this book on the list.

On the subject of cats, my mom and I were recalling the story of our Siamese, Dewey, who became lost shortly after she moved. My mother and her dog would walk in every larger circles around the neighborhood calling and eventually found Dewey, who in true cat fashion, chastised them both for not being where the cat needed them to be. Diane (Bibliophile by the Sea), who must be in the midst of a cat-read-a-thon, gives me a book just published this month – Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology by Caroline Paul. This is a true story of Paul’s lost and found cat. Wondering about where the cat has been Caroline and her partner Wendy MacNaughton (the illustrator of the book) attach at tiny GPS unit to the cat’s collar and do a little investigating.

Finally, Leeswammes, on her anniversary post, reminds me of her list of Dystopia Fiction for Adults and for those of you who regularly reread Jane Austin (including myself and other members of my family) an article for you in Slate Magazine

Happy Reading!

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