Category: Ruminations

Saturday Snapshot: First and Last Books

On By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot20 Comments

I thought I’d share a couple of recent book purchases this week.

A Tale of Time City is one of the first Diana Wynne Jones books I ever read, and oddly enough, is the first of her books I’ve deliberately set out to buy.  I’ve read many, many of her books, but all from the library, and the only ones I own are ones I happened to stumble on at a library book sale, or got as a gift.  My collection is woefully small, and I thought I’d better do something about that–so I started by buying this lovely new edition of one of my favorites.

The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery is my last L. M. Montgomery book.  I have read and own every other published book of her writing.  Novels, short stories, poetry, letters, journals, autobiography–I have it all.  This is the last one.  At least, until someone, somewhere, somehow decides to publish the 200-odd additional short stories that exist in an archive but are not currently available.  In the meantime, I’ll just have to have a bittersweet read through the last new-to-me book of L. M. Montgomery writing. Although the name makes me laugh–having read everything else, I’ve read her journals where she commented that she didn’t like having her full name written out.  Now I’m always amused when people do that!

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Saturday Snapshot: Lyrics as Art

On By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot14 Comments

I was looking around for inspiration this week, and decided on my own walls.  I like all of my art to have a story.  A few have songs, and I thought I’d share those today.  Sort of meldings of art mediums.

These two pictures were a gift from a friend, who got them from her friend who bought them from an artist selling them by the Thames.  The hard-to-read lyric in the middle (sorry for the glare!) is “Part of me still has never come back from London,” from the beautiful song by Barry Manilow, “London.”  And it’s true–I went to London when I was sixteen, and part of me has never come back.  I suppose that’s why I’ve been dreaming of getting back ever since.  I don’t plan to ever move there; I have too many ties on this side of the ocean.  But part of me has never left London.

I bought this poster because I wanted to put up the song quote.  I had to hunt quite a bit for a good picture of the sky (harder to find than you’d think).  The line is from “A Piece of Sky,” a song from Yentil, but what counts for me is that Michael Crawford put it on his A Touch of Music in the Night CD.  The song is all about realizing that there’s a bigger, broader world out there, and deciding to go out and find it, to believe that we don’t have to settle for less, and that we can chase our dreams.  It’s a good thing to be reminded of now and then.

And just to tie it together, going to London is definitely a dream I chase. 🙂

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New Reading Experience: RIP VII

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations16 Comments

The “Readers Imbibing Peril” challenge (experience) is starting up at the beginning of September.  This is another reading event from Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings, and it’s my first year joining in.  As you might guess from the acronym, this challenge is about a creepier side of literature, focusing on mysteries and horror and gothic writing.

This is not quite so much my area as the Once Upon a Time challenge–in fact, it’s not at all my area!  But since Carl’s events are so much fun, I can’t resist jumping in anyway, and I’m willing to try a few books from the darker, more mysterious region of writing.

I have less planned than I’ve done for other challenges.  I think I’ll be conservative and aim for Peril the Second (read two books), Peril of the Short Story, and Peril on Screen.  I have Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie and some Sherlock Holmes to get me started on mysteries.  Northanger Abbey is next on my list from Jane Austen, to bring in the gothic.  And maybe I’ll watch some Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock.  Other than that, I’m curious to see what other people read and review, and expect to pick up some new ideas from that.

And I expect to have an excellent good time. 🙂

Saturday Snapshot: Faux Paris

On By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot18 Comments

I anticipate getting some wonderful shots of London and Paris in the near future–but in the meantime, this week I have fake Paris.

This is the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas.  The Eiffel Tower is immediately obvious, but I had to get farther away and at this angle before it was clear that the middle building is meant to resemble the Paris Opera House.  Or possibly the Library of Congress…

Here’s the real Opera House, until I can get there for a picture myself!

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Saturday Snapshot: Revision

On By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot10 Comments

When I’m not blogging, I am knee-deep in revisions of my novel.

I’m not sure I’ve quite captured the vast amount of scrawling going on.  Even though this round actually involves less drastic change!  It’s all a process…

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