Read This!: The Woman in Black

By Susan Hill

I picked up this book because it seemed like it would have a nice, suspenseful feeling.  I don’t mind a good ghost story as long as it is not too, too scary.  I like a thrill, not not sleeping for a week.

The Woman in Black is told in the first person by Arthur Kipps, a solicitor, who at the age of 23, was sent to take care of the estate of his now-deceased client, Mrs. Drablow.   Kipps travels to the town of Crythin Gifford where he starts to sense that the locals are hiding something regarding the house of Mrs. Drablow and a mysterious woman in black who he keeps seeing.  Full of youth and naivety, Kipps ignores the hints and decides to stay at the remote Eel Marsh House alone, except for a dog.  Soon, Kipps starts to understand why the locals all stay away as his experiences at the house become more and more frightening.

For the majority of the book, I thought the story was intriguing but not quite scary and was a bit disappointed.  Then, I got to the end.  And I have to say at the time, I wasn’t super impressed but the more I thought about it afterwards, the more it bothered me.  So I guess in the end, Susan Hill was successful in her ghost story.

The only part of the book that really annoyed me was the fact that I couldn’t place what time the book was supposed to be taking place.  It was written in 1983 but was not set in 1983.  I thought it was set in Victorian England but then they talked about motor cards and lights so I am guessing it’s later.  I found this really frustrating.

I also wondered how much Mrs. Drablow herself experienced at the house and wished that would have been explained.

I will also say, in closing, that this book was recently made into a movie.  I would like to see the movie because I think a lot of the spookiness would be better conveyed through sound and visual.  

Read This!: The Almost Moon

Book challenge: Book that you’ve been avoiding

By Alice Sebold

Many years ago, when it first came out, I read The Lovely Bones cover to cover, non-stop.  As a result, when I learned that Alice Sebold had released a new book, The Almost Moon, I asked for and received it for Christmas without actually knowing what it was about.  Because I had asked for it, Greeney thought she would read it and did.  Alas, her review was not very good.  After telling me some things regarding the story and how dark and disturbing she found it to be, I decided to put off reading it…   For years…  Until last week.  This is why it counts as the book I have been avoiding for the book challenge.

The Almost Moon, told in first person by Helen Knightly, recounts how she murdered her mentally ill mother and her life for the 24 hours afterwards.  Throughout the story, we get flashbacks that depict her life with her mother, her mentally ill father, her ex-husband, etc. that “set the stage” so to speak for what is to come. 

The story is definitely dark and disturbing but maybe not so much as I was preparing myself for. 

Alice Sebold, I think, is a gifted writer.  Even though this won’t make my 100 Books to Read before You Die list, I found it hard to put it down.

Happy Easter!

Mad Men & Other TV Notes

I only have a few (late) comments on this week's Mad Men:

First, Roger continued to be the king of one-liners and of course lord of inappropriateness. What was Roger’s most offensive comment:

1) Referring to Don’s new secretary as “it’s always darkest before the Dawn?”
2) Commenting to Peggy about Michael, the new copywriter, “everyone has one these days”?
3) Or saying in response to Don’s news about Betty’s illness, “well that would solve a lot of problems”?

Oh, Roger.

This week’s episode seems to have had two divisive issues that I’ll address:

First is what I’ll refer to as the Michael Ginsberg issue. For whatever reasons, in many of the comments I’ve read people sure do hate the new Jewish copywriter. For my part I think he’s got real potential and I enjoyed his scenes with Peggy. I envision the two of them having some fun (and not so fun) conflicts. The main criticism seems to be that his personality was over the top and possibly playing into a stereotype. But I think that’s the point. He’s acting like one person in the office to impress everyone and stand out, but as we see when he goes home he’s much more reserved. In this respect he’s not unlike Don (who’s not only playing a part at work, his whole life is playing another person) or even Peggy (who’s playing the role she has to in order to succeed in a man’s world). And let’s not forget this is a TV show and you need interesting characters. It’s like complaining that Omar on The Wire is too over the top because his character's not true to life like the rest of the show. But you need Omar to keep it interesting. Anyway, would these people rather have Joey back from last season (or Jane’s cousin for that matter)?

The second is the Betty issue, or more appropriately the Fat Betty issue. I’ll admit the fat suit may have been a bit much, but it didn’t bother me nearly as much as others based on what I’ve read. Betty has never been a sympathetic character, and she’s not a fan fave, but the hate still surprises me. I think it’s perfectly within her character to let herself go, in some desperate cry for attention. And if she really had a thyroid problem I imagine that would contribute to the weight gain (although I'm not a doctor). My understanding is that we won’t see much Betty this year anyway because of January Jones’ real life pregnancy, so hopefully this isn’t much of an issue.

And that leads me to a comment I read about whether Betty was lying to Henry when she told him the doctor said she was fine (after the phone call). This would have been foreshadowed by her friend who said she would rather have not told her family and then just died one day. On one hand I don’t think this is the case because after the call she went back into the whole “I guess I’m just fat” routine and wolfed down Sally’s ice cream. And they're not going to kill off Betty, right? On the other hand this could be a fascinating plot line throughout the season, and it’s not like the show to raise an issue in one episode and have it resolved by the end of that episode. Along the same lines, going back to the premiere, I’m not sure we’ve seen the last of the owner of the wallet that Lane found. Could that be like Don meeting Connie in Season 3 at Roger’s country club party? Who might the mysterious wallet man be and what can he do for the firm or just for Lane? And I’m still wondering where Faye is, or have we seen the last or her, like we apparently have Sal? Is she going to be like Midge and pop up in another season or disappear like Sally’s teacher that Don had an affair with?

A few other TV notes:

Sunday has suddenly become a busy TV night in our household. In addition to Mad Men, Mrs. and I have also been watching Frozen Planet on Discovery. From the makers of Planet Earth and Blue Planet (the former we both enjoyed and although we haven’t seen the latter I’m sure we’d love that as well), it’s a documentary on life in the Artic and Antarctic regions starring penguins, whales, wolves, bison, polar bears and more. If you’re into nature shows we highly recommend checking it out.

Also Sunday nights, immediately preceding Mad Men, The Killing is back for Season 2. Even though we both wanted to quit the show after last season’s disappointing finale, we couldn’t help ourselves and ended up watching the two-hour premiere. It was ok at best, pretty much what you’d expect given what’s happened on the show so far. We’ll probably keep watching (although likely On Demand on some other night when there's nothing else on we want to watch), but I can’t escape the feeling that there is virtually no chance the show comes to a satisfying conclusion. It seems like no matter what happens it will be a let down, and that’s too bad for a show that had a ton of potential.

And one more Sunday show, Season 8 of Food Network Star premieres Sunday, May 13th. We’ll probably make this an addition to the watch list. On a related note, we’ve watched Jeff Mauro’s show (the Season 7 winner) a few times, and although I wasn’t initially on the Jeff bandwagon like Mrs., I have to admit the man has personality and does make a mean sandwich. He’s welcome to come prepare lunch for us anytime.

And last but not least, Hulu is once again having its “Best in Show” contest. It's been going on for weeks, but it’s now down to the final two – Community vs. The Walking Dead. They've each taken down some formidable competition to get to the finals. I’m obviously all for the Community victory and I'm hoping a big win might even convince NBC to renew the show (fingers crossed). So go to hulu.com/bestinshow and vote.

Read This!: Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire

Book challenge:  Book with pictures

By Amanda Foreman

I bought Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire during the big Borders blow out sale.  It was definitely an impulse buy and I put off reading it until now.  I just didn’t want to get bogged down in another biography.  But alas, I am getting low on books and decided to jump in.

Born Lady Georgiana Spencer and married in her teens to the Duke of Devonshire, Georgiana Cavendish was thrust into a life of fame and fashion.  She was the head of high society in late 18^th century England and intricately involved in the lives of the English and French elite as well as politics of the time (She was a major Whig party member).  In her personal life, Georgiana was the mother of four children, one illegitimate, and a compulsive gambler losing what would have been millions of dollars in today’s money.  The most unusual part of her life was her relationship with Lady Elizabeth Foster (Bess).  Best friend or lover, history can’t say.  But, what is known is that Bess (a bit of a schemer), Georgiana, and the Duke lived together in a sort of ménage-à-trois for many years. (Bess had two illegitimate children by the Duke).  When Georgiana died, Bess married the Duke and realized her life-long dream of taking her friend’s place (much to the Cavendishs’ dismay).

There were a lot of juicy details in this book and excerpts from letters.  However, personally, I found all of the political mumbo jumbo boring and my eyes glazed over.  I know that sometimes in biographies details must be explained but I thought they were a bit much here and I just wanted to go back to her personal life which was much more intriguing. 

I will say that I judged Georgiana a bit on the gambling.  It was a bit shocking how much money she was wasting. Yes, I gave more than an ample share of my allowance to Instant Bingo at the church fair as a kid but at least I knew when to stop.

I will also say I was surprised at how many of the ton were having affairs and illegitimate children.  That is not the picture one necessarily sees. At least not of the women.

Last but not least, I want to comment on the movie The Duchess which I saw a few years ago and is the screen version of this biography.  In The Duchess, Georgiana was made out to be more of a victim of both her husband and his relationship with Bess.  In the movie, the Duke is painted as a much more brutal, uncaring jerk than he is in the book where, while emotionally distant from Georgiana (it was not a love-match), he was never the cruel man he appeared in the movie.  And yes, in both, he did ask Georgiana to give up her illegitimate daughter but she was in agreement due to the scandal it would create.

Fun fact: The Duchess was an ancestral aunt to Princess Diana.

Irish Stew

If you'll recall, I was going to make Irish Stew for St. Patrick's Day but with the summer like temps, I decided not to.  This weekend, however, I dove in using this recipe from Martha Stewart.

I used the low-sodium chicken stock and beef instead of lamb.

All in all, it wasn't bad.  We got two meals out of it adding some rolls for dipping.

Mr. felt the broth was more soup than stew but I thought it was just fine.

The only downside in the whole business was that I took off a nice chunk of my finger nail when I tried to peel the potatoes.  Sigh...

And I also realized, I don't care much for thyme.

Possum Pancakes?

Today Mr. and I went to brunch.  On reading the specials menu, we saw this:

I told Mr. to take a picture so we could document and so that I could blog about this later, about where the heck do we live?  Then, Mr. and I had a conversation about who would in fact order this?

Once we got home and after telling Mr. my usual "I'm pregnant!" April fool's joke, I went upstairs...  When the thought occurred to me that the Possum Pancakes were in fact an April's fool's joke...  Mr. LOL'ed when I told him and we realized that, yes, they got us.