excitement

Making my first ever item of clothing this week :D I've pinned some material to make a skirt, watch this space for the results - excited but nervous, it might be rubbish!

Oh how fed up of saying this I am, but I'm SO close to finishing my patchwork quilt that I stitched my initials and the year into it on Sunday. That means I absolutely must finish it in 2010. Pictures of that to follow too.


I just finished reading The Time Traveller's Wife - wow. It's definitely added to my list of all time favourite books (not many make this list - Pride & Prejudice and Saturday are the only others there).

On my list to read next... I'm determined to read the The Odyssey, The Aeneid, and (if I can stomach the war bits) The Ilyiad, simply because there are so many references to them throughout good literature that it's frustrating not knowing more. Also AS Byatt has been cropping up on my travels (quoted a few times in Time Traveller's Wife) so I'd like to read Possession, and The Children's Book looks good.

Tomorrow we're going to an Ash Wednesday service at church - I'm really loving church at the moment which is a refreshing change. We've been getting better aquainted with some super lovely people. I'm reading through all the Gospels for Lent which is going to be a challenge (reasons for which I'll blog on another day).

I feel greedy for life at the moment, there's so much I want to see and take in and do!

Breakfast Epiphanies

I picked up Breakfast Epiphanies in the library a few weeks ago and wondered immediately why, as I'm still trying not to read trashy chick lit! But despite the cover it's blurb caught my attention and I read on.


It tells the story of Toby and Sara. After they decide to get married, Sara realises that the big Catholic wedding she had always imagined didn't feel right anymore with her having lost grip on her childhood faith and Toby's agnositicism. She gives herself a year to go on a quest for renewed faith. They visit countless religious leaders and follwers around the world to contemplate following a complately new religion together. The thing that annoyed me about this quest was that they never properly investigated Christianity, but thought they had it covered by going to Lourdes and talking to lapsed Methodists (who only went to church out of routine). So many of the failings they found with a lot of the beliefs they looked into might have been answered for them.

I was hoping the book might give me some insight into how other couples deal with differences in their faith lives - if an agnostic and former Catholic can work it out I thought, a minor quibble about church between Ben and me might fade into insignificance. And it did in a way. By reading the book I was able to assess what it is I'm really looking for in my faith life and maybe it encouraged me to be a bit more independent in that process. Maybe more on my conclusions in a couple of weeks.

Fond memories

I was just browsing Amazon and came across 'Dear Zoo' for sale! I feel a bit stupid considering buying it without giving it to a child but it was one of my favourite books when I was little, and is only a bit older than me - it's celebrating it's 25th anniversary this year. Maybe I will buy it anyway and keep it in a cupboard for a future Blahlette...

I haven't forgotten I've promised posts on last weekend's cooking adventures and our exciting excursion but I'm feeling a bit under the weather, and judging by work people's Facebook statuses I'm not the only one. Cosy childhood memories and hot drinks are where it's at this evening!

The Painted Veil

Next on my reading list is The Painted Veil. Having watched the film a few days ago I highly recommend it. Full of good acting (Ed Norton and Naomi Watts), haunting music (Satie's Gnossienne No. 1 is the theme) and a brilliant plot.

The film is based on the novel by W Somerset Maugham - a story made into a film three times since its publication in 1925. It was inspired by a tale in Dante's Divine Comedy which tells of a man who suspected his wife of having an affir. As punishment he took her to a place where she was likely to catch a deadly illness. She didn't die soon enough for his liking so he pushed her out of a window. The film doesn't follow its inspiration exactly, rather it portrays a rather surprising and smoulding love story.

Mother Superior played by Diana Rigg, had a few lines that have stayed with me over the weekend:

I fell in love when I was 17... with God. A foolish girl with romantic notions about the life of a religious, but my love was passionate. Over the years my feelings have changed. He's disappointed me. Ignored me. We've settled into a life of peaceful indifference. The old husband and wife who sit side by side on the sofa, but rarely speak. He knows I'll never leave Him. This is my duty. But when love and duty are one, then grace is within you.

The title The Painted Veil is taken from a poem by Shelley:


‘Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread,--behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear.
I knew one who had lifted it--he sought,
For his lost heart was tender, things to love,
But found them not, alas! nor was there aught
The world contains, the which he could approve.
Through the unheeding many he did move,
A splendour among shadows, a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove
For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.’

(My crude interpretation - Walter Fane, a man who lifted the veil, was looking for things to love and thought he'd found this in Kitty, but sadly there was nothing in her of which he could approve after she was unfaithful. The painted veil hid their loveless marriage from the outside world and tricked everyone into believing that they were in love, that Kitty followed Walter into a cholera-infested land out of devotion, when in fact Walter, like the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, found that he was searching for a love that didn't exist).

Incidently, Shelley's biography is quite interesting. He abandoned his pregnant wife and child for Mary Godwin (later Shelley, authoress of Frankenstein), who he married after his first wife drowned herself in the Serpentine in Hyde Park. He died at just 29 years old yet has become one of the great English poets, influencing the likes of Tennyson, Byron and Keats.

Revolutionary Road

I don't often get excited about films but I'm really looking forward to this one:



(Ha! I managed to do that all by myself!)

One of us reads books so the other doesn't have to

... is the philosophy in the Foster household, I'm sure you don't need to guess which one of us is which!

One of my unspoken resolutions for 2008 was to read more quality books and stop borrowing so much chick lit from the library. I kept a list in the back of my diary so I could check if the quality has improved and I think it has a little... out of a grand total of 44 books read this year (that I've remembered to write down anyway) I can highly recommend a handful!

I've already blogged on The Shack and The Rules of Parenting so here's the rest in no particular order:

Saturday by Ian McEwan - the most quality writing I've ever read
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Beloved by Toni Morrison - if you want to understand why Obama being black caused such excitement read this
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg
The Island by Victoria Hyslop
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates - film coming on 30 January 2009 with the lovely Kate and Leo.

The Rules of Parenting by Richard Templar

Perhaps a little bit prematurely I've been dipping in and out of this book lately. Before you all get excited we are not having children yet as they would probably appreciate a bedroom. Getting onto the proprty ladder is our first priority.

The Rules are in 100 bitesize chunks in 10 chapters covering staying sane, attitude, discipline, personality, siblings etc. It's been interesting for me reading it because it's enabled me to put my finger on things that weren't right during my childhood and it's helping me discover why and what would have worked better. Beyond that it's really helping me take in what an awesome responsibility being a parent is.

I highly recommend it whether you're a parent, thinking about it or you have children who have moved away - it even has a section on dealing with grown-up children! It will probably stay on my bookshelf for years and years.

The Shack

I've been off work for the two days now (flu) and, being bored and sleepy, a book while wrapped up in bed is the perfect way to pass the hours. Yesterday I finished The Shack, a book I came across by chance while looking at books in Tesco months ago for a birthday present.

The blurb says... 'The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?"' I've rarely pondered much over that question, maybe I've never dealt with pain big enough to have to question God's ultimate goodness.

For me what really touched me was the portrayal of God. For ages now I've been stuck in what I feared God would call a lukewarm mindset. I haven't stopped believing that God is awesome and worthy of praise but I couldn't muster up any excitement or real-ness about that. God was becoming a distant being, someone who might love me a bit but would one day judge me and reject me for having such a passive and small faith.

I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who might want to read it but I think it's completely changed my attitude. I'm not worried anymore! God and I are going to take this tiny seed of belief in my heart and make it grow again.

I highly recommend reading The Shack - I'm definitely going to revisit it soon.

My monk book - part 1

Ben laughs that I call this my monk book but he would get confused if I refered to it with its title, and there's lots of interesting things in it to talk about.

My monk book is one I came across in the library, Finding Sanctuary - Monastic Steps for Everyday Life by Abbot Christopher Jamison who was involved in The Monastery programme on BBC a couple of years ago.

The first part is Everyday Life - How did I get this busy? Abbot Jamison talks about the search for real sanctuary and how to build this in the midst of everyday life. 'Sanctuary' means a holy place of refuge. The word has been commercialised in the shape of package holidays, spa breaks etc but those things can only provide a brief refuge, and not a holy one.

Abbot Jamison reckons the entry to true sanctuary is VIRTUE. This is Psalm 15:

LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?

He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart

and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,

who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,

who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.

He says: 'You cannot mistreat people one moment and then find sanctuary in the next. Finding the sacred begins with the recognition of the sacred in your daily living... ...Virtue is the recognition of the sacred in daily life.'

The rest of the book talks about parts of the Rule of St Benedict. The first one is silence which I'm having a go at, so I might blog on that soon.

George Orwell's diary

Starting from today George Orwell's diary entries from 70 years ago are going to be posted as a blog. Will probably be an interesting read.

http://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/

January reads

I'm keeping a note of the books I read this year in the back of my new diary. January has been a mixed month, each book good in its own way. A lot of these were Christmas presents. Saturday was definitely the highlight, The Savage Garden disappointingly the lowest point I've visited in a while. I heard mixed reviews of the latter and although the plot had the potential to be gripping the prose lacked fluidity and it was impossible to get lost in.

This is what's been occupying my 30 minutes on the train each day:

Chloe by Freya North
Saturday by Ian McEwan
The Savage Garden by Mark Mills
Bridget Jones 1 and 2 by Helen Fielding
The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan
My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson
Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella

Taking me into February is Beloved by Toni Morrison - a book I studied for A Level and haven't revisited since.

On my list to get hold of is On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (do you see a theme emerging?! I've just discovered him and he's totally awesome) and Marshmallows for Breakfast by Dorothy Koomson. I've been blacklisted by the library for owing them too much though so will have to steal Ben's card until a cheque reaches them!

Week 26ish

I made a few new year resolutions back in January and as it's half way through the year I've been thinking about how I'm doing and what's still left to do. They were...

* Read the Bible and pray alone more often
* Continue going through our Marriage Course Book with Ben and have regular us time
* Lose weight
* Finish my proofreading course before September
* Pray with Ben regularly
* Join a group/activity
* Read some quality books

The one I ticked this week was to finish my proofreading course! My diploma is hopefully in the post now. I'm really pleased to have finished it with 2 months to spare! The next step will be thinking about what to do with - I could in theory build up a freelance business but I think I need some experience first. I'd love to build up a client base in the next few years and be able to work from home by the time we have children.

Praying and having 'us' time with Ben is half getting there. We're getting into the habit of having a 'date night' about once a month where we'll make an effort to go out for dinner or do something fun together - last month Ben found out about salsa at the Forum and surprised me! This week we went to Pizza Express and had a nice leisurely dinner and talk. I hope this is something we keep up throughout our married life. Praying is up and down as we're still trying to build up a habit and find a time of day that works for us. We've finished the Marriage Book by Nicky and Sila Lee - I would recommend it for any couple getting married, it covers most topics and was great as a discussion tool.

Reading the Bible and praying alone more often is not happening in the way I'm used to. I think my faith is taking a different journey now and I'm glad about that in a way. My silent faith post pretty much sums that up for now.

Losing weight and joining a group or activity have gone hand in hand so far. I've nearly lost 2 stone and would like to lose one more. Weight Watchers has been a huge soure of motivation and there are some really amazing people there who constantly inspire me. I have so much more energy and confidence now.

Reading good books... I seem to rarely find the time! I'm arguing for getting rid of the television license again when ours expires this summer, so please throw any recommendations my way!

My Utmost for His Highest

'My Utmost for His Highest' is an amazing daily devotional book by Oswald Chambers that I dip into not as often as I should. It was originally published in 1935 but, like all God's truths, is still very relevant. I have an updated language edition.

I read one of the entries a few weeks ago and wanted to blog on it because I was confused, but I read it again and now I'm not, but I thought I'd mention the book anyway. It's good spiritual food, challenging but good. It's refreshing to read the writing of an author who is so convinced of what it right.

Book bag bargain

Norfolk Libraries are selling these excellent book bags for £1 each, made out of biodegradable material. Proper bargain and strong enough and big enough to carry home books and groceries!

More chick lit

I know one of my resolutions this year was to read more quality books and less chick lit, but it's not really happening.

I read the first quarter or so of On Beauty by Zadie Smith and liked it, but it seemed too engrossed in a realm of academia to be a proper story so I didn't read the rest. I've also started and stopped I Know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, which was recommended to me in sixth form while reading Beloved by Toni Morrison. Maybe I just don't get on with black fiction - their history as a people and the colour of their culture (colour as in the sights, sounds, tastes) is enticing, interesting, admirable but it's so hard to read!

I just wizzed through Love Rules by Freya North and loved it. It did make me think, but I realised I've gone straight back in to chick lit because it's easy. Grr.

I think I'll start my quest again in some middle ground, maybe a few books in the realms of Memoirs of a Geisha... or maybe just back to chick lit from the 18th century, I haven't read Sense and Sensibility yet...