All posts by Dona

RAS 4: Charlotte Gray — Sebastian Faulks

Reading, Series, , , ,

Charlotte GrayOh dear me God. I am so glad I have finally finished this book. I would have stopped, but didn’t want to give it away (like I had to with The Bronte Myth).

Like The Book of Ruth, I don’t know where the book came from, I just remember remembering that we owned it shortly after I saw the tail end of the film, Charlotte Gray, and thinking that the ending was just too romantic then looking at the ending of the book and feeling righteous in my assessment.

Where to begin? I cannot say I liked Charlotte Gray. But I didn’t hate it either. I didn’t like the author’s style of writing the first third of the book, it reeked of man-writing. (just a type of writing I can’t explain but I dislike)

The book is about a Scottish woman during World War II who joins the special services and flies to France to deliver a message. She discovers that her lover has gone missing and resolves to stick around German-occupied France to try to help him. While in France she meets French folks involved in the Resistance and joins forces with them. There are sub-plots, some heart-heartwrenching, some horrifying, others boring.

The end of the book was much more interesting and kept my attention, but come on, it took me nearly two years to read this book. I don’t think I will be reading another book by Faulks, at least not until I am done with this project.

Stats: 401 pages (paperback and Kindle version). Started June 2015. Finished March 18, 2017.

 

 

Old Writing: Part 7::What Do I Want to Be?

Memories, Writing,

It seems like this was from a prompt. I wrote it in 1969 so that would have made 13 years old. I was probably in 6th grade.

Dona P. 23
4-21-69

What Do I Want to Be?

What do I want to be? Well, I’ll tell you. I want to be a Kindergarten teacher. I want to be a book writer also. I want to write because I like to read and the writers now don’t write enough books to keep me busy reading so I if am a book writer I can have a side job as a Kindergarten teacher or vice versa.

I want to be a kindergarten teacher because I adore small children. I would not like to be any other grade teacher except maybe first grade.

So there, I told you my secret. I’ll probably change my mind because I have in the past, many times. For instance, I used to want to be a surgical nurse. But don’t you think that’s too gory?

Mom’s Artwork: Exhibit 1: Bottles with Martini

Things, ,

Among other things, my mother was an artist. She dabbled in lots of crafty things, but she held a certificate that she was actually an artist — or at least that she finished coursework to be an artist. She took a correspondence course from, I think, the Famous Artists School. I was young, but I remember her doing her artwork and sending it in to be graded. The books from the art school are still at the house in Elgin. Here, I think, is one of the pieces she created for the course. I think she might have hung this in the house at one time. I certainly remember it.

Two bottles, one orange and one yellow, and a martini.
Bottles with Martini