faulker012

I have to admit that I am not a true lover of classical music, a term usually used in reference to music composed mostly in Europe during the Classical period, or the years 1750 to 1820, from Bach to Beethoven, but not limited to those years. I enjoy Vivaldi's Four Seasons , Pachebel's Canon in D , Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 , Rachmaninoff's Rhapsondy on a Theme of Paganini , and a few other well-known pieces. Overall, though, my knowledge is bush-leaguer when it comes to sophisticated music. I understand there are better films on Chopin's life and legacy, but I'm starting here. The film is a gorgeous representation of the 1830s and 1840s and I'm a huge fan of the beauty of film. Filmed in 1945 in glorious technicolor, a color process used in the US from 1922 to 1952, celebrated for it's highly-saturated color, think The Wizard of Oz , the stunning costumes and sets are a delight for a lover of film. Several times, I have paused the film (I'...

I don't always know what moves me to pick up one book over another. It's a mystery that most readers can relate to. In this case, I was at the local library, recently renovated, just walking down aisles and letting words and color guide me. The smells, the shushes, the search: I love the library. The other day I had used the handy dandy card catalog to find some post-apocalyptic fiction to read...and I found this one, Good Morning Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. After finding a book that I am interested in, and don't tease me about this, I then go to Amazon and read about the book, read the reviews, look at similar titles. Amazon or some other book review site. I do this same type of reading for a movie I'm about to watch! lol My husband tells me that I'm wrong to do this! lol I tell him he's wrong for not doing it. 😄 Time is too precious to read crap novels...unless I choose them. Lately I've been reading books by female authors. I'm sure this has a...

I'm currently reading a book by Lily Brooks-Dalton called Good Morning, Midnight , a book that I KNOW I will have to give massive stars simply for the gorgeous language used by the author. I am well into the book and I have not stopped being moved by Brooks-Dalton's stunning prose of this sophisticated, compelling exploration of the likelihood of an unknown apocalypse on Earth. I can't say why, but lately I've been reading tons of apocalyptic novels, post-apocalyptic. I don't find myself feeling particularly despondent or pessimistic in a general sense, but this type of genre often moves me, surprises me, emboldens me, even entertains me. It's kind of a philosophical place than I am rather than an emotional place, so it's possible that I may offer other sci-fi posts in the future. As for this book, Good Morning, Midnight , I must talk about it here because of its unique voice. The primary points of view in the book come from two humans in varied self-imposed...

It all started when a friend was visiting and we were having a conversation about his passion, history. I had no knowledge or recollection of learning about the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference and Ron was explaining the reason the Cairo Peace Conference had everything to do with the current conflict in the Middle East. That made no sense to me until Ron explained it. I mean, Paris and Syria? What possible connection could there be? Embarrassingly, I have a rather poor grasp of important moments in history. I'm trying to repair that. My conversations with Ron and this book   helped immensely. Thank you, Ron. So, the day following Ron's teachable moment with me, I picked up a book that I had had on my side table, a book that was simply next . I can't adequately express my surprise to discover that Mary Doria Russell's book Dreamers of the Day: A Novel was actually set during and around the freaking 1921 Cairo Peace Conference! Life is freaky and serendipitous and I just abo...

AW, the heck with it. I'm doing it! 😊 As a heavy reader, I'm not always sure what makes me run to this blog to post about books sometimes and what makes me just read other times. I'm sure it has something to do with being moved by a read, but there is more to it than that because I read some really enjoyable books. After finishing Mary Doria Russell's book Dreamers of the Day: A Novel , I knew I had to write about it here. This author wrote one of my favorite books of all time The Sparrow . A book that has kept me awake many a night, both reading and reflecting. The depth and moving language and anthropology and philosophical discussion and character development and settings and before/after and revelations simply overwhelmed me. I read the book several times and it kept revealing and moving me. Listen, I don't gush about books much, but The Sparrow deserves all of it! So go and read it!   lol I began researching some of Russell's other titles and ch...

I would be willing to consider switching this blog to a reading and books blog if my readers would be interested? To give you an idea as to what I would be writing, here is a sample from my actual writing and books blog called Out of My Own Mind : A Canticle for Leibowitz I've got a good one for you. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. is a real treat for the grey matter. If you're looking for book to really sink your teeth into, this book might be next for you, ahead of all of those other books on the pile next to your bed. Written in 1961, Canticle is shockingly current and provocative. Let me tell you a bit about the story. It is starts out set a few hundred years after our current day politicians did the unthinkable: unleashed an apocalypse of nuclear weapons that decimated most of the population of the plane, an event now known as The Conflict.   The survivors in the bleakness of the 26th century were (will be?) pissed. At the scientists. It wa...

I have loved you and you have loved me but I have come to the place and time when it is necessary to move forward and away from this blog. I offer you my sincerest love and affection and I'm grateful to so many of you for befriending me off of the blog; you have brightened my life tremendously. My kids are grown. My atheism is a given. Now I'm only angry about politics day after day. So, to you, I wish you fair and fine roads. May you continue to find happy and healing words here any time you wish to search for them. And keep my love for I have given it to you for freely, fully, and fondly. Ciao.