Found my book!

Something wonderful happened to me yesterday. I found a book, quite by coincidence, that I had read as a child and I truly loved it. One of those books that I would think of over the years again and again.

It was one of the only Western author books recommended to me by my grandmother. Strangely she never recommended the classics such as Austen or Bronte although she had read them all. For years, I had a hardtime finding this book through a very dumb mistake of my own.

My grandmother is now over 80. We don't know her exact age since they didn't keep birth records in Iran in those days. She is the one who gave me the gift of reading and always filled my head with wonderful stories from all over the world that would literally last for nights and nights as she would put us to sleep with her stories. None of her children inherited the gift of reading so I feel doubly blessed that it something that came from her to me.

A few years ago she lost her eyesight due to diabetes and used to cry that she can no longer read. She didn't care that she could no longer see us but reading was a whole different story for her. (No books on tape in Farsii either.)

And now she is begining to lose her memory. For example, she keeps forgetting that I'm my mom's daughter but she knows I'm her granddaughter.

And then I found this book. Her book...It's called the "White Mountains" by John Christopher. I can't tell you what it meant to me to find it or rather it found me. If that makes sense. To have something of my grandmothers that meant so much to me.

The book is about outerspace Tripods that take over the earth and take control of young people's brains making them docile and compliant. And they put these rings around the people's heads and once you have the ring on your head you lose control of your brain and the Tripods totally take over. If you remove them you go mad and mad people do appear in the book. It was so painful to read about one of the protagonist's friends succumbing to the Tripods -- and SO scary! How he changed from a rebel to a slave.
 
The main character a 12 year (?) old boy was able to escape the Tripods and was living with friends and constantly escaping the Tripods and running to the white mountains to join a group who aimed to bring down the Tripods. And the tripods continued to look for them the whole time. Couple of other things I remembered is that one of his friends had to "reinvent" glasses so one of them could see. They find canned foods. And the main character made so many bad mistakes! In the second book something terrible happens to the beautiful girl that he has fallen in love with back in the first book. It was just an AWESOME book! And very frightening in a good way.

But here it is and I found it. It feels like a blessed day! I've put in an order at Barnes & Noble for the book. It'll be my son's xmas gift from his great grandmother.

The Thirteenth Tale

This is a fascinating and satisfying book and the world it introduced was attractive and alluring. It feels wonderful to add this story to the repertoire of others in my mind. I am so happy I found it.

At times, the suspense of this book nearly killed me. And what it revealed truly shocked me. I could not foretell what will happen next and there are many surprises in the book.

I listened to it as an audio instead of actually reading it. Many times I was not able to leave the car and waiting for one more minute, then two more minutes and then more for the narration to continue.

If The Thirteenth Tale had been a physical book I'd have had a few sleepless nights until the book was finished. For I know, I wouldn't have been able to put it down. One day at work it was just pure torture to be away and not knowing what the next turn in the book will bring. To not be able to access the book, to not have it in my hands and commit the simple act of turning the pages.

There were times during my commute as I listened that I wanted to bite my nails and beg the narrator to please read faster and reveal the story. Books can't get better than this. How I always long to read books that dazzle and mesmorize me. To me, this was such a book.

If you love books such as The Turn of the Screw by Henry James or Jane Eyre (which is mentioned repeatedly in the book) by Charlotte Bronte, then you must read this novel.

You will be reading a Gothic novel, where you'll find your characters in a mysterious mansion. In a place where not all is right with the people inhabiting the home and the house itself. Could it truly be haunted? And what are ghosts? This book gave me the gift of being able to believe in ghosts and that they come in many shapes and form. I had never seen ghost quite the same way as this book presents them. A ghost is not always a specter. It can be many things.

I plan to read this book again and look for all the clues I missed throughout. This is one of those books that will be a different read the second time. The words uttered by the character narrating her story, will have a different meaning in the second read.

Vampires the new prince charming??? Ugh, please no!

I think I've mentioned that I"m a long time romance reader. When the stress levels go up in my life, you can bet I'm reading a romance to help me cope with it all and just escape the reality of my life.

Stressed or not, there is one author I will absolutely not miss reading and that is Lisa Kleypas. She is just a wonderful writer. I love her historical romances as they are like no other. They are just tender and satisfy my need to read about loves that are love and like no other.
I came across this excellent article by CNN. Which has a great title: Vampire romance novels suck in readers. Ha Ha

It is a really well written article. The author must be a romance reader. There is absolutely no attitude in the article about being a romance reader and she understands why the genre is doing so well. Everything in the article points to the fact that she understands the reader. But I personally have a problem with Vampires being the new "Prince Charming." Nothing about Vampires charms me. I have no patience for it. It doesn't jive with what I need to live in my fantasies. I have tried reading paranormal romance books and I don't find anything that would "suck" me in. However, this also doesn't mean I won't try to read one again. Maybe I'll come upon the right author one day.

However, I realize Vampires are big now. I have a theory and I believe they are big due to feminism. It's been a long time since a female reader is able to read a book where the hero simply ravishes the heroine. A man that lets the beast take over. The beast that allows himself to take her as if he owns her.

In this world of fantasy - Please note and I mean fantasy only!!!! As something that exists "only" in your imagination and where you'd want no part of it in reality! - you may have a heroine that says no but means yes. The only time it is now acceptable for the male not to hear the "no" and understand the "yes" in her "no" is the vampire, the beast.

He is allowed to ravish her because he has animal instincts and innately knows what she wants. He is able to operate in a different plane and is in tune with her mind and desires. He can reach her at a level much deeper that simple words. He looks beyond the plain words and looks for a language that runs much much deeper. And as the man who has right to her he sees and hear more than any mortal man could.

He can take her and satisfy her need for unbridled physical and other sorts of love satisfying to the female mind - only as a beast of a man could...

Hilarious French Commercials

Overall, I like things brief and short. For example, when speaking I don't elaborate on a subject and it's my natural inclination to keep things short and sweet. I'm a huge fan of the short story and it's not a surpise to me that I love, short movies, music videos (with story lines) and commercials. All short forms of telling a story and getting a point across.

On this forum, I found a fantastic collection of hilariously funny (mostly) French commercials. For many of them you don't even need to speak French to understand it. I think commercials bring out the quirky side of any culture and I really enjoyed many on this site.

I hope you enjoy it too:
Super Frenchie - The Forum - French commercials and advertising

By the way, I have the picture of the very beautiful Catherine Denueve here. Her Chanel commercial on the site isin't funny. I just have her picture just because she is so alluring, recognizable, the ultimate French woman and doing a commercial... Oh la la!

Famous & Favorite First Lines in a Novel

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
-Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
- Jane Austen, Emma

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice ‘without pictures or conversation?’
-Lewis Carrol, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

In a village of La Mancha the name of which I have no desire to recall, there lived not so long ago one of those gentlemen who always have a lance in the rack, an ancient buckler, a skinny nag, and a greyhound for
the chase.
-Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, General Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant
afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

My suffering left me sad and gloomy.
- Yann Martel, Life of Pi