A Rainbow in the Night is an interesting yet basic expose of the history of South Africa. Written in an interesting and quite racy style I have now passed the Christian Barnard era and have moved on to Nelson Mandela naming his grandchild, a child who is the same age as its mother was when he was arrested. A deeper investigation of the impact of apartheid may need to be added to my reading list which incidentally is getting longer and longer. So many books to read, so little time to do it in!
I found this book in my local bookshop at the weekend and have been reading it quite slowly attempting to absorb all the facts about something I am sure I have. I have begun to wonder at the impact of the fight to give women equality with men, have we not only destroyed masculinity but have we dismissed the value of parenting for consumerism and incomes which seem ridiculous. While Libby Weaver bases this book on her biochemical knowledge I am sure the stresses we put on our body to compete and earn money is causing ill health. My friend may be right when she commented I was close to burnout.
Jay is glad of the break from sitting under my desk in a cold environment at work and does not realise he may also have tomorrow off. I am visiting the GP today as well as the Osteopath to cover all bases in my desire to return to energy and full health.
A friend recently expressed concern that I may be suffering from burnout. While I have not reached that level I am very tired, have a sore neck and little time for the things in life I really enjoy. I have appointments next week to try and decide on a selective route back to health, hopefully this will remove my stress.
I have started reading this book on my VRS. Although just a basic outline of the history of South Africa I was unaware, despite my years of reading, that apartheid was really a recent phenomenon in this country. Some of the stories are horrifying and one wonders if the Dutch may still view people with a different skin colour as being of lesser importance. I may be led to read deeper into the history of this awkward country where people, mostly white, are still leaving in droves to escape black rule and crime.
One is led to wonder how Hitler could have influenced a country so removed from Germany.
I am continuing with Susan Cutsforth's book, Our House is Certainly not in Paris but wish I felt more like reading in the evening. Her journey of renovation and living the French lifestyle for several weeks each year is a wonderful memoir.
last night I watched the movie Sarah's Key. Very poignant and moving, I also felt a connection with the story of my father which is partly written, now needs to be finished. Tragedy can implode on any of us at any time and its consequences can lead to strength or destruction.
I have been a long time reading this book on my kindle. While I understand it has never been out of print since first published in the late 1970's something about Robyn Davidson did not ring true. I found the last couple of chapters and the update at the end more realistic as she described her motivation, challenges, personal thoughts which emanated from both the experience and who she is far more interesting. A challenge for me, as a vision impaired person, is to travel the world solo. I fail to see anything spectacular in this and perhaps cannot understand the motivation behind dragging camels and a dog across the horrendous heat of the Australian desert. Possibly Robyn's later choices have made me a little cynical, but she seems to have done this journey for reasons I think she really fails to reveal.
Having read Our House is not in Paris several months ago I felt Our House is Certainly not in Paris would be a wonderful sequel. I started this book today while devouring the first piece of corned beef I have eaten in 10 years and am already hooked on Susan Cutforth's second book. The romantic idea of two Australians having a country home in the Dordogne fascinates me. The first book was about the purchase and challenge of renovating a dilapidated home in a small French village. I can't wait to see what adventures await them as the house is finished and they can both begin to assimilate for several weeks each year into a quiet French lifestyle.
I was fascinated to receive a text today from a friend on the Kapiti Coast who was off to the library. When I expressed doubt it would be open on Queen's Birthday she said it only closed three days a year. What a wonderful service for a community mostly made up of elderly people.
Work looms again tomorrow. I am not sure my quiet weekend may have been detrimental to my sanity around too many hours of work. Possibly I should have gone further than the mall this weekend, but hopefully the rest will have given me a positive start to the week.
I am beginning to wonder, as an ardent 1970's feminist, what we have done to the lives of women. So many of us are exhausted, stressed and unable to live a satisfying and enjoyable existence due to the demands of work and running a home. It has become the norm for both partners to work, leaving children to fend for themselves, homes to deteriorate and families unable to enjoy time together. I am beginning to realise how privileged I was to be able to spend time with my children and how intermittent work at home now means I can work when I choose.
I must be at the end of the book about the Gucci family, it has become a great sleeping draught. I have given up re-winding my VRS as missing 5 or 10 minutes seems to be unimportant with such a slow moving plot. I am also struggling a little with Tracks on my kindle, mostly due to my inability to spend any amount of quality time reading at present.
Writing has been left on the back burner, I have so many unfinished stories which I hope to spend time on soon, intellectual stimulation through writing is a true necessity and keeps me focused and looking forward. Yesterday I went shopping with my disabled daughter and we found a wonderful book sale at Whitcoulls. She purchased a book of New Zealand Landscape Painting for half price and I found a gorgeous expose of French interior decorating. Well worth the sore feet and a reluctant guide dog.
Cherie and I have spent each evening watching DVD movies, despite the considerable interruptions with her boyfriend ringing. On Friday we watched What Maisie Knew, yesterday we delved into Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and then decided to have a late night and watched The Butler. Apart from a large scratch on the fishing movie the movies were amazing. Again I was led to question my own role in bringing about equality for women and many years of feminist studies when I saw the damage parental indifference could do to a bright precocious young girl called Maisie. Perhaps it is time I re-visited some of my philosophical thinking - more reading!!
Listening to the story of the family Gucci while working on Tuesday I looked up and realised my glasses case had 'Gucci' stamped on the inside. So much for my comment that this was a brand ordinary people like me would never have the opportunity to purchase. I suspect the case may belong to a fancy pair of frames for glasses I had made so I can still go to the movies. From memory the frames were about $500 so am guessing this may be my only Gucci purchase.
The book is rather long-winded and becoming quite boring. I have contemplated deleting it but should be more than half way through so am reluctant not to see it to the end.
I keep purchasing new books for my kindle at present. Last night I found a book on Paris, Journey to the City of Light and On Re-Reading by Patricia Spacks which is about the joy of favourite books one reads over and over again, like Susan Hill in my case. I have also bought a book called Paris Was Ours by Penelope Rowlands which is a series of impressions by well known writers about their sojourn in Paris. Like any good library Amazon.com sometimes suggests and has available good books for purchase while at other times nothing appeals. I still find it very frustrating when I want to purchase a kindle book as I can no longer re-read the print copy only to find that it is not available for a kindle. Of the 14 books I have chosen over the last few weeks I cannot choose which one to read first which is really exciting.
Today I bought a beginners guide to watercolour painting which hopefully will help me with my art journaling. Although I now have two more busy weeks of work coming up it appears I am getting more savvy about ensuring I have time for reading, relaxing, art and study.
After days of stress and not sleeping properly, to some extent due to a neck manipulation, I have finally managed to return to sensibility after a long night of relaxing sleep. Now I can plan and make choices for my days again, rest and read, do my art journaling and hopefully write again.
I read this book many years ago as a small child, fascinated by the freedom and sense of adventure I never experienced. Visiting a local bookshop, Poppies, I discovered a copy on special and purchased it. I am thoroughly enjoying re-reading this very British children's book, only discovering when looking for a cover to cut and paste that it has been filmed. I visited the Lakes District in 2007 and wondered where, of the many places I saw, which of them had been a part of Arthur Ransome's motivation for this story. I bought a copy with quite large print, all 500 pages may take me a while to devour, I will keep you posted. Do children have adventures anymore? Has the PC life overtaken risk, fun and family challenges so that children are ruled by decisions made in political offices?
I began reading this on my VRS a couple of nights ago. There was an introduction which took up quite a lot of reading time but last night I began with chapter 1, then promptly fell asleep. It looks to be a fascinating expose of such a well known fashion house and family. Gucci is a by-word for women wishing to have the best - clothes, handbags and more - the types of ephemera that those of us on a limited income can only dream about and probably have no desire to covet. This sounds like a very interesting read, I will post more when I have delved into the book properly.
it looks really interesting but has avoided my clicking on it for almost 2 years!