Thursday, April 10, 2008

The Measure of a Heart


Ok, this isn't a new book. Far from it. I was trying to remember just how many times I have read this one. MANY.
It's one of my favorites. :)

posted by Trisha @ 7:44 PM Comments: 0

Monday, April 07, 2008

Like Water for Chocolate

I have read excerpts of this book before, in my Spanish classes, and I thought that I had read it in its entirety. However, I realized that I haven't read it all until this go round.

This is really a very beautiful story. It fits right in with my current "lovers separated" theme. I loved the supernatural/larger than life aspects of this particular tale paired with the ever practical/down to Earth recipes and home remedies that this plot was woven through. The unique pairing made this ever-believable/ever-a-dream.

I also found myself enjoying the generational aspect...albeit a minor angle...and spent a lot of thinking on how the lives we live mirror those who have come before us...or respond/react to those lives lived before us. As well as the concept of generational curses and blessings. Every life carries its own freedom to be as it desires...and yet every life is made from the lives of the families before them. Interesting.

I liked the ending exceptionally sweet.

I hear there is a movie and I am going to try to track it down in the somewhat near future.

posted by Trisha @ 1:39 AM Comments: 1

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Baby Proof


Well, look at that! It's another Emily Giffin novel, who would have thought?
It seems as if I am on a role.
This book is entirely not what I expected it to be in many ways. The first two Giffin novels that I read were deeply intertwined. I wrongly assumed that this book was a continuation of that story in some way.
The other novels also progressed in a very typical manner. This one seemed to start at a "happily ever after...." and then proceeded to fall apart. Talk about the unexpected! (Giffin's novels all seem to rely heavily on the theme of the unexpected...)
I found myself continuously counting down the number of pages to the final chapter knowing that it was not going to end the way that I wanted it to. I was dreading every word that brought me closer to the "monster" at the end of the book which I intuitively felt to be a tragic closing to this story, strong, but tragic.
And I did greatly enjoy a brief character "cameo" from the book, Something Blue. :)
However, I have also been thinking a lot about art this week. And this thinking has reminded me that sometimes the success of a book/story is not in the warm, fuzzy afterglow and the tidy happy endings...but perhaps it can be deemed "art" or "successful" because it was the story that evoked a deep emotional response...albeit not an expected response. It dredged up a real feeling of knowing what the characters struggle through.
I liked the book. I am highly tempted to pre-order the next novel which is hitting the shelves in mid-May.

posted by Trisha @ 7:46 PM Comments: 0

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Art is a feeling



I saw a painting today.

I saw many.

But one made me stop.

One that made me remember him

saying that art is a feeling.

I asked

What do I feel?

Feel it?

What?

I would have liked to have met her

That girl

in that painting

Would have liked to know what she feels

about him

painting

her

then

Would like to know what she is thinking

about him

painting

her

then

I would like to know how men come to make such images

of nudes

of women

of a feeling

does he love the image the girl the paint the product the high the low the shape the color the texture the composition the line the shadow the hue the moment the light the life the end the beginning the balance the symmetry the familiarity the difference the tone the voice the story the touch the ease the discomfort the room the quilt the time the day the place the look the posture the placement the symbolism the blush the quiet

does he even love at all?

But it is her that I want to ask

her that I want to know

she has my answers

I can feel it

posted by Trisha @ 9:59 PM Comments: 0

Salt

You know how you toss some salt over your shoulder for good luck? Does it count if your OCD self always aims for the garbage?

posted by Trisha @ 9:55 PM Comments: 0

The saddest thing

I am reading a book right now that is setting me into a funk. It's quite depressing, really. I am equally motivated to quit crying(i.e. reading) and put it out of my mind all together and to hurry up and finish it just to see if there is any hope for these poor people.

I think the very saddest circumstance is when two people love each other and they are not together. I mean unreturned love is tragic, unrecognized love is disheartening, unspoken love is dreadful...but when love is recognized, realized, and actual...yet not continued...I mourn for that.

I may never finish...I may be unable to stop.

posted by Trisha @ 7:54 PM Comments: 0