Wordless Wednesday - Wroclaw #1

We are now moving on from Zakopane to Wroclaw, my husband's hometown, where he lived until he was 19 years old. Located in the Southwest portion of Poland, it is the fourth largest city in the country. You could vacation in this city for weeks and still not see everything there is to offer. Beautiful old churches, museums, monuments, a wonderful zoo, the Odra river with it's countless bridges, and a thriving city center are some of its highlights. (Not to mention great beer!)

Wroclaw was actually called Breslau and was part of Germany up until right after WWII, and was under the communist regime until the late 80's. Therefore the architechture is a real mixed bag. Even now, twenty years after the fall of communism, the city is still struggling to overcome the neglected infrastructure. They better get their act in gear quickly however, because Wroclaw will be a host city for the 2012 Euro Cup!

So much for Wordless. So...the above picture is taken at a farmers market walking distance from my in-laws apartment. It is hard not to walk away with more than you can eat. You will also be interested to know that people over there are very green...everyone carries baskets and reuseable mesh bags to shop.

For more Wordless Wednesdays, click here.

The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (audio)

I don't think anyone would argue that "The Shadow of the Wind" is one of the good ones. There's a whole lotta love going around for this book, and I contributed a little bit of my heart to the mix. The story was mysterious, romantic, atmospheric and beautiful. Listening to the audio was a seduction. After finishing, the obvious thing to do was move on to The Angel's Game, which I understood to be a sort of prequel to SOTW.

I was hesitant. Some loved the book, some didn't. Some couldn't even finish it. Some recommended not to read the two books close together. Most said it did not match up to Shadow of the Wind. Yet I plunged ahead.

Enter David Martin, a young talented writer who has a deep passion for literature, but spends his days in a crumbling, moldy tower, pounding out trashy crime novels. Parentless, he is mentored by a wealthy playboy who eventually claims Martin's true love, Christina, for his own. He is a work-a-holic, his greedy publishers are sucking him dry, his only friend is a bull-headed 17-year-old female assistant, and soon discovers he has terminal brain cancer.

The dark, mysterious Andreas Corelli, a Parisian publisher, approaches Martin, offering a solution to all his problems. For a huge sum of money, Martin will write a novel that will be his magnum opus - he will create a "new religion". Martin's brain cancer, his previous contract with the blood-sucking publishers, and any distractions will be "handled" by Corelli. Never mind that Corelli reeks of evil, and that we, the readers, suspect this is the old "selling your soul to the devil" kinda thing. (It is what is oft referred to in the Nawrot house as a "sh*t-filled Twinkie".) Martin, a desperate man however, takes the deal happily. He soon begins to suspect, to his horror, that it appears others have taken the same deal before him, and have not fared well. After a little cloak and dagger investigating, Martin becomes increasingly disenchanted with Senor Corelli. He wonders if there is any way to extricate himself from Corelli, without sacrificing his life.

There are many things about this story that have a similar feel to "Shadow of the Wind". The Cemetery of Forgotten Books makes its appearance, as well as the previous generation the Sempere and Sons bookstore (for most of the book I thought it was the same father and son as Shadow of the Wind...I'm a little dense sometimes). It was heart-warming to see my old friends appear in this tale. We also have a little unrequited love, secrets revealed and a crumbling, spooky old house. This is where the similarities end, however.

This book is a much darker, sinister and violent book. The body count is significant...people drop like flies right and left. The book is also filled with confusing twists and turns that will give your mind a good screwing. (Have you ever seen the movie The Game with Michael Douglas? If you have, this book is in the same category...). I had to pay attention, and still I found myself saying "Wha???" every disc or two. I didn't find our main man and main gal (Martin and Christina) to be likable. Martin was cold, detached and depressed, and Christina seemed whiny. The only character I really liked was Martin's plucky assistant, Isabella.

Even after rattling off all of those negatives, however, this is not a book I will soon forget. It took me a couple of days just to verbalize my thoughts. It is an over-the-top, gluttonous feast of mind candy. It was enough of a sugar-high to leave your head spinning in the end, weak in the knees. I immediately started listening to a feel-good audio after I finished this one, and had to shut it down after about fifteen minutes. My mind was too shell-shocked for feel-good. I cranked up a murder mystery...that was better.

I raved about the narrator in the Shadow of the Wind. He was so smooth and so sultry, I was putty in his hands. As a result, I was so very disappointed to hear a different narrator, Dan Stevens, at the helm. He is an accomplished narrator, though, and I will admit he performed excellently. But because he is a British actor, most of his voices had British accents, even though they were Spanish characters. Small quibble.

4 out of 5 stars

Monday Movie Meme - Deep Impact

This week, our Monday Movie Meme topic from the Bumbles was actually suggested by one of their readers, Cardiogirl. (Off the subject for just a moment, but if you have not checked out Cardiogirl's blog, you must. She almost defies description. She's hilarious, thoughtful, manic, and real.) Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah. Cardiogirl's suggestion is to list a movie that has changed your life, your world view, or your behavior. A movie that inspired a passion perhaps.

Talk about a deep question at 5am on Monday morning! Well, I stepped away from the computer for a moment, and determined that there have been many movies that have caused me to re-evaluate life. The Shawshank Redemption made me consider the power of hope. Jaws made me afraid to go into the ocean. Super Size Me made me never want to eat fast food again. The High Cost of Low Price completely turned me off of Wal Mart. But few movies have shaken me to the core quite like:

The Passion of Christ

I've always been a Christian, and before I had children, I went through the long process of becoming Catholic. But nothing in my religious background prepared me for this movie. The brutality of the Passion, Jesus' suffering and death for our sins, made all too vivid and gut-wrenching on the big screen, was both humbling and enlightening. I would never go through another mass without remembering this visual. I would never go through another Holy Week, and recite the Passion, without being moved to tears.

So grab a cup of coffee, and kickstart your brain. Which movies have made their mark on your psyche? Please share!

Sunday Salon: A Little Less Chaos Please!

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope you've all had a bountiful week. My cup overfloweth this week, in all ways possible. By Friday night, I was an inert form, lying in my reading/drinking chair in a fetal position, with a glass of wine in my hand, not able to form a coherent sentence.

Let's talk about the underbelly of the week first. If you read my update post Friday for my 100 Mile Fitness Challenge, you know that I had two funerals to attend this week, which rearranged my priorities. One was for my friend's aunt, who recently succumbed to a long, brave battle with cancer. The other was an unexpected heart attack of my 46-year-old neighbor Louie. I don't rebound well from these things, and lost some emotional traction as a result. The cherry on top of all this was on Friday, when I learned that a wack-job started shooting people in downtown Orlando, a mile from my kids' school. The school, of course, went on lock-down, which completely freaked me out, at least while the guy was running loose in the city. We get our share of psychos down here in Florida, that is for sure! On Saturday, my son's football team also lost their championship game...boo.

On the bright side, I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer @ The Literate Housewife (my first face-to-face blogger experience!) when she was down here at Disney for a conference. We met for dinner at the Grand Floridian Resort, and talked non-stop for three hours. You might be surprised that we didn't just talk about books (although we had a pretty funny conversation about Nicholas Sparks), but about our kids and balancing our lives. It was like we'd always known each other!

I signed up for ANOTHER challenge this week, one that just couldn't be ignored. It is the Shelf Discovery Challenge, hosted by Julie @ Booking Mama, and runs November 1, 2009 through April 30, 2010. The challenge revolves around the book "Shelf Discovery" by Lizzie Skurnich, which lists all those books we read as teens that formed our young literary minds, that we hid in our underwear drawers, that we passed secretly to our friends. I am thinking that in a week or two, I am going to have a Shelf Discovery Read-a-thon, and try to knock out at least half of the books on my list. Maybe my daughter can read SOME of them with me (not all, thank you). Here is my post and list of books I plan on reading.

In my bookish life, I finally finished "Laura Rider's Masterpiece" by Jane Hamilton. It was only a little over 200 pages, but I only picked up my reading pace towards the end. It certainly unearthed some crazy emotions in me. I can't remember the last time I had such a violent, negative reaction to a character. But more on that later...review coming 11/20. I then started and finished reading "The Good Good Pig" by Sy Montgomery, getting back to my farm roots. I don't suppose this book will win any awards, but is a sweet, pleasurable read. I also finished "The Night Watch" by Sarah Waters. I know last week I said it wasn't tripping my trigger. Well now I'm not sure. Waters is like that...she seeps into your subconscious. I think maybe I liked it more than I originally thought. I haven't yet written the review. I think the idea of it needs to brew a little more in my mind. On audio, I started "The House at Riverton" by Kate Morton, but I'm only into the 2nd disc, so it is too soon to comment. The kids and I are still enjoying ourselves with The Goblet of Fire on audio as well.

I'm looking forward to starting fresh in a new week. I am going to aggressively attack my 100 Mile Fitness Challenge, and try to close in on the 100th mile. I'm going to catch up on my yardwork. I'm going to attend another book club meeting. I'm going to start planning my Thanksgiving feast. Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

How about a game of BINGO!

Have I told you all lately how blessed I feel to have found such a friendly universe out in blogland? Here is another example of it...an award I received from Gavin at Page 247. Gavin wandered onto my blog earlier this year because of our shared love for WWII novels. Since then, I've come to realize that Gavin's interests go way beyond WWII. She will read and review books you will never find in your day-to-day life, but are inspirational and educational and eclectic.

Gavin nominated me for the "N" part of the Bingo...as in Neighborly. Thank you so much! I'm blushing. Here are all of the portions of the Bingo in which I am to assign names:

B - Beautiful: Dolce Bellezza. The name says it all. Everything about Bellezza's blog is beautiful...her pictures, her writing, her stories about her third grade class, and her warm heart.

I - Informative: Tasha @ Heidenkind. I should be shot if I give this award to anyone else. Who has seen Tasha's series entitled "The More You Wish You Didn't Know"? This girl has got informative in the bag.

N - Neighborly: Jenners @ Find Your Next Book Here. Almost as soon as I added her to my blogroll (I'll thank BBAW for that!), she immediately started leaving me friendly, chatty e-mails that were a total hoot! She was an instant friend.

G - Gorgeous: Andreea @ Passionate Booklover. I discovered Andreea right after she moved here from Europe and started her blog. I have no idea what she actually looks like, but she has a gorgeous personality, AND she is about to have a baby. That counts for a few hundred points in my book.

O - Outstanding: Frances @ Nonsuch Book. I'm not sure I can do Frances justice by just saying she is outstanding. Outstanding in what, you ask? Well, just to name a few things, her writing is superb, as well as her literary analysis, her taste in books, her efforts in bringing books to all walks of life, and her love for wine. What else do you need?


For my dedication video, I thought I would share a little "ear worm" (term stolen from Stephen King) that was implanted in my brain awhile back by Jennifer at Literate Housewife. This song happened to be a favorite of hers, she imbedded it into a post, I listened to it, then couldn't get it out. I've since made peace with the ear worm, downloaded it on my iPod and listen whenever I need a pick-me-up. This is "Love Letter from Japan" by The Bird and the Bee:


The Bird & The Bee - Love Letter To Japan

the bird and the beeMySpace Music Videos

100 Mile Fitness Challenge Update: October 31 - November 6

I started out this week pumped up and motivated to get back on the bandwagon of walking, pledging a goal of 20 miles. I mean, the weather has cooled off, I'm not vacationing (in fact I have a couple of bumps I have to work off from that vacation!)...no excuses.

Well, unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way. My best friend's aunt left us a few weeks ago after a brave and determined fight against lung cancer, and her memorial service was Tuesday. In addition, my 45 year-old neighbor died suddenly of a heart attack this week, and his funeral is today. I have a hard time rebounding from these events after they are over, so effectively two days of this week were shot for me. There were also some personal and school-related commitments that needed to be kept on the non-funeral days, so my goals fell by the wayside.

Even under the circumstances though, I hit 10 miles, which brings my total miles to 76. If I can hit a goal of 20 next week, it will take me within 4 miles of the 100. Woo hoo! I'm determined to get there!

Don't forget to turn your miles into Trish for this week!

An Announcement about Danette Haworth!

Some of you may remember when I published a review of a book called "Violet Raines Almost Got Struck By Lightning", a wonderful YA book written by the exceptional Danette Haworth, a fellow Central Florida resident. I also was lucky enough to interview her, and even had her as a guest at a school event at Barnes & Noble. I just love this lady...she is real, she is easy to talk to, and an excellent writer to boot!

Well, I am proud to announce that she has a new book coming out next spring called "The Summer of Moonlight Secrets". She recently revealed the most excellent cover you see featured here. The style may look familiar, as it is illustrated by Brandon Dorman, who also illustrated Savvy. Isn't it beautiful? Danette just found out that it will be featured on the cover of Publisher's Spring Catalog!

Personally, I can't stand the suspense! Spring 2010 couldn't come soon enough! Stay tuned for more updates as they become available!