Sorry not to have posted recently, I've been so busy reading.  Was entirely caught up in MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood, which so excellently concludes her brilliant trilogy begun with Oryx and Crake and continued in The Year of the Flood.  I think that everyone should read these books, especially my brother and his wife. :)  I have a brilliant older lady crush on Margaret Atwood now, and am soon to read Surfacing because I just can't get enough.

I've also picked up On Beauty, by Zadie Smith, that I'm reading at lunch break.  This I'm enjoying, and am finding to be quite interesting with its memorable characters and pleasing settings.  It helps that my brother's wife approves, since she is my literary hero.  It's so funny that I had been thinking of the book, and she mentioned that she had liked it, so I started reading it and have been enjoying.  I especially like the overlap of the settings of London and New England.

However, the most exciting thing that I'm reading right now is Night and Day, by Virginia Woolf.  It is of just enough age as to be written with such lovely care, so that I am ever so slowly and delightfully enjoying it.  It's kind of a relief to be certain of women's suffrage while reading it, and this makes the future seem much less bleak with all of its troubles that Atwood so tenderly observes in her books.  At least I know that women do get the vote while reading Woolf, which gives me hope for the healing of social issues.

What has made all of these books so nice is the promise of love, that always improves everything.  Maybe this is the enduring quality of human writers, after all.  Love and hope.  Yeah, so I hope that there won't be any unseemly endings to the novels I have not yet finished, but I think I'll be okay because all of these books are so beautifully written, and maybe that's the thrill of the journey.  And that ever present cup of tea!

Finished The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud.  I did enjoy it, but see how it might just address the particular audience of childless women who like to make art, particularly if the artistic output is frustrated by living life, or not living life as had been hoped.  The relationships described in the story could be a little creepy, but not half as bad as much current literature or celebrity news.  Might try the author again, but

Just finished yesterday, The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud.  I did enjoy it, though probably this book appeals only to a particular audience, that of the childless female not-working-as-an-artist type.  At least there wasn't some awful killing at the end, or such madness.

Now I'm possibly reading Virginia Woolf, Night and Day, if I do get a chance.  Have been enjoying the sentence construction, though have not gotten very far yet.  My return to reading has been populated with more contemporary stuff, so I'm not used to the lovely writing as much.  I think I will start reading older stuff for while.

In any case, Messud's book did make me recognize and realize that I ought to at least try making some art.  I'm so lazy, though, and overcome with housecleaning.  Actually, I have faith that I'll make at least one Christmas present.  It's only October!

Just finished Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.  I can't stop thinking about it.  It is so unnerving because of its speculative future society, because in many ways it is like existing life on earth.  We've got to be so careful about this world!

Previously I had read The Year of the Flood, out of sequence, and unfortunately it was long enough ago that my memory fails me a little.  Nonetheless, I cannot wait to read MaddAddam, which concludes the trilogy.  I'm thinking that the Internet can help me to fill in any gaps.  It was nice that one could read The Year of the Flood withut having read the first book and still follow the amazingly well-developed story.  The events of the two novels occur concurrently, which makes for an interesting experience traveling in the unfortunate world that Atwood describes.

In any case, reading these dystopian novels makes me want to clean up my act, recycle, go to church, and be good and kind.  Really, I want the world to be a good place, so I aim to do my part.  Fortunately there is the medium of speculative fiction, as we all need to heed these cautionary tales, and thankfully there is Margaret Atwood to visualize where we might be going if we don't shape up.

Please shape up!

On a lighter note, I've been reading many awesome self-help books, particularly those associated with Louise Hay.  All is Well and You Can Create an Exceptional Life.  The first is written with Dr. Mona Lisa Schulz, and is awesome because the M.D. adds science to the notion of positive thinking and affirmations.  The second is written with Cheryl Richardson, and even though I have not yet finished reading it, I'm eager to begin making my affirmations.

I think I'm going to become even more of a positive thinker, and to promote good things as happening in my life.  My mother will be so proud.

Seriously!  If I can just maintain the positive thinking, my plants will stay healthy, I'll feed my cat, and my husband will give me kisses!  Woo hoo!

Also am reading a book by Joanna Trollope called Girl from the South.  It's a great read because it's centered in Charleston and soon London.  How fantastic are British writers anyway, and Lord knows the English know the English language very well.

Have a flash drive loaded up with photos, so who knows what comes next.  I'll keep reading and reporting, positively.

So I finished reading Loving Frank and was not prepared for the tragic ending from real life.  I wish that I had heeded my initial peek at Wikipedia for the actual real events, but I got so caught up in the characters that I actually finished the book and read the afterword by Nancy Horan, only to remember that it was a dreadful conclusion.

Although, I'm glad that I read the book that had been so well written and engaging, despite my initial objections to the apparent immorality.  Actually the questions of true love and women's independence kind of trumped the initial chagrin, and I found myself agreeing  with the author about the significance of Mamah Borthwick's story.

In any case, the events of the story led me to believe that celebrity is a silly idea, and that people should never be so up in other people's business.  I still believe that Frank Lloyd Wright did great work, and now I'm just so sorry to hear of the tragedy in his sphere.

In light of ensuring that everyone stays comfortable, the purpose of this post is to remind everyone to check out the true events of this novel first, or to at least proceed with caution.  I think that if I had assimilated the words on the back flap appropriately, I never would have been so shocked.  Or heeded the wisdom of the Wikipedia.   In any case, I'm truly a rube, and maybe this is why folks should not drop out of architecture school prematurely, and maybe we all should just do our homework.

So, yeah, really enjoyed The Art Forger, as would anyone who loves to think about making art, or just reading books about it.

What was even more exciting was Angelopolis, the follow-up to Angelology, both by Danielle Trussoni.  Fantastic, yet fascinatingly sound.  What interesting characters, and of course, angelic events.  I don't want to give it away by trying to explain it!

I'm also behind the times reading Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan.  Actually I'm usually behind the times with my reading selections, if that hasn't been noticed.  What is so irritating about Loving Frank is the marital infidelity, so I haven't just finished the book, and am drawing it out unnecessarily because of my morals.  Yet I can't deny being curious about the outcome of these characters, despite my bitterness over not becoming an architect my own self.

Thankfully!  This book has made me realize the limits of my ego, which obviously needs constant stoking, despite my dismay over the questionable morals of a real live genius.  Since I'm clearly not an amazing artistic genius my own self, I'm thankfully free to keep up a silly blog with not outstanding graphics.  Yay!

What I have learned from all of this recent reading is that the most important thing to me right now is to  keep on reading and to maintain a positive attitude.  Seriously!  Really what else is there to do but to smile and to make sure that everybody's comfortable, also with a good book in hand.