Book Review: Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy

Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy

ISBN: 978-0-06-166148-8
Pages: 416
Release Date: July 5, 2011
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

Publisher: Rebecca is young, lost, and beautiful. A gifted artist, she seeks solace and inspiration in the Mediterranean heat of Athens—trying to understand who she is and how she can love without fear.
George has come to Athens to learn ancient languages after growing up in New England boarding schools and Ivy League colleges. He has no close relationships with anyone and spends his days hunched over books or wandering the city in a drunken stupor.
Henry is in Athens to dig. An accomplished young archaeologist, he devotedly uncovers the city’s past as a way to escape his own, which holds a secret that not even his doting parents can talk about.

...And then, with a series of chance meetings, Rebecca, George, and Henry are suddenly in flight, their lives brighter and clearer than ever, as they fall headlong into a summer that will forever define them in the decades to come.


My review: Everything Beautiful Began After is a story filled with intense emotion: the characters experience the greatest happiness and the utmost .despair as well as everything in between. Rebecca, George and Henry are foreigners living alone in Athens until they find each other. They are each struggling with deep pain from a past occurrence or conflict they have not yet resolved within themselves. They recognize the well of sadness and pain in each other. Its impact on their lives, rather than separate them, it bonds Rebecca, Henry and George to one another. This is even more remarkable considering George and Henry are both in love with Rebecca who's only in love with Henry. The friendship of Rebecca and Henry is more important to George, a sweet man who has spent much of his life alone, than a romantic relationship with Rebecca. And in George, Henry feels he's found a brother. This connection is of vital importance to Henry as the story progresses. In the first of three books, Rebecca, Henry and George take full advantage of all that Athens has to offer, reveling in their friendship and love, happy to be together.

I rarely include passages from the book in my review but I wanted to share an example of Mr. Van Booy's beautiful prose. Shortly after George, Henry and Rebecca first spend some time together:

George looked out into a drowning world. In the reflection of the glass he could see the outline of a man, a few lines, a specter suspended by light and dark, by falling rain. A life that was yet to be decided, despite everything that had already happened, every moment is yet to be decided and connected to the one before it by illusions.

I don't want to go into any more detail about the plot because I think Mr. Van Booy's book has a greater impact if you don't know the plot beforehand. I didn't and at one point I gasped out loud! What I will gladly tell you is how beautiful i found Mr. Van Booy's writing. His prose took my breath away. When I first started reading the book, it didn't matter to me what the story was about, I just wanted to continue experiencing the way Mr. Van Booy combines words. His sentences flow smoothly with elegance and grace whether he's describing Rebecca's day at the Monastiraki flea market in Athens or Professor Peterson, Henry's teacher, clipping George with the fender of his Renault while driving. Mr. Van Booy's descriptions are so detailed and distinct I felt I was in Rebecca's apartment with her and at the beach in Piraeus with Rebecca, Henry and George. Mr. Van Booy doesn't describe them so much as let us come to know and understand them through their actions, thoughts and dialogue. This had the affect of making me feel like I'd met them.

Mr. Van Booy has a remarkable ability to combine the past with the present and show us how one influences the other. In the same way, our past experiences impact who we are now. Our connections to others, our love for them and theirs for us enables us to see clearly and to make sense of the chaos of life. As Rebecca, George and Henry discover, pain, loss and grief can get in the way and block our view. Mr. Van Booy shows us how these emotions and experiences make us stronger, give us hope for the future and help us to appreciate all that is good about life. I highly recommend Everything Beautiful Began After. I'm already looking forward to re-reading this book as well as reading Mr. Van Booy's other books. You don't want to miss it.

Simon Van Booy's website.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to review Everything Beautiful Began After and thank you to Harper Perennial for a copy of the book.

Miss Timmins' School for Girls by Nayana Currimbhoy

Title: Miss Timmins' School for Girls
Author: Nayana Currimbhoy
ISBN: 978-0-06-199774-7
Pages: 512
Release Date: June 21, 2011
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 3.0 out of 5

Book Summary: A murder at a British boarding school in the hills of western India launches a young teacher on the journey of a lifetime.

In 1974, three weeks before her twenty-first birthday, Charulata Apte arrives at Miss Timmins’ School for Girls in Panchgani. Shy, sheltered, and running from a scandal that disgraced her Brahmin family, Charu finds herself teaching Shakespeare to rich Indian girls in a boarding school still run like an outpost of the British Empire. In this small, foreign universe, Charu is drawn to the charismatic teacher Moira Prince, who introduces her to pot-smoking hippies, rock ‘n’ roll, and freedoms she never knew existed.
Then one monsoon night, a body is found at the bottom of a cliff, and the ordered worlds of school and town are thrown into chaos. When Charu is implicated in the murder—a case three intrepid schoolgirls take it upon themselves to solve—Charu’s real education begins. A love story and a murder mystery, Miss Timmins’ School for Girls is, ultimately, a coming-of-age tale set against the turbulence of the 1970s as it played out in one small corner of India.

My Thoughts: I was one of those girls that liked school even as a teenager in high school. I didn't mind classes or the work but what I enjoyed the most was the social aspects of school. I loved spending time with friends, was always involved in extra-curricular activities and never wanted to miss a day! It seems fitting that I'm always attracted to books set in schools and with characters who are students or teachers. I also enjoy reading author debuts so Miss Timmins' School for Girls was an easy choice for me. Nayana Currimbhoy's writing is accessible and flows smoothly and her main character is terrific but an excess of characters and too many ideas and themes weighed this book down and reading it became a bit of a chore.

On arrival, Charulata Apte, a young Indian woman and inexperienced, new teacher at Miss Timmins' School for Girls is shy and reserved. It's the first time she's been away from home and her parents. As expected, Charu is nervous and a little anxious although leaving home to teach was her own idea. She wanted to go to Bombay, to be a 'Bombay girl', but her strict middle-class parents wouldn't permit it as they had no relatives living in Bombay. Panchgani, the site of Miss Timmins' Shool, is an 8-hour drive from Bombay and the closest Charu could get. And it’s preferable to continuing to live at home for Charu. By the end of the first chapter it's apparent there's more to Ms. Currimbhoy's main character than the good manners and quiet responses her strict upbringing instilled in her.

Charu is a very effective first-person narrator of her story. As I read, I felt like we were having a conversation, during which she relayed the story of her time at Miss Timmins. Like a conversation, topics jump around a bit and some issues come up but aren't totally fleshed out until several pages later but it worked for me. Charu is likeable and easy to identify with because, like most of us, she's a mixed bag of emotions and personality traits. If you cannot relate to her insecurity, you may understand the boredom she felt living with her mother and father for the first 20 years, and her desire to experience the world. In fact, Charu reminded me of some of the people I befriended my first year of college. Coming from strict homes and rigid upbringings, the freedom at school was exciting, shocking and frightening. For some it proved to be too much. Others went a little crazy and now have stories they may or may not tell their grandkids. Charu is smart and takes her time acclimating to Miss Timmins' School and the village of Panchgani, fighting occasional homesickness.

Ms. Currimbhoy has also made it easy for us to sympathize with her main character. Charu's father got himself into a bad situation in his job with the Navy when she was seven. This resulted in a scandal that brought shame on her family. Charu lost her best friend shortly before her family left Bombay for the anonymity of Indore. Her parents were tense, her mother cried but nobody ever talked about what happened. That's when Charu's "blot" appeared. "The family gash was closed up, unlicked, unmourned. And so it seeped into my face, red and angry.". Her blot became the size of an onion. Sometimes it was red and itchy, other times it was more subdued but it’s always present. As a result, Charu’s not only awkward and uncomfortable with new people but extremely vulnerable to kindness and friendship.

There are several teachers and staff happy to chat with and advise Charu about school policies and rules as well as Panchgani. The younger teachers, most of whom stay in Sunbeam, invite Charu for dinner one Friday night. The night goes so well the teachers decide to make it a weekly event. Then Charu meets Moira Prince, a young British teacher in the care of the principal, Miss Nelson. Moira lives in Sunbeam but doesn’t regularly socialize with the other teachers. Moira defends Charu when an obnoxious, self-righteous student tries to flout the detention Charu gave her. Soon Charu and Moira are spending most of their free time together. Moira is considered by many to be difficult and improper. In short, she is trouble but Charu can’t stay away.

Ms. Currimbhoy astutely conveys the struggle Charu experiences as she attempts to talk herself out of spending time with Moira. She knows what she should do, what her upbringing dictates The tension in the book is enhanced by the atmosphere surrounding the school. For example, Panchgani is known for its monsoon season and the intense rains and dark skies cause a bleak, foreboding feeling.

You might expect the book would continue to explore Charu, her relationship with Moira and where her life goes which sounds captivating to me. But that's not what happens, and I expect you'll probably be surprised when I tell you that at this point, part of the story is just getting started! One of the major themes in the book is introduced when Moira Prince is murdered not far from the grounds of Miss Timmins' School at a place called tableland. It sends the school into a state of chaos and shock despite Moira Prince not being at all popular.

Miss Timmins' School for Girls is divided into three books. Book One ends soon after the teacher's murder with Charu leaving the school because her mother is sick. In Book Two several new characters are introduced as four students set about investigating the murder. Book Two felt extraneous to me and unnecessary. I found the extra characters, the various theories about the crime and a few additional tangents about the lives of these characters confusing at times and tedious. I also kept wondering if we would see Charu again as well as what was the purpose of Book Two. I still haven’t figured that out to my satisfaction.

Charu reappears in Book Three. She’s at her mother’s family home because her mother is ill. Unfortunately, Book Three introduces several more new characters, members of Charu’s family and, inexplicably, many chapters are spent discussing them. By the time Charu returns to Miss Timmins’ School, I'd lost my steam and interest.

I wish Ms. Currimbhoy had written two books, maybe with the second book as a sequel. I liked her writing and some of her characters, including Charu were intriguing. There was just too much going on in this book. Charu’s growing into a woman, learning who she is and wants to be, coming to understand her parents and their relationship while exploring her own sexuality is a book I think I would have enjoyed very much. A book about a murder at Miss Timmins’ School for Girls and the subsequent investigation, by several different parties sounds intriguing, too. Unfortunately, although Miss Timmins’ School for Girls has some good aspects there were too many problems and the book just didn’t work for me.


Thank you to TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book and to the publisher for a copy of Miss Timmins’ School for Girls.

Monday Movies ~ We're Havin' a Heat Wave...!

Feature Presentation...
MONDAY MOVIE MEME

We're havin' a heat-wave! Seriously! I think we really are here in NYC according to the heat advisory announced on the news 2 minutes ago! And, apparently temps in the 90's with accompanying humidity are hitting states up and down the East Coast. Blah! The Bumbles Blog reader and Monday Movie Meme participant Nicole of The Madlab Post suggested today's theme: movies containing a heat wave or extreme summer heat, it doesn't have to be central to the plot just a part of the movie. I've had my experiences with heat and humidity. I don't like it! lol My mother hated the heat & humidity. But she also hated air conditioning! Mom refused to put in central air as her sister did despite my aunt telling her, repeatedly, how great it was to have on those hot, humid, hideous days of summer and despite two whiney, pleading children (my sister & me!). Two rooms in our house had air conditioning: my parents bedroom and my dad's den/office. On the worst days my sister and I camped out on my parents bedroom floor! We thought it was great fun when we were little. As teenagers, not so much...we idiotically opted to sweat and whined about it (of course!)! lolol Fortunately, I smartened up! I don't like air conditioning much myself but it's way better than heat! Molly's got a great movie listed for today so be sure to visit her blog, The Bumbles Blog. And remember to share on your blog movies that turned the heat on their characters and link back to The Bumbles Blog so that others can find you. Be sure to visit your fellow participants, too!


Crimes of the Heart (1986) ~ a comedy/drama starring Diane Keaton, Sissy Spacek and Jessica Lange as the three Magrath sisters who reunite at their childhood home in Hazlehurst, Mississippi after Babe (Sissy Spacek) shoots her abusive husband. This is just one in a long line of bizzarre, shocking events that surround this dysfunctional family. The sisters were raised by Old Grandaddy (Hurd Hatfield) after their mother died and have always been eccentric. Part of the movie takes place during the hazy, lazy days of summer

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) a comedy/drama starring Kathy Bates as bored housewife Evelyn Couch who befriends Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy) while visiting her crabby mother-in-law in a Birmingham, Alabama nursing home. Ninny tells Evelyn over the course of numerous visits Evelyn makes to see Ninny about the abandoned town of Whistle Stop, Alabama and the people who lived there. Ninny tells many stories about many people in this southern town and, as you can imagine, summers in Whistle Stop were very hot and we see many scenes that evidence this! It's obvious that Ninny loved the town and its inhabitants and she deeply touches Evelyn, enthralls and inspires her. They become good friends and there are several great surprises in stor for those of you who haven't seen this movie yet!

The Man in the Moon (1991) in Louisiana 14-year old Dani (Reese Witherspoon) and her older sister, Maureen (Emily Warfield) fall for the same guy. It's Dani's first kiss during her very brief summer romance but is Maureen's age so when he meets her, he's smitten. Uh-oh! Much of the movie occurs during the hot summer months. There's some great photography that shows off the landscape including a beautiful pond great for cooling off, fishing and fun! There's more to this movie than teenage romance mostly about the importance of family.

Passion Fish (1992) this drama directed by John Sayles is about a soap opera star, May-Alice Culhane (Mary McDonnell) who becomes paralyzed when she's struck by a taxi on her way to get her legs waxed. When it comes time for her to be discharged from the hospital she doesn't know what to do so she retreats to her family home in Louisiana. There, filled with fear, lonely sad, immensely angry and more, she turns to alcohol and has an extended pity party. She abuses the live-in nurses and all leave within 2, 3 days of arriving. But then Chantelle (Alfre Woodard) arrives. She has her own problems and needs this job. She's also unwilling to put up with any crap. This makes for some entertaining scenes! Little by little the two women connect, become friends and help each other. Many of the scenes in this movie occur outside on the land surrounding the home which includes a large pond with dock. And, as it's the south, some days are very hot!

~ Dreams of Joy by Lisa See ~

Book cover: Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

Title: Dreams of Joy
Author: Lisa See
Publisher: Random House
Published Date: May 31, 2011
ISBN: 978-1400067121
Pages: 368
Genre: Historical Fiction; Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Book Summary: In her beloved New York Times bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, and, most recently, Shanghai Girls, Lisa See has brilliantly illuminated the potent bonds of mother love, romantic love, and love of country. Now, in her most powerful novel yet, she returns to these timeless themes, continuing the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl’s strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy.

Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, and anger at her mother and aunt for keeping them from her, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father—the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Dazzled by him, and blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy throws herself into the New Society of Red China, heedless of the dangers in the communist regime.Devastated by Joy’s flight and terrified for her safety, Pearl is determined to save her daughter, no matter the personal cost. From the crowded city to remote villages, Pearl confronts old demons and almost insurmountable challenges as she follows Joy, hoping for reconciliation. Yet even as Joy’s and Pearl’s separate journeys converge, one of the most tragic episodes in China’s history threatens their very lives.

Acclaimed for her richly drawn characters and vivid storytelling, Lisa See once again renders a family challenged by tragedy and time, yet ultimately united by the resilience of love

My Thoughts: I read and reviewed Shanghai Girls by Lisa See many months ago. (see my review) It's a wonderful book about sisters Pearl and May, and the lives they made for themselves in Los Angeles. The book ends shortly after the family suffers a tragedy. As a result, Pearl's daughter Joy learns some stunning family secrets that turn her world upside down. I wondered: what became of Pearl, May and Joy? Since they impacted me so strongly, I hoped they would be important enough to prevail upon Lisa See to write a sequel. To my amazement and delight Ms. See continues the story in Dreams of Joy, a riveting follow up you don't want to miss.

Dreams of Joy, aside from a few pages in the first chapter, takes place in The People's Republic of China, a fascinating country in flux at the time. It is 1957 and China is led by Chairman Mao Tse-tung, celebrated for, among other things, his assistance in repelling the invasion of the Japanese. Early in Shanghai Girls, Pearl and May, barely out of their teens, flee the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, eventually landing in California. The sisters hear reports from relatives still there of Chairman Mao's reign and the programs he institutes, including the introduction of communism. Pearl and May are well aware of the unfavorable impact of many of Mao's changes. Their family has been fervent in their criticisms, though no one explains in any detail to Joy what's so terrible. Lisa See does a terrific job throughout Dreams of Joy giving us insight into a traditional Chinese family.

Joy has just finished her freshman year of college at the University of Chicago where she joined the group Chinese Students Democratic Christian Association. They support Chairman Mao's changes, including land reform. Joy, like many of the people in China, believes in Mao and his plans. She has talked incessantly about traveling there to help build a country the Chinese can be proud of and criticized her family for what she saw as backward thinking. When the FBI, targeting Joy's family as part of their rounding up Chinese people who favor Communism and Chairman Mao, encourages neighbors to inform on each other, Joy's family suffers betrayal and a terrible tragedy.

Secrets woven into the family structure for generations are revealed and Joy's world is shattered. Sam, the man she always believed to be her father, is not her biological father. Joy learns some other truths which I won't reveal but they shake her to her core. Overnight, her life is altered considerably. Joy, confused, hurt and angry, feels she has nowhere to turn and no one to trust, including her aunt and mother. She makes the impetuous decision to go to China, alone, to search for her real father, as well as to help the country. Struggling under the burden of these intense, complex emotions, Joy flees Los Angeles and her family. She feels guilty but, at the same time, believes she will be welcomed in China as a worker and daughter. When Pearl realizes Joy has run away, her only thought is to bring her home.

Dreams of Joy is narrated by Joy and Pearl. Each tells her story, from their own perspective, in respective chapters. Here we have two women of different ages and personalities whom we can understand, most of the time. When we can't, Lisa See makes sure we're still able to relate to them. She gives us detailed accounts of their behavior, believable and understandable because they follow from the moral foundation she's given them. And at the core is the universal human condition they find themselves in. Because Lisa See created such well developed, genuine characters, she's able to provide, through them, a detailed and comprehensive picture of China during this time.

Returning to China is an overwhelming experience for Pearl. As she finds her way to her childhood home, Lisa See treats us to Pearl's vivid memories of the Shanghai she once knew and loved. She finds a very different city now. We experience first hand Pearl's discovery that the same boarders her family had to take in to pay her father's debts all those years ago, still live in her ancestral home! There's a lot of tension between the boarders. Everyone is supposed to work together in the house and, although everything is divided equally, there's a lot of bickering and nobody gets along.

Though her bedroom looks exactly the same: "It's just as May and I left it..."., little else in Shanghai is the same. Pearl is dismayed when told "...you must follow the rules of the home and the street, or I will report you to the higher-ups." by the man who used to be the family cook. Back then, Pearl was one of his favorites, now she barely recognizes him.

This is the least of Pearl's problems. She desperately wants to find Joy and make sure she's safe. Pearl is considered sinful and corrupt because she's from the West. Chinese people have been told people like Pearl cannot be trusted. She has to meet monthly with Superintendent Third Class Wu Bayou and answer all his questions honestly. Pearl's told she'll have to endure many "struggle sessions in an effort to cast off your bourgeois individualism". She has to attend "thought-reform" sessions like all Chinese. Pearl also wants to work because the right job will help her blend in and provide her anonymity. A job requires registering with the government but since they already know about her, working makes her look obedient. One of the boarders in her family home, Dun-ao, used to be Daniel and was once a student and now a professor suggests Pearl become a paper collector. This was an honored profession when Pearl was a young girl in Shanghai but now it's similar to being a garbage man. But it's a very beneficial job for Pearl. It allows her to blend in, gives her access all over the city, something to do and coupons for food.

As she gets herself settled in, Pearl begins to realize that, just as the Shanghai of old exists only in her memories, she, too, may be living too much in the past. Through Pearl, we are privy to the extensive changes happening in China as a result of Mao's leadership. Shanghai's became a bland, colorless, lifeless place. The buildings are stripped of their beauty and individuality down to their names, themselves bland and unremarkable. The clubs, bars and restaurants are all gone and with them the musicians, waiters, bartenders and prostitutes. Pearl cannot believe she misses the prostitutes but that's how bad it is in Shanghai. Things reach a nadir the day she realizes the "once-grand Western-style buildings" have hanging nets in order to catch anybody trying to commit suicide.

Shanghai serves as a metaphor for Pearl's life. She always feels frightened although her calm, quiet facade belies the varied emotions churning beneath the surface where she feels sadness, despair and now grief over Sam. It's as if the life's gone out of her. Pearl may be close to middle-aged but she still has much to learn about life in general and herself in particular. Understanding that her home, the place she belongs and wants to be now is America. Not China. This is only the beginning. The growth and change Pearl experiences and the truths she uncovers about herself and life as the novel progresses is one of the most enjoyable and interesting aspects of Dreams of Joy.

Joy's metamorphosis from a naive, young woman into an adult is the other wonderful part of LisaSee's sequel. Joy is stubborn, confused and guilty. She's also angry at Pearl and May for deceiving her and wants to get away from them. Believing she understands the situation in China better than her mother and aunt sets her on a dangerous path. As with many young arrogant people, Joy doesn't know nearly as much as she thinks she does and doesn't understands the reality of the situation in China. Even when she observes hypocrisy in the society she believes is built on fairness and equality, she simply rationalizes until she's satisfied with the story she tells herself. It's difficult, sad, disheartening and even, at times painful to read Joy's story. There are times we either know or sense what's going to happen before she does and wish we could save her from a harrowing experience. But, like so many others, Joy has to make her own mistakes before she realizes how much she needs to learn and listen to the people who love her.

Lisa See provides vivid images of China under the reign of Chairman Mao. We get a clear view of what Pearl and Joy see and their very different opinions about the situation in China. Unfortunately, Lisa See's description of the atmosphere in China under Mao and where things went so wrong is somewhat vague and confusing. At times, it's frightening and menacing for Pearl and Joy but, other times, they aren't bothered by anything more than harassment. It's as if the men enacting Mao's laws didn't always know what they were doing. For instance, when Pearl is told she has to meet with a superintendent in his office monthly and answer all his questions truthfully, she does so with trepidation. But as the months go by, Pearl realizes it's not what she says that matters, rather, it's how she answers and how she treats him that counts. She discovers she can obtain a pass to travel to the countryside or anything else she wants if she does and says what the official wants to hear. There's quite a bit of corruption of and manipulation by officials, particularly in the countryside, which is where Joy spends most of her time. But it's unclear and confusing where things went wrong and why people behaved as they did. Maybe they believed in Mao and the men enacting his plans that strongly, maybe they were afraid to think for themselves or maybe they were utterly confused because their lives had changed so much from what they once were. Whatever the reason, things became very grim and bleak in China.

I was hoping I would read about life in China from the perspective of Z.G. Li. He didn't leave Shanghai like Pearl and May twenty years ago, so he's always been there. Joy latches on to Z.G. shortly after arriving in China and Pearl searches for him, hoping she'll find him with Joy. Z.G. was an artist years ago and painted Pearl and May's portraits when they were girls. When Mao came to power, Z. G. did whatever he had to to become an artist under the communist regime, so he could have given us a clear and accurate understanding of the situation and atmosphere. As a top artist, he was close to Mao and could even influence him. Sadly, we aren't made privy to Z.G.'s perspective.

Apart from missing these elements which could have provided more clarity via a very different perspective, this book was everything I'd hoped it would be. Lisa See brings the story to a satisfying conclusion, providing a chance to travel to another place and time that I would otherwise never have the opportunity to do. If you are looking to broaden your horizons about the world, China's recent history and how it's shaped how we live today, this book is a must read. And all the while Lisa See, through Pearl, Joy and the rest, keeps their humanity and the overall human condition at the forefront, making it identifiable no matter where you are when you read it. Dreams of Joy is a book well worth reading.

See Darlene's Review of Dreams of Joy at her blog Peeking Between the Pages

Lisa See has a wonderful website, be sure to check it out!

Thank you to Random House for sending me an ARC copy of Dreams of Joy to read and review!

Literary Blog Hop Winners!!

The Literary Blog Hop was hosted by Leeswammes' Blog and was a terrific, fun event!

I am a little bit delayed posting the winners of the books I gave away but, after a few weeks away from the computer and blogging, I'm back ~ hopefully with no more absences (for a long while anyway!) I wanted to post the winners of the books I entered in the Literary Blog Hop before posting anything else!


Congratulations!! to:




kiss a cloud for winning March by Geraldine Brooks






Sam Still Reading for winning Felicia's Journey by William Trevor

HAPPY 4TH of JULY!!

I Hope You're Having a Great Weekend!!

Monday Movies ~ Battle Axe...

Feature Presentation...
MONDAY MOVIE MEME

Sandy at You've GOTTA Read This has chosen the themes for the movie meme the last few weeks. Today she wraps up her month with a great theme: epic battle scenes! Sandy kindly allowed her husband to contribute, hence fighting and violence predominate today! This theme lets us choose from a wonderful selection of movies! These aren't your school yard brawls or drunken skirmishes outside a pub in the wee hours of the night. As Sandy describes it so well: We're talking knock-down, drag-out, testosterone-filled armies bent on destroying each other. The kind of movies that make you want to beat your chest, scream, smear war paint on your face and grab the nearest weapon". I listed below the few films that came to mind when I thought about battles in the movies. Be sure to check out Sandy's movie choices, too and then head on over to The Bumbles Blog where they've listed their choices along with a great video preview! Share on your blog movies with epic battle scenes, and link back here so that others can find you. And don't forget to visit your fellow participants!

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) ~ a quintessential epic battle scene between good and evil at the end of the movie when four children evacuated from The Blitz enter the fantasy world of Narnia through a wardrobe they find. In Narnia they help Aslan, the huge and noble Lion, fight the forces of Jaddis the White Witch for control of Narnia and thereby ending the curse of 100 years of winter the White Witch put on Narnia.

Braveheart (1995) ~ there are many battles in this movie with one quite amazing battle scene. And there are many men in kilts!

Slap Shot (1977) ~ There's a major fight at the end of this film, on the ice, when the Charlestown Chiefs, a minor league hockey team who've become known for their violent style of play, try to play the final playoff game clean, without violence. The team the Chiefs are playing, the Syracuse Bulldogs, are beating the Chiefs bloody! Then the Chiefs find out during a break after the first period, there are scouts from the NHL in the stands. The Chiefs start playing like the goons they are, then, and All hell breaks loose!

Honorable Mention:

The Princess Bride (1987) ~ There isn't an epic battle scene per se in this movie, but there is a terrific sword fight that is certainly worth seeing and is much more than a skirmish or schoolyard brawl! Westley (Cary Elwes), the man Buttercup, Princess of Florin, loves and Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) who is out to revenge the death of his father. Inigo Montoya assists in the kidnapping of Buttercup and Westley wants to avenge that....and the rest I will leave for you to discover when you watch this wonderful, very funny movie!