Daily Archives: July 25, 2012

Day Dreams and Night Parades: Why Writers Are Always Surrounded by Dead People

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DAY DREAMS/                                                                                                                                                   There were two trees I loved as a child. They lived less than an acre apart, but never met. This made me sad, as I was certain they would get along if the chance ever came. I tried making introductions, but whenever I broached the subject they were too busy doing secretive tree things that I did not understand.

The Front Yard Tree thrived on the imaginations of little girls. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 180: Inside the Victorian Home

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  • Title: Inside the Victorian Home A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England
  • Author: Judith Flanders
  • Year Published: 2003 (W.W. Norton & Company)
  • Year Purchased: 2004/2005
  • Source: History Book Club
  • About: I am lustfully curious about matters of domestic history. No, not marital details. I mean the inner workings of domesticity-cooking, shopping, consumerism, the running of households, servants, the cost of goods, wages. It may be a strange occupation, but then I have never claimed nor aspired to normalcy. Inside the Victorian Home is not the only book on the subject I own (although it was the first I bought). It breaks down and explicates on all of the above subjects (as well as social and political history), as filtered through rooms of a house: bedroom, drawing room, morning room, etc., before throwing us out on the street, as it were, in the last chapter. So many things can be learned-insights gained-from how we lived, perhaps even more than what we say or record for posterity. It is a gem of its kind, and one that I turn to for clarification on such matters.
  • Motivation: History + England + Domestic History= a book I could not resist.
  • Times Read: 2
  • Random Excerpt/Page 28: “If the family’s status was on display in the choice of the house, then it followed that location and public rooms were more important than comfort and convenience, and certainly more important than the private, family spaces.”
  • Happiness Scale: 9+

A Year in Books/Day 179: It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be

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  • Title: It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be
  • Author: Paul Arden
  • Year Published: First Edition:2003/This Edition: 2007 (Phaidon)
  • Year Purchased: Unknown
  • Source: My mom, who gave me a bunch of books to either keep or sell. (According to the sticker on the inside back flap, she bought the book at Anthropologie.)
  • About: Another corporate motivational book, this one by an ad man from the UK. He was highly successful, and so was this common-sense little volume. It is as easy to digest as your favourite ad campaign, and almost as memorable (the chapter on Victoria Beckham not withstanding). Continue reading →