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July 27, 2007
front porch
I often miss the Grand's front porch. I'm missing it especially tonight as the storm has rolled in, the raining is falling straight down and the lightning is dancing in the sky.
Posted by charity at 08:43 PM | Comments (1)
July 23, 2007
they're up!
We've gotten a selection (377 of our 1100+) of photos from our Europe trip now posted. Take a peak!
Posted by charity at 09:38 PM | Comments (4)
July 22, 2007
ross & tom
Ross & Tom: 2 American Tragedies was the latest book on my Summer Reading List. An unauthorized biography, author John Leggett writes the story of two young writers whose lives end in suicide in the late 1940s. Reading the intricacies of what went on in the heads of Ross and Tom as they wrote and attempted to write, as well as the description of simultaneously experiencing publishing success and severe depression, were intriguing.
The stories of Ross and Tom are told independently of each other, but they were in fact living and experiencing their first literary successes around the same time. For both of these men, the road to success played havoc on their pride and insecurities. While the anxieties, paranoias, and depression surrounding great success in a sense seems "normal," the contemporary understanding of mental illness in the 40s led doctors to prescribe electric shock therapies and barbiturates for their severe depression. While the author of Ross & Tom more readily blamed the pitfalls of success and sudden fame as the ultimate downfall of these two men, I was surprised by his lack of recognition of the role that the combination of depression and barbiturates had to of played.
But the intriguing part of the book isn't the few pages of the author's reflections, but the stories of Ross and Tom themselves. I definitely recommend it.
Posted by charity at 06:51 PM | Comments (1)
July 09, 2007
room with a view
Early on in our trip, I began taking photos of some of the spectacular views as seen from our room for the evening. As you'll see, some of the best views were from campgrounds!
St. Goar, Germany
Zell, Germany
Suzette, France
Near Huemoz, Switzerland
Berner Oberland, Switzerland
Posted by charity at 08:57 PM | Comments (3)
re-entry
*deep breath* 1...2...3
...1,078 e-mails....
*deep breath* 1...2...3
*deep breath* 1...2...3
ok... re-entering my work world... exhale...
Posted by charity at 08:24 AM | Comments (2)
July 08, 2007
a return to fiction
It seems that our jaunt across the ocean has kindled, or re-kindled, a love for reading fiction. It helped that the books I read were fantastic. The book I enjoyed the most was A Tale of Two Cities. I picked it up with the thought that it was "one of those books" everyone should read. Though I thought I should read it (and anticipated having to trudge through), when I picked it up I couldn't put it down and read it in about two and a half days. It was intriguing with characters that you love and are eager to learn and understand more about. I felt that about the characters as well as the history of the time - I'm now hoping to learn more about the French Revolution.
While A Tale of Two Cities was my favorite, I heartily enjoyed Lewis' perspective on the divide between heaven and hell in the The Great Divorce. I devoured and eventually cried through The Kite Runner. And my second reading of Love in the Time of Cholera was better than the first. I recommend them all!
Posted by charity at 07:22 AM | Comments (6)