tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5060356776664718682024-03-13T22:19:13.475-07:00The Painter's StudioA thing of beauty is a joy forever.Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-1896044149989140462013-01-03T16:57:00.001-08:002013-01-03T16:57:57.305-08:00A New Beginning<div style="text-align: center;">
“We walked at night towards a cafe blooming with Japanese lanterns and I followed your white shoes gleaming like radium in the damp darkness. Rising off the water, lights flickered an invitation far enough away to be interpreted as we liked; to shimmer glamorously behind the silhouette of retrospective good times when we still believed in summer hotels and the philosophies of popular songs.” </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
-Zelda Fitzgerald</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.lisaleonardonline.com/blog/2010/12/13/around-here/" target="_blank"><img alt="Twinkle" height="400" src="http://media-cache-ec5.pinterest.com/upload/66709638199947159_wszU1hEv_c.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
<br />Hello all!<br />
<br />
It's been such an incredibly long while since I've written anything on here- I've been mostly focused on my <a href="http://paradiseunearthed.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Tumblr</a> and <a href="http://pinterest.com/joannea/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> page lately!<br />
<br />
Wishing everyone a fantastic 2013- there's just so much things to look forward to- whether be travelling to a new place for the first time, visiting an familiar place that brings back wonderful memories, challenging yourself to be more bolder, to face your fears- everything is anew and that means the opportunity to do what you must and know that you can.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="269" src="http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/John-Ronald-Reuel-Tolkien-10-500x337.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Happy 121st birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien. Your books have been my steadfast companion these past 14 years. Your contribution to the world of literature is priceless. Thank you.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://charleskinbote.tumblr.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="charleskinbote:
And perhaps much too often for my own good. I think I end up forgetting to participate in life itself as a result.
Featuring one of my favorite books.
What books do you read to escape from reality?
" height="400" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lu5xy9R0XI1qe7433o1_500.jpg" width="254" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I am very happy to announce that I have reached my 50 Book Pledge in 2012!! With the dawn of the new year, I am thrilled to take part of this exciting event once more.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Here is my list of books I have read in 2012:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
1. A Complicated Kindness -Miriam Toews</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
2. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
3. The Virgin Cure- Ami McKay (A Matchbook Book Club Pick)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
4. Birdsong- Sebastian Faulks</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
5. The Plague- Albert Camus</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
6. Tinkers- Paul Harding</div>
7. Tales of the Night- Peter Høeg<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
8. The Reinvention of Love- Helen Humphreys ( A Matchbook Book Club Pick)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
9. Moonwalking With Einstein- Joshua Foer</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
10. Arctic Chill- Arnaldur Indridason</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
11. Behind the Beautiful Forevers- Katherine Boo ( A Matchbook Book Club Pick)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
12. The Distant Hours- Kate Morton</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
13. The Mistress of Nothing- Kate Pullinger (A Matchbook Book Club Pick)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
14. The Little Stranger- Sarah Waters</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
15. The World We Found- Thrity Umrigar</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
16. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter- Seth Graham-Smith</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
17. A Short History of Nearly Everything- Bill Bryson</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
18. Rack, Ruin, and Murder- Ann Granger</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
19. The Lord of the Rings- J.R.R. Tolkien (Re-read)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
20. The Two Towers- J.R.R. Tolkien (Re-read)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
21. The Return of the Kings- J.R.R. Tolkien (Re-read)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
22. One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
23. The Museum of Innocence- Orhan Pamuk</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
24. Imagine- Jonah Lehrer</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
25. The Language of Flowers- Vanessa Diffenbaugh ( A Matchbook Book Club Pick)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
26. A Venetian Affair- Andrea de Robilant</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
27. Prague Fatale- Philip Kerr</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
28. The Unburied- Charles Palliser</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
29. I've Got Your Number- Sophie Kinsella</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
30. The Sense of an Ending- Julian Barnes</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
31. Paris Was Ours- Penelope Rowland</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
32. Gilead - Marilynne Robinson</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
33. The Song of Achilles- Madeline Miller ( A Matchbook Book Club Pick)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
34. Above All Things- Tanis Rideout ( A Matchbook Book Club Pick)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
35. Shadow of Night- Deborah Harkness</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
36. Charlotte Street- Danny Wallance</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
37. The Wave- Susan Casey</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
38. The Light Between Oceans- M.L. Stedman (A Matchbook Book Club Pick)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
39. Peace- Richard Bausch</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
40. The Emperor of Paris- C.S. Richardson</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
41. Sputnik Sweetheart- Haruki Murakami</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
42. The Immoralist- Andre Gire</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
43. The Bedlam Detective- Stephen Gallagher</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
44. Sweet Tooth- Ian McEwan ( A Matchbook Book Club Pick)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
45. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore- Robin Sloane (A Matchbook Book Club Pick)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
46. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared- Jonas Jonasson</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
47. Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm- Philip Pullman</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
48. The Glass Palace-Amitav Ghosh</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
49. The Snow Child -Eowyn Ivey ( A Matchbook Book Club Pick)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
50. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time- Mark Haddon</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So if you're stuck wondering what book you should read next, feel free to take a look at this list.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The first book that I will be reading this year will be:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel" height="400" src="http://media-cache0.pinterest.com/upload/166985098655327984_TDmNGVRa_c.jpg" width="262" /></div>
<br /><b>Summary:</b> Tudor England. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is charged with securing his divorce. Into this atmosphere of distrust comes Thomas Cromwell - a man as ruthlessly ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Happy reading!</div>
Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-34976586008722604032012-07-23T15:57:00.003-07:002012-07-23T17:19:58.452-07:00A Million Lights<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>When I had climbed the worn stone stairs and pushed open a heavy oaken door, my nostrils were assailed by the smell of old books, ancient leather, beeswax and candles. A long and handsome gallery was before me for the Library had originally been the Great Hall of the the Abbey. This floor was divided at intervals by bays projecting at right-angles form the walls and carrying bookshelves so that there was only a narrow way through its centre. The bays were big old oak constructions rising to a height several feet above a man's head. This part was the old chained library and many of the books were still fastened in that way.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>-</i>Charles Pulliser<i>, The Unburied</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Hello!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Right now, light is streaming through my open windows and I can smell the summer air. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I live for moments during twilight- I want to immerse myself in the soft glow and just stay there, suspended between this world and mine.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Having been busier than usual, summer seems to be going by awfully fast. However, I did get to do a bit of travelling- there was one place in particular I had to drop by and that was Ottawa: I had a date with Monsieur Van Gogh. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
My heart was stirred as I moved from one painting to another- his portrayal of floral and gardens are exquisite. He can paint something so ordinary as dandelions and portray them in an extraordinary light.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It was lovely visiting the National Gallery of Canada- stepping into the Van Gogh exhibition amidst hushed voices and the look of wonder on their faces is a welcoming sight. I always feel at peace when I'm at an art gallery- it's the same feeling as when I step inside a church.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Some of my favourite paintings were there, including:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="File:VanGogh-View of Arles with Irises.jpg" height="335" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/VanGogh-View_of_Arles_with_Irises.jpg/710px-VanGogh-View_of_Arles_with_Irises.jpg" width="400" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>View of Arles With Irises</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="File:VanGoghIrises2.jpg" height="315" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/VanGoghIrises2.jpg/760px-VanGoghIrises2.jpg" width="400" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Irises</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="File:Van Gogh - Blick auf Saites-Maries1.jpeg" height="400" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Van_Gogh_-_Blick_auf_Saites-Maries1.jpeg/496px-Van_Gogh_-_Blick_auf_Saites-Maries1.jpeg" width="330" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>View to Saites-Maries</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Of course, I couldn't leave without getting a couple of books! From the gift boutique, I purchased:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="http://www.artistsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/51C8vRR0slL._SS400_.jpg" width="225" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328110665l/395233.jpg" width="202" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQn-4zHBClrDeFsVl4QK-UEc00u7uNeNpNUaRdughIDc-MfgwqY" /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Speaking of books, I recently joined <a href="http://www.retreatbyrandomhouse.ca/2012/07/random-reader-challenge-debut-authors/" target="_blank">Random House's Random Reader Challenge</a>!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I will be reading <i>Touch </i> by Alexi Zentner.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/covers_450/9780307399458.jpg" width="207" /></div>
<br />
Summary: <i>Touch begins with Stephen, an Anglican priest, returning from Vancouver to the northern BC town of Sawgamet where he grew up, just in time for his mother’s death. <br />Sawgamet was founded by Stephen’s grandfather Jeannot, when he heard a voice in the woods calling his name and his dog, Flaireur, refused to take another step. Back then, as Stephen remembers it from the stories passed down to him, men were giants, or even gods, striving to tame the land. The world of Sawgamet was enchanted, alive with qallupilluit and ijirait, sea-witches and shape-shifters; Jeannot saw caribou covered with gold dust and found gold nuggets the size of boulders. Sometimes winter refused to end, and blizzards buried the whole town in snow for months at a time. Sawgamet was a place where Jeannot had to kill a man twice and then carry the bones around with him, bound in cloth, to make sure he stayed dead.<br /> <br />Years later, with his mother on her deathbed, Stephen tries to piece together the past from myths and stories and memories that he’s not sure he can trust. And not everything is magical: if life in Jeannot’s Sawgamet was richer and brighter than it seems for Stephen now, it was also harder and more brutal, with both fire and ice claiming too many lives before their time. Jeannot never knew his son, Pierre, Stephen’s father, who was himself maimed in a logging accident; Stephen’s childhood was marked by tragic loss, and a lasting pain he must now confront as he considers how to pass Jeannot’s stories on to his own daughters. <br /> <br />A chronicle of the birth of a town and the passing of a way of being in the world, Touch is unique, compelling and full of marvels. But this book captures the most personal moments in life as well as the most dramatic ones – Alexi Zentner conveys three generations of a family’s intimate emotional experience in language that pierces the heart. This beautiful and moving novel is a great story told by a natural storyteller, and to read Touch is to enter an enthralling world that you’ll never want to leave.</i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I also signed up for the <a href="http://www.retreatbyrandomhouse.ca/2012/07/random-house-canadas-olympic-readathon/" target="_blank">Olympic Readathon</a>, which goes from July 27th-August 12th. With the books I have yet to read, this will definitely help ease the process. My goal? To read 1400 pages! Fellow bookworms, accept the challenge and sign up!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>From Books-To-Films:</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="400" src="http://thecaptivereader.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/512bcszflozl.jpg" width="281" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2Tyhvd6t75A" width="520"></iframe>
</div>
<div>
<br />
For this post, I am delighted that there's now a trailer for <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1159922/" target="_blank">Cheerful Weather For The Wedding</a> </i>which stars Felicity Jones and <i>Downton Abbey's</i> Elizabeth McGovern! Based on the 1932 classic by Julia Strachey, it's sure to delight fans of period drama. I also recommend reading the book beforehand.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Until next time!</div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-79016993178366121672012-07-04T19:20:00.001-07:002012-07-04T19:26:31.914-07:00My 50 Book Pledge Update: Books 13-26<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;">An ordinary man can... surround himself with two thousand books... and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
-Augustine Birrell<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://vi.sualize.us/view/617de15221a03c725ef1b5b569301b1f/" target="_blank"><img alt="Books,tea,arts,colorful,libro,composicion-617de15221a03c725ef1b5b569301b1f_h_large" height="400" src="http://data.whicdn.com/images/17887697/books,tea,arts,colorful,libro,composicion-617de15221a03c725ef1b5b569301b1f_h_large.jpg" width="299" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Hello everyone!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend! As<a href="http://thepainterstudio.blogspot.ca/search/label/50%20Book%20Pledge" target="_blank"> previously mentioned</a>, I have taken the 50 Book Pledge for 2012. Great news: I'm almost at #30! </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
On the other hand, inform a fellow bookworm of this amount and he/she might resort to a bit of snickering- I know it's not a terribly huge number and others might have reached 80 or a gazillion by now- but an achievement is still an achievement, small as it might be.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
As always, I'm sharing my thoughts of the books I have read so far:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRbjCe2lCymWcV_dpIRMIIDxM_fAYFrEreyfwvHyuxMMRxmblE-" width="198" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
13. The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Opening</b>: <i>"The truth is that, to her, I was not fully human."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Thoughts</b>: I read this as a result of the book being the April selection for <a href="http://matchbookclub.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">my book club</a>. When it came to discussion, we all agreed it was a thoughtful and interesting read. Kate Pullinger takes us back to Victorian London, where due to tuberculosis, Lady Duff Gordon and her devoted maid Sally, sets sail for Egypt. The romantic image of travelling up the Nile stays rooted in the back of the reader's mind, where love, betrayal, and hope is as deep as the Egyptian night. It was interesting to discover that the story was based on true accounts: Lady Duff Gordon had in fact written a book based on her time in Egypt. This book is a great travel read.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSdrNNr_FOpeyDZDAQFfa5VDxcNOPB_y94Wt5fMjR0kE9-hAl5UeQ" width="208" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
14. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Opening:</b> <i>"I first saw Hundreds Hall when I was ten years old. It was the summer after the war, and the Ayreses still had most of their money then, were still big people in the district."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Thoughts:</b> I am a fan of Sarah Waters' works, having read <i>The Night Watch</i> and watched the series which the BBC had adapted ( if you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend it). The atmosphere of rural Warwickshire provided a Gothic mood to the story and the suspense throughout the novel gripped you until the very end. I enjoyed Waters' way of writing as it's vivid and even poetic at times. A wonderful story overall.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRLlV0JewUiEeZfs4E-ScdE1SZQBUVaJIOVzw-YkBT2V6SOhxMs" width="214" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
15. The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Opening:</b><i><b> "</b>The tooth broke three days after she received the awful news. There was no blood. No pain, even. For three days she believed that it was her heart that had broken into tiny fragments, but turned out it was another part of her body that decided to mourn the news."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Thoughts:</b> It was my first time reading one of Umrigar's books and it won't certainly be my last! Umrigar took a fragile subject matter found within our lives and shed warmth to it through the characters' persona, wit, and humour. Reading about Laleh and Kavita, one almost feels as if they were old friends. I loved the way the characters would converse to one another throughout the book as it felt incredibly genuine and relatable at times. I laughed and got misty-eyed throughout-there were even moments where it left me wondering about the course of my own life. A fantastic read.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS7rqeybqgU1lxLhxj8Ed9X4GLTxzx_DABYRVNei_qavGmAGSBvGw" width="212" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
16. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Opening:</b> <i>"The boy had been crouched so long that his legs had fallen asleep beneath him- but he dared not move now. For here, in a small clearing in the frostbitten forest, were the creatures he had waited so long to see. The creatures he'd been sent to kill."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Thoughts: This was quite the jump from <span style="background-color: white;"><i>The World We Found</i>! At first, I was hesitant, as this was the same author who massacred (yes, I know) Jane Austen's <i>Pride and Prejudice </i>with his <i>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. </i>However, Abraham Lincoln as a Vampire Hunter had a certain charm to it, along with the buzz it was getting for its film being released this summer, furthered my curiosity. It was a definite page-turner, captivating your imagination until the very end. There were moments where I would be reading in bed and I had to quickly look over my shoulder a couple of times. Grahame-Smith's ability to weave the historical with the fantastical is impressive, as I found myself finishing the book in two days, with little sleep.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTwTHRbolaxGeKS_lv8u0iK2VCsVGCxQpgCxTA-wd3agm50IxAp-A" width="211" /><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;">17. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Opening: </b><i>"Welcome. And congratulations. I am delighted that you could make it. Getting here wasn't easy, I know. In fact, I suspect it was a little tougher than you realize."</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Thoughts: </b>This is a book of epic proportions (I know- I just had to throw that one in!) considering that Bryson is trying to fit millions of years of history into 560 pages. From the origins of the universe to Einstein, Bryson's writing is easy to follow through and deserves to be enjoyed by all. A perfect fireside or hammock read.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcfHwcWswK7zYFaGmb3JcCSVBVto_G6w_FoK1C1hgCBaDHE6RR" width="208" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
18. Rack, Ruin and Murder by Ann Granger</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Opening: </b><i>"Monty Bickerstaffe lurched along with his distinctive gait, his arms swinging by his sides. The movement endangered the bottle-shaped bulge in the sagging plastic carrier bag dangling from his right hand."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Thoughts: </b><i>Rack, Ruin and Murder</i> is the latest addition to the Campbell and Carter crime novels. When a dead body turns up in the residence of Monty Bickerstaffe, it unravels a mystery which touches all in the quiet village of Cotswold. It's up to Inspector Jess Campbell and Inspector Ian Carter to find the answers, and the truth as it turns out, can be very surprising. This was my first time reading the Campbell and Carter novels, and I enjoyed it immensely. I love a good mystery, and Granger delivers. I look forward to reading her other novels.<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJKf73v0hczH-RYJVu0l3qrvoR3OGiSgr3LZoxD5Hoyk_sqR-E" width="213" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
19. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Opening: </b><i><b>"</b>I scowl with frustration at myself in the mirror. Damn my hair—it just won’t behave, and damn Katherine Kavanagh for being ill and subjecting me to this ordeal. I should be studying for my final exams, which are next week, yet here I am trying to brush my hair into submission."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Thoughts: </b>Ah yes... the title speaks for itself. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It all began when a friend and I heard about the buzz that this novel was gaining. At first, I didn't know that it belonged to the erotic genre, thinking it probably had to do with a story which talked about a Wall Street man in his early 30's whose incredible life garners a trilogy! Hence the tie (he probably wears a lot of suits, working in Wall Street and all), the mask (he must get invited to a lot of fancy parties), and the handcuffs (probably got thrown in jail as they uncover his horrible business undertakings). Silly me. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Well as a bet, I decided to see how far I would go until I'd throw the book away. In the end, I won, as I did finish it, living to tell the tale. Why is it called <i>Fifty Shades of Grey</i>?<span style="background-color: white;"> What the reader eventually finds out is that "Grey" is actually Christian Grey, a man who likes to deliver, um....pain. Then there's Anastasia Steele, who falls for Grey, and from there, both set out to embark on... naughty things. Although I have read the first book, I will not be reading the other two- not my cup of tea.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmcOxr2DXcE-KGk3GfTLyGMX_s5HWUiR0zZ2DdBiwJs6O6NUES" width="212" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
20. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabrial Garcia Marquez</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Opening:</b> <i>"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Thoughts: </b>This highly acclaimed novel had been on my "To Read" list for many years, so I was determined to read it this year. Beautifully written, Marquez has a distinctive way of describing places and people in a way that leaves you haunted, long after you've shut the book. The story of the Buendia family is compelling and I liked Marquez's usage of different time frames to help captivate the plot. It was interesting to read about a world such as Macondo, the city of mirrors, where it seems to be both paradise lost and found. I highly recommended.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQeA1zwBu_LLouo9OM6c6lC-v6MV6CdG4tPpswLOIJFCDUKKUyj" style="background-color: white;" width="214" />.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
21. The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Opening: </b><i>"It was the happiest moment of my life, though I didn't know it. Had I known, had I cherished this gift, would everything have turned out differently?"</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Thoughts:</b> Pamuk takes us to Istanbul during the 1970s where we discover a lov<span style="background-color: white;">e story unfolding. What's memorable about this story is how the protagonist, Kemal Bey, guides us through his past by acknowledging certain pieces of objects from time to time, signifying the most treasured and unforgettable moments of his life. Wonderfully written, this Nobel Prize winner successfully captured regular moments found within our lives and elevated it to such great heights. The story moved me deeply from the very beginning with the line </span><span style="background-color: white;">"It was the happiest moment of my life, though I didn't know it." Don't we all have a moment in our lives where we felt such a stirring? Such is life.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQJvB-1upXQK-arm_P-tyeflpTkiLITW3qsU-nA7DS0JJNqdRPRIw" width="211" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
22. Imagine by Jonah Lehrer</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Opening:</b> <i>"Bob Dylan looks bored. It's May of 1965 and he's slumped in a quilted armchair at the Savoy, a fancy London hotel. His Ray-Bans are pulled down low; his eyes stuck in a distant stare."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Thoughts: </b>I really enjoyed this book- I couldn't even put it down at times. Lehrer's thoughts and the research he gathered on how creativity works were incredibly insightful and super interesting to read- from the surprising origin of 3M, to how daydreaming can be used as a productive tool, <i>Imagine</i> is filled with anecdotes that we can be applied to our own lives. A fantastic read.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTNbzEZ_1m9udzAC1wqF1rHVUJBjUVDfsgvkVYneUd_XSJS-zjz" width="214" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
23. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Opening:<i> </i></b><i>"For eight years I dreamed of fire. Trees ignited as I passed them; oceans burned. The sugary smoke settled in my hair as I slept, the scent like a cloud left on my pillow as I rose."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Thoughts:</b> <i>The Language of Flowers </i>was the May selection for <a href="http://matchbookclub.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">my book club</a>. I'm glad we chose this book as it was such a unique read, where the book reflects on the meanings that each flower holds- made popular during the Victorian times. We are drawn into Victoria's world where she grew up living from foster home to foster home, having never been truly loved until Elizabeth takes her into her own home. It is within this setting that Victoria is first introduced to the language of flowers. We then see Elizabeth when she is eighteen and having captured the florist's eye for her extraordinary talents with flowers, she touches the lives of others through their meanings- including her own. It was surprising to find that flowers such as yellow roses meant jealousy or infidelity, or that peonies meant anger. A captivating read overall.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQwNpEPBWvsdOy400ULjd6XsVvIPMvTAlAZPnqz7DPwbEIwQ3Ta" width="192" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
24. A Venetian Affair by Andrea di Robilant</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Opening:</b><i><b> </b>"Some years ago, my father came home with a carton of old letters that time and humidity had compacted into wads of barely legible paper. He announced that he had found them in the attic of the old family palazzo on the Grand Canal, where he had lived as a boy in the twenties."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Thoughts:</b> I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. An elegantly written story about love during eighteenth century Venice, where Andrea Memmo, who is actually the ancestor of the author, embarks on an affair with Giustiniana Wynne, an Anglo-Venetian. The story is almost too grand to be true- it's as if the lost manuscript were written by the likes of Shakespeare himself. It's a real thrill to discover that such an event really did take place- be it a lifetime ago. A fascinating read.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJ9ZtLdI1o-jaGCj93Zbdnrl-TbBiGrO_mAhAKUYsYb-iT6whKVA" width="207" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
25. Prague Fatale by Philip Kerr<br />
<br />
<b>Opening: </b><i>"It was a fine warm day when, together with SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Tristan Eugan Heydrich, the Reichsprotector of Bohemia and Moravia, I arrived back from Prague at Berlin's Anhalter Station. We were both wearing SD uniform but, unlike the General, I was a man with a spring in my step, a tune in my head, and a smile in my heart."</i><br />
<br />
<b>Thoughts: </b><i>Prague Fatale </i>is the latest addition of the Bernie Gunther crime series- and like <i>Rack, Ruin and Murder, </i>I happened to stumble across this read with a thrill that I had discovered another fantastic series which I would thoroughly enjoy. Kerr writes in a way that one could imagine the plot unfolding like a film noir. The combination of smoky dialogue with dark humour and wit found within the characters is delicious. Highly recommended for the reader that delights in a good mystery.<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://brideofthebookgod.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/the-unburied-charles-pallise3798_f.jpg" width="207" />
<br />
26. The Unburied by Charles Palliser<br />
<br />
<b>Opening:</b> <i>"Few books in recent times have created as much controversy as The Thurchester Mystery when it was published three years ago. I have sat many times in the houses of friends in the town and watched families, bitterly divided by conflicting theories, quarrel fiercely about it."</i><br />
<br />
<b>Thoughts: </b>This is a book which is best accompanied with a hot cup of tea. It's an intelligent read, as Palliser delights us with a tale which includes a town ghost, to buried secrets found within the Cathedral Close of Thurchester. While I found the historical material to be very interesting, it does require a certain level of patience to absorb the amount found within this book, with the suspense building rather slowly. Regardless, I enjoyed every minute of reading <i>The Unburied</i>, with its description of ancient buildings, old manuscripts and books, as well as the intelligent conversation between the characters. I look forward to reading his other works.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Until next time!</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-67774290200753463682012-05-23T16:26:00.001-07:002012-06-01T15:00:56.343-07:00The World We Found: Thoughts And Inspirations<div style="text-align: center;">
"And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
- F. Scott Fitzgerald</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://thegreatgatsby.warnerbros.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="The Great Gatsby film poster. Love." height="400" src="http://media-cache3.pinterest.com/upload/166985098653919154_xyBnQgEk_f.jpg" width="270" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, fellow Fitzgerald and Jazz Age enthusiasts: the trailer for Baz Luhrmann's <i><a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/thegreatgatsby/" target="_blank">The Great Gatsby</a></i> has arrived! The spectacle of taking in the costumes, the lines, and the sheer scale Luhrmann has unfolded for our beloved classic, promises incredible cinematography- I just can't get enough.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I always have a deep love for time periods before the 1960's, such as the Jazz Age and the wartime years- whether it's films, music, or the lifestyle, there's something grand about the way things were back then. I truly believe that my mother and my grandmother's generation were one of the greatest.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
My heart soars for things like typewriters, gramophones, grand libraries and film noirs! I love listening to big bands like Glen Miller's - especially in the summertime!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
If you say dance, I think: swing. If you say romance, I think: old-fashioned love.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Pure magic:</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mxPgplMujzQ" width="500"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
Whenever I'm out horseback riding, I imagine myself to look along the likes Mary Crawford in this picture- but in real life, it often turns out to be more like the Wild West (which I don't complain, I enjoy it as well). The Western style of riding is more predominant here, although I would definitely love to ride English style if the opportunity allows itself. No matter: out on the trail, I'm in my own state of bliss, and nothing can rob me of that feeling.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Must do more riding in my lifetime. From Downton Abbey" height="226" src="http://media-cache2.pinterest.com/upload/166985098653127813_Bj0TkeDE_f.jpg" width="400" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Perfect." height="224" src="http://media-cache6.pinterest.com/upload/166985098653121370_337Ynabo_f.jpg" width="400" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Come summertime, I have the urge to re-read this again:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="400" src="http://www.qbbooks.com/pictures/48167.jpg" width="291" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
And this: </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="400" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTnRWt97k1y97f2ysd2mYmdD8q2ceAY4mZd5Bdk8uNjoOooDjVEvg" width="266" />
<br />
<br />
I also find myself yearning to walk in a vast field, or sit under a willow tree like I used to do at my grandmother's, while reading this book:<br />
<br />
<img height="400" src="http://images.borders.com.au/images/bau/97800995/9780099529651/0/0/plain/bright-star-the-complete-poems-and-selected-letters.jpg" width="259" />
<br />
<br />
Whenever I fall under the weather or am really ill, I turn to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/" target="_blank">Casablanca</a> for comfort. When I'm well and it's a quiet Saturday evening, I turn to Casablanca for a pick-me-up. Heck, I turn to Casablanca for all kinds of reasons- what can I say, it's an absolute gem!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Iconic." height="214" src="http://media-cache3.pinterest.com/upload/166985098653121410_nkk0zj3v_f.jpg" width="400" />
<br />
<br />
I always imagined that if I were able to plan the perfect roadtrip, my transportation would look along like the lines of this: </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://giulliete.tumblr.com/post/14161262318" target="_blank"><img alt="My perfect idea of a roadtrip." height="400" src="http://media-cache6.pinterest.com/upload/166985098653622516_N4yUqPkV_f.jpg" width="265" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
And if I had my way of seeing films, I would make sure there would be more of these:<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="My kind of drive-in. " height="400" src="http://media-cache6.pinterest.com/upload/166985098653079986_LjuVY9Wh_f.jpg" width="313" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
I'll never forget when I watched <i>Roman Holiday</i> for the first time. I was ten, and I thought Audrey Hepburn was the most wonderful actress I had ever laid eyes on and I wanted to be just like her.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/strawberrykoi/3412714310/" target="_blank"><img alt="Audrey Hepburn will always be my biggest influence." height="301" src="http://media-cache5.pinterest.com/upload/166985098653073690_0WpWQZVh_f.jpg" width="400" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Hope everyone is having a fantastic week!</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-83407983507766922442012-05-15T14:53:00.000-07:002012-05-15T15:11:37.213-07:00An Interview with Kim Izzo<div style="text-align: center;">
"How I wish I lived in a Jane Austen novel!"</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
- Dodie Smith,<i> I Capture the Castle</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://kimizzo.com/wdp/" target="_blank"><img src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQivvc7QasFBX53wxaObkRCwCbznhrNFYfhVxIBhsI4T_7ZuBy4" /><img src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSymMHPMcURQafPrHkMaDFihfIv-nyPoaFhRvgWLA9LEaWv3Epm" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Kim Izzo, author of <i><a href="http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Jane-Austen-Marriage-Manual-Novel-Kim-Izzo/9781443407236-item.html?ikwid=the+jane+austen+marriage+manual&ikwsec=Home" target="_blank">The Jane Austen Marriage Manual</a></i>. Having been a long-time Jane Austen fan, it was thrilling to read a novel that gave her stories a modern touch. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Kim Izzo, who lives in Toronto, has made many radio and television appearances including <i>The Today Show, Canada AM</i> and <i>Oprah</i>. Her opinions and advice have graced the pages in newspapers and magazines as <i>The New York Times</i> Sunday Style section,<i> Vogue UK, InStyle, Glamour</i>, and <i>Marie Claire</i>. The author is currently the deputy editor of <a href="http://www.zoomermag.com/" target="_blank">Zoomer Magazine</a>.<br />
<br />
Enjoy my Q & A with Kim Izzo!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<br />
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<b>1. What made you decide to focus on a literary figure like Jane Austen? </b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
I always loved her books and the film adaptations. When I came up with the idea of what a modern woman without the ability to earn a decent living and keep a roof over her head would do, I thought of all of Austen's heroines who were in the same predicament. What they did, their only choice was to make a good marriage. So I thought it was the perfect combination if a modern woman tried to do the same.</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<b>2. What books or authors have motivated you as a writer?</b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Austen of course! I love the writing of Edith Wharton, <i>The Custom of the Country</i> in particular. F. Scott Fitzgerald and John O'Hara also inspires me.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<b>3. Kate Shaw confronts many difficulties throughout the novel, whether it is a financial or emotional crisis, at a time when the economic recession was in full swing. What compelled you to write about this time period?</b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> I wanted to explore the themes and situations I spoke about in Question 1: the modern woman as an Austen character and the recession forced many thousands of people into dire financial need, where finding another good job wasn't a guarantee. This left fewer choices and marrying for money was one I wanted to explore.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<b>4. If you were able to have Jane Austen over for dinner, what would you like to ask her? </b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Did she really know a Mr. Darcy? And where can I find him! No, seriously, I would ask her what her writing process was like.</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<b>5. What do you hope readers will take away from this book?</b> </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
That as women, we can survive anything that gets thrown at us and find happiness within ourselves.</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
For more information about the author and her novel:</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Follow Kim Izzo on <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/kimizzo" target="_blank">Twitter</a></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Like her <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kim-Izzo/211800555554964" target="_blank">Facebook Page</a></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Take a look at her <a href="http://kimizzo.com/wdp/" target="_blank">website</a></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Thanks again to Kim Izzo for this interview and to <a href="http://thesavvyreader.ca/" target="_blank">The Savvy Reader</a> (of HarperCollins Canada) for hosting <i>The Jane Austen Marriage Manual</i> blog tour!</div>
<br />
<br />
You can buy <i>The Jane Austen Marriage Manual</i> online or at your local bookshop near you. Make sure to put this novel as your top five on your Summer Reading List!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-7894475827252877652012-05-07T12:11:00.000-07:002012-05-15T15:11:51.481-07:00Review: The Jane Austen Marriage Manual by Kim Izzo<div style="text-align: center;">
Know your own happiness. Want for nothing but patience- or give it a more fascinating name: call it Hope.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
-Jane Austen</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://kimizzo.com/wdp/buy-my-book/" target="_blank"><img height="400" src="http://kimizzo.com/wdp/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/TJAMM-US-Cov.jpg" width="266" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the words of Jane Austen shall prevail over time. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It has been over two hundred years since her first book <i>Sense and Sensibility</i> was published. Her popularity has now grown to heights that Jane herself would probably have never imagined, with numerous adaptations ranging from films to comic books. Janeites (devotees of Jane Austen) can go as far as purchasing their very own <a href="http://www.shakespearesden.com/lt-austen.html" target="_blank">plush doll</a> of the author! </div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
More importantly, her ability to capture her characters as real people who struggle through relatable circumstances, give us strength to know that we are not alone in the search to find our own happiness.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Enter <i><a href="http://kimizzo.com/wdp/buy-my-book/" target="_blank">The Jane Austen Marriage Manual</a> </i>by <a href="http://kimizzo.com/wdp/" target="_blank">Kim Izzo</a>. Kate Shaw, an acting beauty editor of a fashion magazine, finds her self in a dire situation during the economic recession, as she struggles to juggle her own financial and emotional crisis with that of her family's. When she is given an opportunity to investigate whether it is possible to follow the footsteps of Austen's protagonists and marry well in this day and age, she takes it.<br />
<br />
The assignment turns personal as she resolves to find a wealthy husband whom she can find comfort and security not only for herself, but also for her family. From West Palm Beach, to St. Moritz, to London, she mingles within the high class social scene and soon sets her sights on Scott Madewell, a charming older man who has the wealthy means that Kate is looking for.<br />
Little does she know that along the way, she meets Griffith Saunderson, who works at an estate that is straight out an Austen novel. Now, Kate is caught between the classic case of choosing between money or love: will it be Scott or will it be Griffith?<br />
<br />
Being a fan of Jane Austen, I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that Kim Izzo adds a modern twist on Jane's rules. Kate Shaw's wit and intellect makes her a likeable character, alongside other wonderful secondary characters like Emma and Fawn. The decisions she makes are often questionable at times, but due to her current situation, it is realistic enough to understand why.<br />
Engaging and funny, <i>The Jane Austen Marriage Manual </i> is an essential read for modern day Janeites everywhere. I couldn't put it down at times- it was especially dangerous when I took it on the train with me during my morning commute- I actually missed my stop a couple of times!<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
After reading <i>The Jane Austen Marriage Manual, </i> I look forward to reading her other books as well as her future works.<br />
<br />
Many thanks to <a href="http://thesavvyreader.ca/2012/the-jane-austen-marriage-manual-blog-tour/" target="_blank">The Savvy Reader</a> for hosting <i>The Jane Austen Marriage Manual </i>blog tour!<br />
<br />
<i>The Jane Austen Marriage Manual </i>will be released on May 8th, 2012.<br />
HarperCollins Canada</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-36412354075381084112012-04-24T18:22:00.000-07:002012-04-24T18:54:51.956-07:00"Let's Go On An Adventure"- And Other Thoughts and Inspirations<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">– Jawaharial Nehru </span><br />
<span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: left;">Recently I've come upon some interesting and inspirational things which I want to share with everyone- so happy reading!</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://dropout-generation.tumblr.com/post/21271351331" target="_blank"><img height="640" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpxzhgn8MK1qfnj85o1_400.jpg" width="404" /></a>
</div>
I love this.<br />
<br />
<b>Visit:</b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://nttreasurehunt.wordpress.com/category/florence-court/" target="_blank"><img src="http://nttreasurehunt.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/ntpl_183696.jpg?w=450&h=293" /></a>
</div>
<br />
The <a href="http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/Mussenden-Temple-and-Downhill-Demesne-Castlerock-Coleraine-P2928" target="_blank">Mussenden Temple</a> located near Castlerock in Northern Ireland, is on my "Places To Visit In My Lifetime" list- it truly is the most romantic library I've come across so far.<br />
What's even more amazing is the inscription written around the building:<br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span>"Tis pleasant, safely to behold from shore/ The rolling ship, and hear the tempest roar." </i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
My desire to visit this place is incredibly huge- gahh!<br />
<br />
<b>Listen: </b><br />
Florence Welch (of Florence + The Machine) performing at Chanel's Spring/Summer 2012 show.<br />
Who's looking at the models when Florence is standing there in full splendour?<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/keu3ukx7S7k" width="500"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Want:</b><br />
The Florence +The Machine Limited Edition vinyls- photos taken by Karl Lagerfeld.<br />
<br />
<img height="207" src="http://www.somekindofawesome.com/storage/post-images/album-artwork/singles/flo-never-let-me-go-vinyl.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1332353657410" width="400" />
<br />
<br />
Never Let Me Go is one of my favorite songs from Florence. There's something about singing about the ocean which pulls at my heart strings.<br />
<br />
<b>Literary quotes which pulls at my heartstrings:</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h4Iq9FAXkmc/T5S3zYnI4LI/AAAAAAAAC7o/hMQdiRQIFdw/s1600/the+painted+veil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h4Iq9FAXkmc/T5S3zYnI4LI/AAAAAAAAC7o/hMQdiRQIFdw/s320/the+painted+veil.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>"How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life."</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
-W. Somerset Maughan, <i>The Painted Veil</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
This book is a favourite. I have read this book at least three times and every time I am moved by Walter's love for Kitty and felt heart-wrenched when Kitty's infidelity was revealed! This incident released an unbearable effect on Walter, which is felt throughout the entire story. Each time I read this book, I can't help wondering about all of the what-ifs.<br />
The title instantly pulls your attention- it was actually inspired by Shelley's sonnet: "Lift not the painted veil which those who live call life."<br />
<br />
<b>Things To Look Forward To:</b><br />
<br />
I've been anticipating this book for a very long time- I've been a fan of C.S. Richardson's since stumbling upon "The End of the Alphabet". When I found out he was writing another book and it was called "The Emperor of Paris", I was highly intrigued. Now the cover's unveiled and a summary is out:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330591-the-emperor-of-paris" target="_blank"><img alt="The Emperor of Paris" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1332540866l/13330591.jpg" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Like his father before him, Octavio runs the Notre-Dame bakery, and knows the secret recipe for the perfect Parisian baguette. But, also like his father, Octavio has never mastered the art of reading and his only knowledge of the world beyond the bakery door comes from his own imagination. Just a few streets away, Isabeau works out of sight in the basement of the Louvre, trying to forget her disfigured beauty by losing herself in the paintings she restores and the stories she reads. The two might never have met, but for a curious chain of coincidences involving a mysterious traveller, an impoverished painter, a jaded bookseller, and a book of fairytales, lost and found . . (from <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330591-the-emperor-of-paris" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I can't wait to get a hands on a copy!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.aceshowbiz.com/still/00007025/anna-karenina03.html" target="_blank"><img height="266" src="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1781769/" target="_blank">Anna Karenina</a> (directed by Joe Wright) </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Love his films and am interested to see his adaptation of this classic. Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightley will be reunited once more, alongside actors as Jude Law, Aaron Johnson, Kelly Macdonald and Michelle Dockery!</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Speaking of Michelle Dockery (as a big fan of Downton Abbey, I'm really enjoying most of what the actors do outside of the show):</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="400" src="http://thebookitlist.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/scan0006.jpg" width="258" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
BBC is planning to do an adaptation of William Boyd's "Restless" which Michelle is set to star in, alongside Hayley Atwell- very much looking forward to it. Oh BBC, you never fail to deliver excellent quality drama.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
Have a fantastic week everyone!</div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-7579400517449510902012-04-18T13:56:00.000-07:002012-07-04T19:24:03.175-07:00My 50 Book Pledge: Books 1-12, A Review<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Books to the ceiling,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Books to the sky,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My pile of books is a mile high.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
How I love them! How I need them!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them. </div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
-Arnold Lobels</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
Hello everyone!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This January, I signed up for HarperCollins Canada's <a href="http://thesavvyreader.ca/2012/are-you-ready-for-the-2012-50bookpledge/" target="_blank">50 Book Pledge</a>- a pledge to read fifty books this year. Being the bookworm that I am, I took the challenge- only time will tell if I even go beyond it!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For now, I would like to share with you my thoughts of the reads I have read so far.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
. <a href="http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/A-Complicated-Kindness-Miriam-Toews/9780676978568-item.html?ikwid=a+complicated+kindness&ikwsec=Home" target="_blank"><img src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR25RDvSH91BFqR7h3_Bj7a_CI1Xm3TXhSQbUKagIFnCSm6EwCOzg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #a64d79;">1. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews</span><br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
Opening: "I live with my father, Ray Nickel, in that low brick bungalow out on highway number twelve. Blue shutters, brown door, one shattered window. Nothing great. The furniture keeps disappearing, though. That keeps things interesting."<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Thoughts: This book was recommended to me by someone whom I previously worked with- he told me that I might enjoy this, and I took his word for it. I've never read any of Miriam Toews' works but now was the time to do so. I found myself enjoying it immensely It was terribly witty and bold- by the end of the novel, I wanted to be friends with Nomi and bike off into the sunset towards New York City.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTSF7l2MiMd6f-tyN8hFtO6q7bD4uNgy9tXNZSKMilCix0bM3Uc" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
2. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Opening: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Thoughts: I will never forget the day I came across this book. I was twelve years old when I was taking part of the Summer Reading Club at the local library and for every book that you read, you were eligible to win a prize. Just my luck, I happened to win that time and I had the option to choose a jewellery making kit or a book. The kit did sound pretty enticing, but then The Hobbit caught my eye.<br />
"What's a Hobbit?" I thought to myself.<br />
Curiosity got the better of me, and as soon as my hands touched that book, I knew there was no looking back.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It has been a while since I've last read it- about a few years or so. Now the opportunity arose to refresh my memory and walk down the path with Bilbo once more. It is a classic to be treasured and I cannot wait for the film to arrive later in the year!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="http://reederreads.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/9780676979565.jpg?w=500" width="218" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
3. The Virgin Cure by Ami Mckay</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Opening: "I am Moth, a girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Thoughts: This was a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Matchbook-Book-Club/216044488414734" target="_blank">Matchbook Book Club</a>'s book pick for the month of January of this year. It was a fascinating read of Manhattan in the late nineteenth century, especially when it came to dealing with the subject of the "virgin cure", where the belief that by if a diseased man deflowers a woman, it would bring about a cure. We follow Moth's struggles and triumphs through a storytelling that immerses the reader deep into her world, and continues to do so until the end.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="http://rha.chookdigital.net/titles/9780099528388.jpg" width="208" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
4. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Opening: "The boulevard du Cange was a broad, quiet street that marked the eastern flank of the city of Amiens. The wagons that rolled in from Lille and Arras to the north drove directly into the tanneries and mills of the Saint Leu quarter without needing to use this rutted, leafy road."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Thoughts: Beautifully written, where the story haunts you long after you've closed the book. Faulks portrays the horrors of war to such a way that it cannot be easily cast aside and the love Stephen has for Isabelle can be seen as beautiful. I highly recommend checking out BBC's recent version of Birdsong, which stars Eddie Redmayne and Clemence Poesy.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ_ThQewiym874jEXL_xFqj6uD08E4_UibayQEYJT49oIeeje6Q-TWyZqBPgA" width="208" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
5. The Plague by Albert Camus</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Opening: "The unusual events described in this chronicle occurred in 194- at Oran. Everyone agreed that considering their somewhat extraordinary character, they were out of place there."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Thoughts: Camus pulls you into this isolated and dark world where the human condition is hanging on a piece of thread, when a plague strikes the town of Oran. What strikes me the most was how Camus was able to intimately portray the multi-layered emotions found in every person when facing an unbearable outcome to which there is nothing but uncertainty and death knocking at one's door. The author has wrote many other wonderful titles, but this is certainly one of those novels you must read in your lifetime.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GFbU3hOFXc0/TtpisASSBTI/AAAAAAAAAcU/LsV0y1QcUus/s320/41nnWM%252BKTjL.jpg" width="210" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
6. Tinkers by Paul Harding</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Opening: "George Washington Crosby began to hallucinate eight days before he died. From the rented hospital bed, placed in the middle of his own living room, he saw insects running in and out of imaginary cracks in the ceiling plaster."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Thoughts: Tinkers is a book which needs to be read by many. The story is incredibly moving, where it opens up the life of a dying man through rich details and an almost poetic narrative. I particularly loved the part where the author talks about clockwork mechanics- I've always been fascinated by clocks and the hidden secrets they contained behind its shell. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="http://books.google.com/books?id=oSkaSIKgRHoC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1" width="214" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
7. Tales of the Night by Peter Hoeg</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Opening: "On March 18, 1929, a young Dane, David Rehn, was in attendance when the railway line from Cabinda, near the mouth of the Congo, to Kantanga in Central Africa was dedicated to integrity."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Thoughts: I love Hoeg's writing. The way he unravels a story is much like watching an old film noir: slowly but surely with sincerity and grace.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR9xtbNl6HqNcmuPXDdoY0jX1nk49byKAeTwUgxZYpYWyCfBEYD" width="193" /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
8. The Reinvention of Love by Helen Humphreys</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Opening: "It seems that I am to die again."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Thoughts: This book was a Matchbook Book Club's February pick. A wonderful story which took place during Victor Hugo's Paris. It was interesting to hear from Charles Sainte-Beuve point of view when it came to his love for Adele and the eventual downfall of the friendship between Hugo and himself as time went on.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR0NIoJaTJqeLZGs-gppYjodPZD9bj1LtUVXmzZP8WdFFcIUDWB" width="210" /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
10. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer</div>
<br />
Opening: "Dom DeLuise, celebrity fat man (and five of clubs), has been implicated in the following unseemly acts in my mind's eye: He has hocked a fat globule of spittle (nine of clubs) on Albert Einstein's thick white mane (three of diamonds) and delivered a devastating karate kick (five of spades) to the groin of Pope Benedict XVI (six of diamonds)."<br />
<br />
Thoughts: This was a very interesting read! This book had been my constant companion during all those mornings when I could sneak in a time before work to stop by the cafe and read a chapter or two. It changed the way I look at memory. What a ride it was to read about the author's transformation from a journalist who has the occasional forgetful ways which we all have been victims of, to becoming U.S. Memory Champion. The fact that anyone can get to that point, is what makes it all the more fascinating.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTXkYnPCzOWKxGLhIZ6yt36fwA4MA2nmJtkzPX-MhmrVIdtIgJG" width="208" /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
11. Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Opening: "They were able to guess his age, but had more trouble determining which part of the world he came from."<br />
<br />
Thoughts: I've always been a fan of Scandinavian literature, but more recently, I became more fascinated with their take on Mystery and Horror. Arctic Chill sinks you in an icy world where a case of murder leaves much to the imagination. Nothing is for certain and where the answers lie, it cannot be easily found. A great night cap read.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Our March 2012 book club pick! Theme: Touching Ground (in light of our non-fiction picks). Title: Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo" height="320" src="http://media-cache8.pinterest.com/upload/70931762851188480_yf5seSgh_b.jpg" width="214" /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
12. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo</div>
<br />
Opening: "Midnight was closing in, the one-legged woman was grievously burned, and the Mumbai police were coming for Abdul and his father."<br />
<br />
Thoughts: This book is our Matchbook Book Club's March pick.<br />
By the time I finished reading this book, it was hard to imagine that everything the author wrote was not fictitious. It was a complete eye-opener to see what life is like in the slums of Mumbai and to see such contrast between these people and those who are mere steps away from the airport, and the well-off individuals living in the city. Death and suffering are facets of life which the individuals within the book are all too familiar with. I applaud Katherine Boo for being able to venture to such depths in order to capture their stories, for it is of incredible important that these stories are told.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And my current read?<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSppLn5o8wFv_Ki-w6rSHi7fj9iS5mY96sh5dfifooFf1G7B2k6" width="211" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I will continue to post up my reads for my 50 Book Pledge from time to time, so make sure to check back!</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Take care!</div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-87830270072263671012012-04-10T18:05:00.002-07:002012-04-10T18:06:08.204-07:00Me? I Like Paris In The Rain<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-Ernest Hemingway, <i>For Whom the Bell Tolls</i></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajun64/6585817411/in/photostream/" target="_blank"><img height="266" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6585817411_58f22da7a7_z.jpg" width="400" /></a> </div>
<br />
I must admit: today wasn't the most brightest of days. First, there's the sinking acknowledgement that it's a Tuesday- a far cry from being a Friday. Secondly, as I was heading out of the office at the end of what seemed to be a Very Long Day, it began to rain.<br />
Like the best of us, we don't think very highly of overcast weather, let alone being wet when it does pour. As raindrops began to fall, I reached into my bag and took out my umbrella. As I stepped out, I couldn't help but think about that scene in Midnight in Paris when Gil admits that Paris becomes a place to love all over again in the rain.<br />
He does have a point- there's something about the rain that releases a sort of quiet bliss- this can be felt everywhere.<br />
And remember: although April showers may come your way, they bring the flowers that bloom in May. Because Al Jolson told me so.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
When it rains, I always find myself either listening or humming this wonderful song:</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PW_AprTQeZQ" width="480"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I adore Edith Piaf's version, but Louis Armstrong's take on La Vie En Rose is perfect for days like these.</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Here's to always looking at life through rose-coloured glasses.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-29830953347436519252012-04-07T18:41:00.000-07:002012-04-07T19:03:44.057-07:00A Wink And A Smile<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #c27ba0;"> Once I read a story about a butterfly in the subway, and today, I saw one! It got on at 42nd and off at 59th, where, I assume, it was going to Bloomingdales to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake, as almost all hats are.</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #c27ba0;">-<i> Kathleen Kelly, You've Got Mail</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://weheartit.com/entry/21971731" target="_blank"><img alt="Tumblr_lya20jc38w1qb30dwo1_500_large" height="400" src="http://data.whicdn.com/images/21971731/tumblr_lya20jc38W1qb30dwo1_500_large.jpg" width="281" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Happy long weekend everyone! It's the perfect time to create incredible memories among family and friends while at the same time, having the wonderful opportunity to unwind into the comforts of one's pleasures and small dreams reserved for hours like these.<br />
<br />
It's a gorgeous Saturday evening. There's a spring in my step and a lightness in my heart.<br />
Spring in Toronto is beautiful- the buds are appearing on the trees, the grass is green, and there's a flurry of activity taking place down at the Harbourfront. I hear the cherry blossoms in High Park are beginning to bloom, and I find myself getting into the old habit of stepping into one of my favourite bookstores to pick out one or two (or five) books, picking up my favourite flowers, dropping by my usual cafe for tea, strolling down the Distillery District or the AGO... this simple routine I find, is the cure for anything.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Listen:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ugfdd7DS7xs" width="400""></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
Come warmer weather, I want to dance under the stars with this song playing in the background. Care to join?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>Film:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: center;">I can tell you right now that I don't ever think I will ever appreciate the Romantic Comedies of this day and age. But by god, weren't they amazing in the '90s! I'm talking about One Fine Day, Sleepless in Seattle, While You Were Sleeping, When Harry Met Sally, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, My Best Friend's Wedding, and it goes on. One stands out in particular to me and I find myself going back to it time and again (I've probably watched it a few times and never has it lost its magic):</span></div>
</div>
<br />
You've Got Mail, starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://www.posters555.com/pictures/You've-Got-Mail-(1998)-picture-MOV_370d1189_b.jpg" />
</div>
<br />
It's got to be New York in the Fall, the constant presence of books and bookshops which fill up almost every scene:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://hookedonhouses.net/2009/06/28/meg-ryans-brownstone-in-youve-got-mail/" target="_blank"><img height="224" src="http://hookedonhouses.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Meg-ryans-Shop-Around-the-Corner-611x343.jpg" width="400" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://hookedonhouses.net/2009/06/28/meg-ryans-brownstone-in-youve-got-mail/" target="_blank"><img height="225" src="http://hookedonhouses.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/shop7.jpg" width="400" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"|The Shop Around the Corner" would have been paradise to eight year old me.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
It's the reference to Pride and Prejudice, the ability to relate to Kathleen in some moments when it comes to being a hopeless romantic, how Joe and Kathleen look at each other as they deny the inevitable, the songs throughout the film which capture moments perfectly.<br />
It's the Brownstone and its interior- I adored the decor and how it houses a piano, a typewriter, and wall-to-wall bookshelves:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="224" src="http://hookedonhouses.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Meg-Ryans-apartment-Youve-Got-Mail-611x343.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And yes, daisies are the friendliest flowers. Best of all, it's the way the film ended, on a warm sunny day like what we're about to experience in a month's time.</div>
I always feel so good after I watch this film- like I can't wait to start a new day with the hope that things will be okay and that within the ordinary of everyday things, comes the unexpected.<br />
It's crazy to think that someone you pass by on the street, or on the train, or in the coffee shop you drop by regularly, could possibly be the love your life, and you didn't know it. Here's to finding that wonderful person who will make you feel extraordinary.Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-77593599754101282712012-03-21T18:29:00.000-07:002012-03-21T18:29:16.624-07:00Some Of Us Are Looking At The Stars<div style="text-align: center;">
"Sooner or later, the lightning comes to us all."</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
-Gregory Maguire, <i>A Lion Among Men</i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://m0rtality.tumblr.com/post/19696666269" target="_blank"><img alt="Tumblr_m198pytjk71qfb46yo1_500_large" src="http://data.whicdn.com/images/25275279/tumblr_m198pytjK71qfb46yo1_500_large.jpg" /> </a></div>
<br />
Spring has arrived. The world, once a frozen terrain of bare trees and whispered stories, has now unfurled from its long sleep to be alive once more. Days are now longer and with it comes nostalgia of long-forgotten memories, a smell of hope, and a stirring in our hearts.<br />
<br />
Although this springtime weather has just begun, there's a yearning to start writing my Summer List ( I have made one every year since I was ten). There's just so many things I want to do, starting with the simple things like biking and kayaking around the Toronto Islands, go on road trips like my friend and I did last year where we went from Toronto all the way to Montreal. I want to visit Stratford again. Believe me when I say this: Stratford is a place of magic. I was wonderstruck through and through. One of my favourite Canadian painters, Janet Hill, has a studio there- it would be lovely if I get the chance to meet her in person- I'm smitten by her paintings.<br />
I want to learn how to swing dance, have more champagne picnics, go on a hot air balloon, arrive halfway through my so-called novel, paint by the coast, visit bookshops in small towns, enjoy weekends at the cottage with friends, and so much more. Are you with me?<br />
<br />
My Spring playlist is in full swing. There's lots of tunes from <i>An Education </i>soundtrack, Florence + The Machine (I can't wait to see her live in concert in August!!), Dustin O'Halloran, Sarah Jarosz, She & Him, Madeleine Peyroux, Jose Gonzalez, The Civil Wars, and the <i>Midnight in Paris</i> soundtrack.<br />
<br />
One of my favourite scenes from one of my favourite films, <i>The Brother's Bloom</i>. I love these sort of films: they always make you think that life is much more charming and fantastic than we'll ever know.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"This was a story about a girl who could find infinite beauty in anything..."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nqiwrJxADU0" width="500"></iframe></div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-9610464873257433002012-02-29T16:04:00.002-08:002012-03-01T16:10:11.811-08:00Thoughts and Inspirations<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">It's not death that man should fear, but never beginning to live.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">- Marcus Aurelius</span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></i><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Thoughts:</i></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Recently, when I caught up with a friend whom I haven't seen a long while, it made me realize a couple of things: <br /><br /> People are in your life everyday. You see them as you walk down the street when you head into work. They're there when you step into your favourite bookstore, brush against your shoulders as you head down the stairs to take the train, or when you've gone to pick up a cup of coffee at the nearest cafe. Whatever it is that you're doing, there they are. But they are of no importance to you. Some aren't significant enough that you'd commit their faces to memory because after a second's encounter, you'll probably never see them again in a lifetime. They're mere shadows lurking in your presence.<br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And then there are the individuals whom you call acquaintances, colleagues, friends, family- they appear before you as colourful and lively. Some can fill up the entire room with their presence and speech. It's comforting in some ways.<br /><br />Sometimes, the ones who move you the most are the ones we seem to lose touch of. Of course, life issues out unexpected events and we have to juggle whatever comes our way alongside our predictable routines so that by the end of the week, we pause and wonder where the time went.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><a href="http://citified.blogspot.com/2012/01/travel-inspiration-hungary.html" target="_blank"><img alt="hungary13" height="213" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6776619727_a026f1107c_o.jpg" width="320" /></a>
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Then invitation calls. It's sent by a familiar face, the one that brings you back to a carefree time and releases warmth by the very thought of them. You accept, knowing that there will be an afternoon or evening to look forward to in days ahead.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Upon meeting, the conversation picks up right where you started. There's no awkward pauses, only laughter. You bring up fond memories and they catch you up on books or shows they've seen. Through it all lies the strong current of being able to share the same passion and agreement on things we admire or enjoy. More laughter is shared and promises of greater things to come on both our fronts. Days seem more brighter, evenings more luminescent. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I can remember whole summers, weekends, and even evenings as of recent (one in which as we were visiting the museum, my friend and I actually had to sit down to talk about our love of "The IT Crowd"), where I've happily endured such instances. </span><span style="line-height: 14px;">The people whom I share these priceless moments, I'm grateful to have them in my life. You will find that with age, you begin to grasp that such relationships are indispensable and must be cherished dearly.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><i>Inspirations:</i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Watch: The Artist- Michel Hazanavicius</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/37187304?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://vimeo.com/37187304">The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/joelamattina">Joe LaMattina</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I was thrilled to see that The Artist won Best Picture at this year's Oscars. This sort of film which tips its hat to the golden age of silent films, is beautiful, brilliant, and magical.</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Love:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://strawberry-chic.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="I could spend every evening here reading a great novel, sipping a glass of wine........beautiful." height="640" src="http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/259519997247187573_XZQpXTyj_f.jpg" width="456" /></a> </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
When I see this, I think of summer, (which makes me yearn for summer even more- not helping considering the situation at the moment, seeing that Toronto weather is a bit drabby) and the thrill sitting out here with my favourite novel and listening to jazz playing in the background on the record player.</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read: </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="400" src="http://www.ebooooks.com/product_images/v/411/61Q0NQKnm8L__42019.jpg" width="285" />
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Up in this high air you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart. In the highlands you woke up in the morning and thought: Here I am, where I ought to be."</i></span></div>
<br />
<br />
For those of you who may or may not know, I have been taking part of HarperCollins Canada's <a href="http://thesavvyreader.ca/2012/are-you-ready-for-the-2012-50bookpledge/" target="_blank">50 Book Pledge</a>. I'm close to reading ten, so I will be creating a post dedicated to a review of the ones I've read so far- from Albert Camus' "The Plague" to Paul Harding's "Tinkers".Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-37184914777385620252012-02-10T22:32:00.000-08:002012-02-10T22:39:27.817-08:00Reads for the Nostalgic Romantic: The Valentine's Day Edition<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/life_is_a_cookie/5908940123/" target="_blank"><img alt="The search continues..." height="400" src="http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/18507048438551021_TBupFELS_f.jpg" width="343" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that come Valentine's Day, the nostalgic romantic must be in want of a pleasant read. There's nothing like sinking down in your favourite armchair with a glass of wine and a cozy read in your hands- much like Amanda with "Pride and Prejudice" in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1117666/" target="_blank">Lost in Austen</a>.<br />
As much as we love all things Austen, here are some titles to take a chance on which have been tried, tested and true by yours truly:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="400" src="http://rha.chookdigital.net/titles/9780099528388.jpg" width="260" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Birdsong </i>by Sebastian Faulks: </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“There you are, sir. There's nothing more than to love and be loved.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Doctor-Diva-Adrienne-Mcdonnell/dp/0670021881/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328749992&sr=1-2" target="_blank"><img height="400" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT4lAtH5fRiWFwem5jGjqabUY5VSFbmi0JK_ftSpKpj6og0srUbcA" width="265" /></a>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>The Doctor and the Diva </i>by Adrienne McDonnell:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"As she moved through more Handel and Mozart, to "Caro mio ben", her eyes glittered and skimmed across the audience. <i>I always search for a face I can sing to</i>, Erika had told Ravell. Tonight, he hoped that face would be his own."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img height="400" src="http://thebooksmugglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Major-Pettigrews-Last-Stand.jpg" width="268" />
</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Major Pettigrew's Last Stand </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">by Helen Simonson:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“You are a wise man, Major, and I will consider your advice with great care--and humility." He finished his tea and rose from the table to go to his room. "But I must ask you, do you really understand what it means to be in love with an unsuitable woman?" </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"My dear boy," said the Major. "Is there really any other kind?” </span>
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img height="400" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQfoUCNZtXHdXChMeUpI9PhLma4c-CuiGW6cIP57-M_D9X2caS3" width="253" />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>The End of the Alphabet</i> by C.S. Richardson:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“A man can see a hundred women, lust for a thousand more, but it is one scent that will open his eyes and turn him to love.” </span>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Pi9Vj_31e0/TezqlLgvUjI/AAAAAAAADDc/9sYMzToNFmk/s400/possession.jpg" width="253" />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Possession</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"> by A.S. Byatt:</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"We can be quiet together, and pretend - since it is only the beginning - that we have all the time in the world." </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"And every day we shall have less. And then none." </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"Would you rather, therefore, have had nothing at all?" </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"No. This is where I have always been coming to. Since my time began. And when I go away from here, this will be the mid-point, to which everything ran, before, and from which everything will run. But now, my love, we are here, we are now, and those other times are running elsewhere.” </span>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img height="400" src="http://cristins.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/silk1.jpg" width="260" />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Silk</i> by Alessandro Baricco:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“Perhaps sometimes life shows you a side of itself which leaves you with nothing more to say.” </span>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://www.paperplus.co.nz/books/250/471/9780141442471.jpg" />
</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So Bright and Delicate: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne:</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.” </span>
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Happy reading!</span></div>
</div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-85449303745130365522012-01-26T12:53:00.000-08:002012-01-26T12:54:47.112-08:00I Cried To Dream Again<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/inextinguishable/669344225/" target="_blank"><img alt="Ancient Ruins, Stari Bar, Montenegro
photo via justcallme" height="640" src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtt6kK1t11qb30dwo1_500.jpg" width="480" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That, if I then had waked after long sleep, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The clouds methought would open and show riches </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I cried to dream again. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-William Shakespeare, The Tempest (III.ii.138-46)</span></div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-24117171795504191652012-01-11T18:59:00.000-08:002012-01-11T19:00:16.668-08:00From the Shore to the Sea<div>
A new year, a new beginning. It's like I've finally reached the shore and now it's off to sea again, bound for another journey.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.thelazydesigner.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Pinned Image" height="400" src="http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/155796468328825520_TCynwXVx_c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I will visit Europe sometime during the summer. I will to achieve my 50 book pledge. I probably will read more than fifty, being the bookworm that I am- and this time, I'll keep track of the titles I've read. I will paint on more canvases. I will strengthen my French and take up Icelandic. I will continue to write my novel. I will learn how to cook and bake more. I will take more chances. I will love more. I will live more. </div>
<div>
About that last remark: I had a conversation with a friend one evening in December at a pub. We were catching up and that soon led to the subject of what it means to us that we're arrived at the end of the year. There were things we looked back fondly, but there were regrets. We both felt that we were floating through life feeling a tad numb and now we want to feel <i>alive</i>, to be awakened once more. This is something I will continue to hold close to my heart. I feel a stir of change coming on and I welcome this feeling with open arms.</div>
<div>
<br />
<br />
I absolutely loved this film to the point that it's now a top ten in my books. It's films like these that make the world more luminous.<br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<b>Perfect Sense:</b><i> A chef and an epidemiologist falls in love as an epidemic begins to rob people of their sensory perceptions. </i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iexMJrBzZtA" width="490"></iframe><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Perfect Sense</i> was beautiful, poetic, incredibly eye-opening and left me to wonder about all the things I thought of before the film, and the things I thought about after. Ewan McGregor and Eva Green were incredible in this film. To be honest, I love all of Eva Green's films. Each are a work of art.</div>
</div>
</div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-65090927561054435872011-11-30T20:47:00.001-08:002011-12-15T22:56:41.490-08:00The Ghost of Druadian ForestAnother one of my written pieces I wrote as of late. Enjoy!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://weheartit.com/entry/18087418" target="_blank"><img alt="5751846075_198920ba0f_b_large" src="http://data.whicdn.com/images/18087418/5751846075_198920ba0f_b_large.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Ghost of Druadian Forest<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I have walked in the wake of you for all these centuries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">When you thought it was only your shadow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Here, the moonlight sees to it that you would be safely home<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As you walk among the night beasts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Hear them stir and beat their ivory drums,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Watch the stars dance to its own refrain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Feel the brush of white butterflies against your arms<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As you move silently in the maze of sleeping oak trees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Can you feel the strands of my raven hair brush against your divine
face?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">You can thank the wind; it only wants to trigger long-forgotten
dreams.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I am half-sick of listening to swan songs and caressing cold faces<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Only the black owls are my true companions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">They whisper caution when I’m in the company of the living<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">But temptation always shrouds me with her fiery glow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Deep into the forest I go,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Midnight strikes against the gleaming white walls<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Where my huntsman lies forevermore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It was he who found the roses for me, buried beneath the forest
floor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Hidden among the cracked shells and smooth black stones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">For hours I lay still<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Pressing my cheek against his stony face<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As I call out his name.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Here dwell the masters of Triumph and Tragedy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Can't you hear their silent screams?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The beating of their heavy wings<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Brush against my still worn heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Come morning, their battle cries are like ice melting into water<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Which seep into my very bones<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Releasing harder truths than I can bear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">For a spectre like me,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I'll never have a home to call my own<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">For this forest, like all good mothers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Hold lost souls (like me) together<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Delivering me from evil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Looking up, I see the moon appearing in the night sky.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I begin to feel my pace quickening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Run</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Off I go again<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In search of lost time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-63199901599079958402011-10-18T08:56:00.001-07:002011-10-18T09:25:48.332-07:00Ode to Sherlock...and my Admittance to the Sherlockian School of Deduction<br />
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;">
<img src="http://www.sherlockholmesmuseum.com/images/products/5/EPH23-02.jpg" /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"> There are those of you who may know me well enough to understand the delicate situation of the incredible maddening passion I undergo when it comes to my love of Sherlock Holmes. I thank my nine year old self for that.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"> It all began when I was bored one day (as many of us nine year old selves would often find ourselves in) so I decided to hop over to the library near my house to see what sort of new releases they had in store in the children's section. Rather than take my pick on one of the Beatrix Potter stories, my overwhelming curiosity let me to the adult fiction section. The shelves were much taller and the books seem so grand, so thick, and so <i>different </i>compared to the stuff they had for us kids. I wanted to touch all of their spines, to open each one of them and just...read. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">As I was absent-mindedly walking along the rows of shelves, one title stood out and I paused,</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"> The spine read: "The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" by Arthur Conan Doyle. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Right there and then, I had the overwhelming urge to take a few deep breaths ( I got easily excitable at the prospect of a great read. Times haven't changed.), pull the book out of its cozy place, bring it with me to the nearest armchair, open it, and be amazed by what was in store. Which is exactly what I did. </span></span><br />
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
Since then, Sherlock Holmes has been my hero in every sense of the word. I'd like to think that this sort of admiration has blend into my lifestyle in some way or another. I have listened and loved all the scores made for Sherlock Holmes, not to mention watched everything that was adapted to television and film, read every story and read other books regarding Sherlock and/or the author. In short: have anything Sherlock? Will read/listen/watch/research. One might say that I am a Sherlockian in its truest extent.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
Furthermore, I knew that one way or another, us Sherlockians would be in for quite a big surprise. And a big surprise it was, when on a trip to the mailbox early this morning, I was greeted by a mysterious black envelope sealed with a gold crest which I then immediately tore it open on the spot, read it, ran back home going: "Oh my god, oh my god, it's really happening, I KNEW it!!"- booked a ticket to London, and began to pack.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Once you've read this, you would understand my irrepressible urge to skip down the sidewalk, whopping with excitement, and hugging random strangers throughout the entire time:</span></span><br />
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; margin-left: 20px; padding-left: 1em; quotes: none;">
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">SHERLOCKIAN</span></strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> SCHOOL</span></strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> OF DEDUCTION.</span></strong><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Headmaster: </span></strong></strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sherlock M. Holmes</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Consulting Detective, self-declared High Functioning Sociopath, Genius.</span></em>)</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; margin-left: 20px; padding-left: 1em; quotes: none;">
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dear Sherlockian,</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Sherlockian School of Deduction. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Term begins on November 1. We await your owl by no later than October 31.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yours sincerely,</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">John H. Watson,</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Deputy Headmaster. </span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">________________________________</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">SHERLOCKIAN</strong></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> SCHOOL</strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></span><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> OF DEDUCTION </span></strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Uniform</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">First-year students will require:</em></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<ol style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Seven sets of woolly jumpers (preferably cable-knit)</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One plain scarf (navy blue) for day wear.</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One Milford coat (black)</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One umbrella (black, wooden handle; family sized)</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Two Westwood suits (black)</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One lab coat (white)</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One forensics sterilized suit (blue)</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One “bobby” uniform (reflectant vest, checkered hat)</li>
</ol>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="ES" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" xml:lang="ES">Please note that all pupil’s clothes should carry name tags.</span></em></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="ES" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" xml:lang="ES"><br /></span></em></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="ES" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" xml:lang="ES"></span></em></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Set Books</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></em></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">All students should have a copy of each of the following</span></em></em></div>
<ul style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Stories of Sherlock Holmes </em>by Arthur Conan Doyle</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Science of Deduction by Sherlock Holmes</em></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Notions in Army Medicine</em> by John Watson</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Sociopath Next Door</em> by Martha Stout (Also known as DI Lestrade’s writing alias)</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How to Run a Country While on a Diet</em> by Mycroft Holmes</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dealing with the Jerk you Love</em> by Sally Donovan and Molly Hooper</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Psycopaths: The rules to spot and/or become one</em> by Jim Moriarty and F. Anderson</li>
</ul>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Other Equipment</strong></div>
<ul style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">British Army Browning L9A1</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 Pocket spyglass</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 lab kit (vials of various sizes, chemicals capable of causing explosions combined)</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jam and Milk supplies for the rest of the Year</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Students may also bring a cat OR a fox OR a hegehog OR a bee OR a dinosaur OR a hammerhead shark.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of course, when it comes the wardrobe part, I will be tweaking it a bit according to my suitability. I look forward to owning a British Army Browning L9A1. Don't look surprised- us Sherlockians secretly want to own one.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was thinking of bringing my hammerhead shark- his name is Gladstone- but I don't think he could fit into my suitcase, the poor chap. My second choice would be a fox. I imagine I would name it Watson.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So if I unexpectedly vanish from my usual haunts in Toronto- you know where I am.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Joanne</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Note: This wonderful letter was inspired by <a href="http://ununpentium.tumblr.com/post/8386650095/amenaza-sherlockian-school-of-deduction-and">disequilibrium</a>- I took out the "Badassery" part because the Sherlockian School of Deduction is itself, already badass. It needs no further emphasis.)</span><br />
<br />
<br />Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-48226282248618124292011-10-16T14:16:00.000-07:002011-10-18T07:45:13.122-07:00In This Way Only<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /><img height="229" src="http://duetletterpress.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/il_fullxfull146164347.jpg" width="320" /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Painter: Janet Hill</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it is in this way that love begins, and in this way only.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Victor Hugo, <i>Les Miserables</i></span></div>
</div>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-84496504018273501502011-10-10T14:38:00.000-07:002011-10-10T16:58:14.977-07:00A Second's Thought<img height="200" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01399/BodleianLibrary_1399501c.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
(<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/5297119/Oxford-librarians-told-to-keep-off-top-shelf.html">Photo</a>: Oxford's Bodleian Library)</div>
<br />
Lovely minds, think alike:<br />
<br />
Virginia Woolf described walking past a library at Oxford in contemplation: “I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse perhaps to be locked in.”<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/europe/specials/ff/trip2/images/oxford.jpg" width="318" /><br />
<br />
(<a href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/europe/specials/ff/trip2/images/oxford.jpg">Photo</a>: Inside the Bodleian Library)<br />
<br />
I have always dreamt of opening a book store that would reminisce an atmosphere Sherlock Holmes would enjoy walking through, in a lovely neighbourhood somewhere within the city. If that can't be done, I will continue to improve and collect unique editions and rare books as I have done thus far, and create the most stunning home library the world has ever seen.<br />
A girl can dream...and possibly succeed.Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-22575899235278200592011-10-06T20:38:00.000-07:002011-10-06T20:46:42.312-07:00Prelude<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_khYoWIBgmBI/STgy09LKjdI/AAAAAAAAApU/4mcL7yHMkpc/s320/Tomas%2BTranstr%25C3%25B6mer%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_khYoWIBgmBI/STgy09LKjdI/AAAAAAAAApU/4mcL7yHMkpc/s320/Tomas%2BTranstr%25C3%25B6mer%5B1%5D.jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
Prelude<br />
Tomas Tranströmer<br />
<br />
<br />
Awakening is a parachute jump from the dream.<br />
Freed from the choking vortex, the diver<br />
sinks towards the green map of morning.<br />
Things magnify. He sees, from the fluttering lark's<br />
position, huge tree-root systems<br />
like branchings of subterranean chandeliers. Above ground,<br />
in tropical flood, earth's greenery<br />
stands with lifted arms, as if listening<br />
to the beat of invisible pistons. And he<br />
sinks towards summer, is lowered<br />
into its dazzling crater, lowered<br />
between fissures of moist green eons<br />
trembling under the sun's turbine. Then halts<br />
the downward dive through time's eyeblink, the wingspread<br />
becomes an osprey's glide over streaming water.<br />
Bronze Age trumpets:<br />
their outlaw tune<br />
hangs motionless over the void.<br />
<br />
<br />
In the day's first hours consciousness can own the world<br />
like a hand enclosing a sun-warm stone.<br />
The skydiver stands under the tree.<br />
With the plunge through death's vortex<br />
will light's great chute spread over his head?<br />
<br />
<br />
To my great delight and much cheers, a hearty congratulations to Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, who has won the 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature.<br />
The reason for his win? "...through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality".<br />
Tranströmer's words are so mesmerizing, capturing our world and the human understanding with such depth, it is fair to say that he is one of a kind- not to mention he's also a favourite poet of mine! He is truly one of the greatest Scandinavian poets.<br />
Although you may not have known of his existence previously, you sure do now. Look into some of his works at your local bookstores today.
Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-14263262245249438372011-09-19T21:55:00.000-07:002011-09-19T22:14:02.630-07:00September Love<div>
"Autumn is a second spring, when every leaf is a flower."<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/312096_10150368469691584_507736583_9925325_8322187_n.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<br />
This morning as I looked outside my window, I was glad to acknowledge that soon, there would be a change on nature's landscape. September has finally arrived at our doorstep. I for one, love Fall and the many events and things to do during this season is what makes it so lovely as well as nature putting on a spectacular display of colour found on the leaves of trees, an orchestrated suite of its departure before Winter settles in.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Why I love Fall:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sipping on apple cider and pumpkin spice latte.</div>
<div>
Decorating my place for Fall.</div>
<div>
Making leaf lanterns and Fall garlands- with the leaf lanterns, it's so incredibly beautiful when you light it up at night.</div>
<div>
Painting out in my grandmother's backyard, or somewhere in the city like the on the Toronto Islands, High Park, or the Beaches.</div>
<div>
Picking apples at an apple orchard.</div>
<div>
Biking around Toronto Islands at this time.</div>
<div>
Planting bulbs for Spring.</div>
<div>
Hosting indoor picnics.</div>
<div>
Taking road trips.</div>
<div>
Horseback riding.</div>
<div>
Making apple pie.<br />
Helping out for great causes as Peace by Peace, and running for the Princess Margaret Hospital's 5K Run for Cancer.</div>
<div>
The scent of cinnamon in the air and fallen leaves.</div>
<div>
Stepping on crunchy leaves- yes, I love it!</div>
<div>
Parlour game nights.</div>
<div>
Amazing reads and films to absorb.</div>
<div>
And most of all....</div>
<div>
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QAv6OEGyIGE" width="460"></iframe>
<br />
Downton Abbey is back on Sunday evenings! It's a special Sunday kind of love.<br />
<img height="200" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02001/downton-abbey-not-_2001989b.jpg" width="320" /></div>
<div>
Series Two is under way and certainly the atmosphere of World War One really adds meaningful moments-no matter who you are, rich or poor, all are affected by war one way or another.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<img height="234" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QzV9guN1TCY/TmZOIYvebGI/AAAAAAAAA6E/lnYHQiW-k-4/s320/downton_abbey_season2.jpg" width="320" /></div>
<div>
The train scene during the first episode of Series Two was heartbreaking. I swear, this is the only show that gets me a bit teary-eyed in almost every scene.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<img height="228" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Bur31AQVMA4/TmZOKrJ9WHI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/AfRbonnlJgM/s320/downton_women_series2.jpg" width="320" /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Out of all the girls though, I especially like Lady Sybil (pictured in the middle). However I like all of the characters in Downton- each have such a unique personality and story behind them- there are no minor characters in this show, which is fantastic.</div>
<div>
<br />
<img src="http://www.openbooktoronto.com/sites/default/files/obt/imagecache/Main/files/images/Bookclub-in-a-Box_logo.jpg" /><br />
<br />
As well, I was super touched to have been contacted by Laura Godfrey, Assistant Director of Book Club In a Box, to be interviewed about my book club for their <a href="http://www.bookclubinabox.com/?p=1329&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=115#more-1329">September's Book Club Spotlight</a>!<br />
Here is their blurb found in their newsletter:<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4f4e4e; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Lucida, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">For this month's spotlight, we spoke to Joanne from Toronto, who founded the Matchbook Book Club three months ago with the hope of sparking "discussions in meetings that would have the charm and feel of a literary salon."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4f4e4e; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Lucida, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
<div style="color: #4f4e4e; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Lucida, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
According to Joanne, "during certain months, I add an interesting twist and make it themed. In July, it was mystery-themed and so our pick was a classic: Agatha Christie’s <em style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Murder on the Orient Express</em>. For the month of September, the theme will be 'the Nostalgic Romantic,' and for October, in light of Halloween, the theme will be 'Wonderstruck Noir.' During our last meeting (for <em style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Murder on the Orient Express</em>), we incorporated a murder mystery game called 'Poirot Investigates.'"</div>
</div>
<div>
In terms of what I am reading at the moment I am actually juggling two at the moment- one is for my <a href="http://www.matchbookclub.blogspot.com/">book club</a> and one for leisure:<br />
The book club selection:<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v2XBPHUIK90/Tl1NQO-3H-I/AAAAAAAABd0/yGBvlZGd2rU/s320/VERY%2BTHOUGHT%2BOF%2BYOU_COVER%255B1%255D.JPG" width="205" /><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">England, 31st of August, 1939.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />The world is on the brink of war. As Hitler prepares to invade Poland, thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the impending Blitz. Torn from her mother, eight-year-old Anna Sands is relocated with other children to a large Yorkshire estate opened up to evacuees by Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, and enigmatic childless couple. Soon Anna gets drawn in their unravelling relationship, seeing things that are not meant for her eyes- and finding herself part-witness and part-accomplice to a love affair, with unforeseen consequences.<br />A story of longing, loss and complicated loyalties, combining a sweeping narrative with subtle pyschological observation, <i>The Very Thought of You</i> is not just a love story, but a story about love.</span></span><br />
<br />
And the other:<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/64/Tuesdays_with_Morrie_book_cover.jpg" width="222" /><br />
<br />
Have <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">heard about this book, but never really got around to it, until my friend was talking about it and then lend the book to me. He said the book is an eye-opener, so I took a chance. I am halfway through it and every time a chapter ends, I find myself looking up and staring off into the distance, taking in everything I've just read as it's so unbearably inspiring. I love this one quote Morrie says that "s<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 14px;">ometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel... even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling."</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;">Joie de vivre,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Joanne</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-48838619562764650642011-08-28T19:31:00.001-07:002011-08-28T19:32:03.827-07:00Where Dreams May Come<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>The Armadillo</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Elizabeth Bishop</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><br />
<br />
<dd><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is the time of year<br />
when almost every night<br />
the frail, illegal fire balloons appear.<br />
Climbing the mountain height,<br />
<br />
rising toward a saint<br />
still honored in these parts,<br />
the paper chambers flush and fill with light<br />
that comes and goes, like hearts.<br />
<br />
Once up against the sky it's hard<br />
to tell them from the stars --<br />
planets, that is -- the tinted ones:<br />
Venus going down, or Mars,<br />
<br />
or the pale green one. With a wind,<br />
they flare and falter, wobble and toss;<br />
but if it's still they steer between<br />
the kite sticks of the Southern Cross,<br />
<br />
receding, dwindling, solemnly<br />
and steadily forsaking us,<br />
or, in the downdraft from a peak,<br />
suddenly turning dangerous.<br />
<br />
Last night another big one fell.<br />
It splattered like an egg of fire<br />
against the cliff behind the house.<br />
The flame ran down. We saw the pair<br />
<br />
of owls who nest there flying up<br />
and up, their whirling black-and-white<br />
stained bright pink underneath, until<br />
they shrieked up out of sight.<br />
<br />
The ancient owls' nest must have burned.<br />
Hastily, all alone,<br />
a glistening armadillo left the scene,<br />
rose-flecked, head down, tail down,<br />
<br />
and then a baby rabbit jumped out,<br />
<i>short</i>-eared, to our surprise.<br />
So soft! -- a handful of intangible ash<br />
with fixed, ignited eyes.<br />
<br />
<i>Too pretty, dreamlike mimicry!<br />
O falling fire and piercing cry<br />
and panic, and a weak mailed fist<br />
clenched ignorant against the sky!</i></span></dd>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-87039908950928549652011-08-14T22:25:00.000-07:002011-08-14T22:28:06.390-07:00Before I Go To SleepHello everyone,<br />
<br />
Came across this beautiful animated short film called "The Invention of Love" and would love to share with all of you. It truly is a love story from the world of gears and bolts. Enjoy!<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PTdzCAGH3lU" width="550"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Joie de vivre,<br />
<br />
JoanneJoanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-21374644488297346572011-08-01T16:53:00.000-07:002011-08-01T16:56:28.499-07:00A lifetime of Summer<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In August, most of Europe goes on holiday. -Tony Visconti</span></span><br />
<br />
Hello everyone!<br />
<img height="320" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/283132_10150337488986584_507736583_9607158_198835_n.jpg" width="320" /><br />
(Beautiful lanterns I took a shot of while sailing on the Kajama)<br />
<br />
So far, looking back at the things I have done in July- I must say I did all that I could.<br />
One of the things I am most fond of in particular as a summertime activity, is going down the Harbourfront and sail out to the lake!<br />
<img height="320" src="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/251512_10150337489711584_507736583_9607172_4800944_n.jpg" width="320" /><br />
I never take a leisurely day for granted- I find such a heightened sense of pleasure doing simple things as strolling around in the early morning, catching up on a read that can't be put down even when it's late at night, exploring different paths and places in the city and of course, writing!<br />
In my mind, each season carries activities that are so inviting. Take Summer- sailing, going on picnics, painting, and outdoor events. In the Fall, comes archery and horseback riding (which I look forward to).<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/281504_10150337488536584_507736583_9607150_2028582_n.jpg" width="320" /><br />
Just this past week, I went on board the Kajama, where it took us out on the lake and went behind all of the islands.<br />
<img height="320" src="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/283438_10150337488271584_507736583_9607148_4685862_n.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<br />
It was such a gorgeous day out- a tad bit on the warmer side- but as we moved along, a cool wind made its presence known and was so inviting.<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/283569_10150337486336584_507736583_9607126_7275632_n.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<br />
The Toronto Islands is such a beautiful sight from up above. I shot this while up on the CN Tower- a perfect view to see all of the city and beyond.<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/281623_10150337486981584_507736583_9607129_1857775_n.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<br />
More pictures while on the Kajama. It's so peaceful and relaxing while you're drifting away- it was very nice as we went beyond the Toronto Islands where on the brink stood a red lighthouse and a view on one side of an island which seemed inhibited except for these huge masses of birds perching on the barren trees and near the shore.<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/185355_10150337486686584_507736583_9607127_1401170_n.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<br />
While on board, my friend and I grabbed some lunch- of course I had to order Fish and Chips- what else?<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/284403_10150337489406584_507736583_9607164_6806162_n.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<br />
<br />
Joie de vivre,<br />
<br />
JoanneJoanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-506035677666471868.post-44350340014627062122011-07-21T19:17:00.000-07:002011-07-21T19:17:01.833-07:00Roses UnrequitedAt times, the world can seem an unfriendly and sinister place.<br />
But believe us when we say there is much more good in it than bad.<br />
All you have to do is look hard enough.<br />
And what might seem to be a series of unfortunate events may, in fact be the first steps of a journey.<br />
- Lemony Snicket, <i>A Series of Unfortunate Events</i>Joanne Angelinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17742867251826326983noreply@blogger.com3