Books and the BBC

I said once that I would never post the books I'd read on my blog, that I'd be too embarrassed (by quantity of material read, not necessarily quality). But since I've started reading more regularly, and gotten such enthusiastic comments from you, I decided to occasionally post my literary pursuits. I wholeheartedly welcome your comments and recommendations.

An author of a blog I happened to see recently admitted to reading 90 books in a single year. THAT IS NOT ME. My recent average had been about 2 or 3 a year until this last one, so 1 or 2 a month is something for me to be personally pleased with. Maybe I'd find more time for reading if it wasn't for the darn BBC, but more on that below.

My 2009 completed reading list
Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir by Marina Nemat
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Cranford Chronicles by Elizabeth Gaskell, (includes Mr. Harrison's Confessions, Cranford, and My Lady Ludlow)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
A Girl From Yamhill: A Memoir by Beverly Cleary
James Herriot's Cat Stories by James Herriot
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (LDA #1)) by Alexander McCall Smith
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Tears of the Giraffe (LDA #2) by Alexander McCall Smith
My Own Two Feet: A Memoir by Beverly Cleary
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Morality for Beautiful Girls (LDA #3) by Alexander McCall Smith
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Kalahari Typing School for Men (LDA #4) by Alexander McCall Smith
The Full Cupboard of Life (LDA #5) by Alexander McCall Smith
1/2 dozen Sherlock Holmes short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (LDA #5) by Alexander McCall Smith

2010 completed reading list
Blue Shoes and Happiness (LDA #7) by Alexander McCall Smith
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (LDA #8) by Alexander McCall Smith
The Miracle at Speedy Motors (LDA #9) by Alexander McCall Smith
The Law of Dreams: A Novel by Peter Behrens
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

I'm currently reading Rhythms of Renewal, written by a woman I know and admire, and will read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson for book club this month.

Selection from my ever-changing to-read list
John Adams by David McCullough
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
The Milagro Beanfield War by John Nichols
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Tess of the D-Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Now, my beef with the BBC. They're killing me! I admit, I like movies and television. I like big budget Hollywood movies, I like low budget indies, I like foreign films, I like a few tv shows, but nothing sucks me in like programming from the BBC. I'm sure I've only just skimmed the surface of what they have to offer, which makes me think I'll be glued to the tv or computer screen until the end of time. To give you an idea, here are a couple more lists. Again, comments and suggestions will be gladly received.

Selection of enjoyable watching
Foyle's War
Black Adder
Cranford
Little Dorrit
Spaced
Clatterford
State of Play
The Forsyte Saga
Pride and Prejudice
Horatio Hornblower
Monarch of the Glen
MI-5 (If you're harboring the copy of season 7 from my local library, please return immediately!)
Shakespeare Retold
The Office
All Creatures Great and Small
Fawlty Towers
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
North and South

Selection of may-watch-some-day
Life on Mars
Filth
That Mitchell and Webb Look
Jeeves and Wooster
Prime Suspect
Place of Execution
As Time Goes By
God on Trial
Ballykissangel

To watch tonight, if I ever remove myself from this chair
The 39 Steps

If you're looking for a new addiction and haven't yet experienced what the BBC can do for you, try out Masterpiece. It's a great way to get hooked.

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Halpert.

Alternately: It's too fun not to be a nerd once in a while.

On Thursday nights, I run to my friend Jess's house right after dinner (although on these nights I usually manage not to eat any) in time for The Office, what will be 30 Rock, and Project Runway. TV night. Nothing else on the agenda. It's great.
We decided to really unleash our pop culture-couch potato-osity this week and join in the celebration with the folks on The Office. No, I don't have pictures of Jim on my desk, I don't have any Office flair on my Facebook account and I don't read The Office blogs. We just happen to enjoy watching it together and thought it would be fun to jazz up our evening.
I made this wedding cake and the clothespin doll cake toppers for the occasion. Jess made punch and our friend Penny wore a bridesmaid dress. (Well, for a few minutes, at least). We had fun.
And, really, when you love to bake you'll make any excuse, right?

Cereal box bookmarks

This is a simple project that will save your books from dog ears and your cardboard from the trash. Simply pull out your colorful cardboard packages, flatten them out and cut them into strips about 1 1/2" x 6". A paper cutter will give you a more consistent cut. And any size strip will do, really, as long as it fits in your book.
Trim your corners with a corner rounding tool (or the old-fashioned way with scissors or an X-acto). I like this tool because it's sturdy enough for light cardboard, you can see the paper as you punch it without flipping the tool over, and the squeeze is easy on your fingers.
Lastly, punch a hole in the top and thread it with a matching ribbon.

On a personal note, I don't read as often as I'd like. I will never put a list of books read during the year on my blog because it is just embarrassing. However, I did just finish a good one.
I'm betting that some of you are fans of the period pieces from Jane Austen, the Brontes, etc. I enjoy these books and can't get enough of the videos.
I've just recently watched the BBC's adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. I loved it and immediately went out to get the book. This is the book I just completed by stealing away a few minutes at a time into the bathroom, catching a few pages while putting the baby down for a nap, and reading by booklight as long as my eyes could stand it after everyone else had gone to bed. This is the only Elizabeth Gaskell book I've read, but I'm inspired to start another.
What book have you read recently (or not so recently) that you couldn't put down?

The days television ruled my life

It doesn't happen that often. But every once in awhile I get so hooked on a tv or mini series that I completely lose sight of everything else in my life. I have managed to take care of my children, make spaghetti...hmm, that may be about it. All other waking time has recently been spent catching up on reruns of The Office.
I read an article in a newspaper once written by someone who'd been sucked into 24 reruns. Wouldn't sleep until he'd finished a season. The author of the article suspected this tv series addiction to be pretty widespread now that complete seasons of so many television shows are so easily accessible: dvd collections, video rental stores, iTunes, online viewing through network websites, Hulu, Netflix, etc.
We really don't watch but one show during a year on television, but darn it if he isn't right about reruns taking over your life. Has there been a show that caused you to forsake all else?

Sometimes Jane Austen Wins

It feels like we've been so busy recently and I feel so tired, not to mention I have homework from a couple different classes (CBS, Tuesday's Child) to complete, so crafting and taking pictures and all that blogging stuff is on hold today. I'd like to say I'm going to buckle down and finish my work, but Sense and Sensibility is calling me. The last two movies we watched were Syriana and I am Legend, so I'd say it's time for a good Jane Austen flick. Especially one I haven't seen. So, anyway, I know I'm being irresponsible, but sometimes Jane Austen just wins.

Good Stuff for Kids

The Charlie and Lola series of books and videos are great! The mixed-media, childlike illustrations are fun to look at, the dialogue is actually spoken like a child, and you can't beat British accents. I love hearing my kids mimic it. We have only four of the many books and I think my kids can recite part or most of each of them. Currently, they are most intrigued by the colorful drawings and explanation of germs in I'm Really Ever So Not Well.
The DVDs each have a collection of several short episodes so they're great for brief periods in front of the tv. Or, should I say, the "telly."



We were given a Stokke Tripp Trapp chair for my daughter's birthday last year and are so pleased with it. You can adjust the height and depth of this chair (seat and footrest, individually) to fit your child and your dinner table. You can get it with a 5-point harness or without. With a cushion or without. With a guardrail or without. In red or not. You don't have to clean up a nasty tray or booster seat when they finish eating (just your nasty table), your child doesn't have to sit uncomfortably on their knees or some other contortionist position to reach the table, and, surprisingly, I don't often find myself telling my daughter to get back in it, as I do with grown-up or child-size chairs. If you find you hate your high chair or the switch from high chair to big chair, put one of these on your wish list.
Oh, and it holds up to 300 lbs, in case you have the world's biggest baby.




My Giant Sticker Activity Book. This is...well, a giant sticker activity book by Roger Priddy, who has tons of kids books I'm sure you've seen or own. It comes with topical pages, like shapes or animals, and corresponding pages of brightly colored or photographic stickers. Each section has a simple explanation or question pertaining to the stickers to be placed in it and color-coded shadows showing your child where exactly to place the sticker. My kids love it. They are young enough that I have to do it with them, but it is pretty fun and a good teaching opportunity. Older kids could entertain themselves with it.
A great thing about this sticker book, besides just being fun matching the stickers, is that when your kids are finished placing the stickers you can go back and reread it like a regular book and they can (somewhat carefully) remove and replace the stickers.
We enjoy this at home, but it would be a great plane-ride surprise activity.

Grown-up Fare

We've been enjoying this BBC series. Foyle's War. I highly recommend it, but warn you-it's very addictive and you won't want to stop an episode in the middle and, therefore, will end up sitting in front of the tv for about an hour and a half at a time since each episode is practically it's own movie (and I wonder why I don't get anything done). It follows a low-key police detective solving crime in or around the village of Hastings during WWII. You wouldn't think he would be so absorbing, but he is. Very good!

Favorite holiday movie

White Christmas is the first holiday movie I watch each year. (I'm a little behind on seasonal videos and music this year-it took me all of November to get through this one and as far as music goes, we haven't progressed past John Denver with the Muppets. Yikes!) No one else in my family here would post this as their favorite, but my sister and I would gladly attempt performing any musical number (dance, included) or quoting any dialogue to prove our devotion to this classic, cheesy as it is. It's one of those movies you can make fun of (you know, wardrobe, hair, script, line delivery, plot and such) but still absolutely love. If you're bored, check out the script online. Must have been an early draft or those guys did a lot of cutting and ad-libbing.