Many years ago, I read Suzanne Fisher Staples young adult novel Shabanu, which chronicled the coming-of-age of a young Pakistani teen who was forced into a marriage she did not want or plan for in order to save her family in a delicate bind. I had really liked the novel, and was excited to hear Staples had continued the story. Haveli is a sequel set several years later, in which Shabanu is now a young mother and trying to make her way through life as […]
Soaking up the glories of Provencal living
My dear friend M bought me Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence as a way to enjoy some time in France. She herself is half-French, and she found that she understand her relatives a lot more once she had read some of Peter Mayle’s work set in France. She thought I would enjoy it, as well, and she was right. I am not huge on memoir, but I do very much indulging in travel/location reading, particularly if there is discussion about sun, summer, and delicious […]
Beautiful pictures of a glamorous icon
The Chancellor often likes to coordinate his gifts in a “theme.” One year for Valentine’s Day, he bought me a copy of the film Bringing Up Baby and paired it with this particular short biography of Katherine Hepburn. He knows I am a huge fan of both her and Audrey Hepburn, so my DVD collection has slowly grown over the years (another year, he bought me The Philadelphia Story, which is absolutely one of my favorites). I was intrigued to learn more about one of […]
A lovely fusion of poetry and art
Back when The Chancellor and I got married, one of our professors bought us a book of poetry for our coffee table. I’m just now reading it, as is my wont with gift books, but it was a highly enjoyable read. I like seeing connections between art and text, and Marilyn Chandler McEntyre marries the two well in her collection, The Color of Light, which are inspired by late paintings of Vincent Van Gogh. And since I was already a fan of Van Gogh’s work, […]