Teaser Tuesday - Mrs P's Journey

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I haven't forgotten...really...just, September came. And with it came the insanity of back to school. But now that September is almost over, well, now I can get back to routine...maybe.

This week's teaser:

In the swirls of her subconscious and memory, it is highly likely that Phyllis interpreted her family's erratic dashes around Europe when she was between the ages of four and ten, and their perpetual moving house as a soothing, lulling momentum. For on such a trip the happy package of mother, father, sister and brother were tightly tied together, and the attention of both parents was bound to their children.

Mrs P's Journey, Sarah Hartley, page 43

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your 2 ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Day 30: Is there an author who you will read anything they write?

(UGH again with the weird sentence structure!)

Irène Némirovsky. Suite Française was super! I loved it. I didn’t want it to end. And when it did end, I wanted more. Fire in the Blood was also excellent. This is a woman who’s life ended too early and who I wish had had the opportunity to write more. If you haven’t read Suite Française, I can’t recommend it enough!

Day 29: What author do you avoid?

Dr. Laura Schlessinger. UGH. And even more so since she went on her rant a few weeks ago.

When I was in university, I worked at a fast food place one summer. The girls who decorated cakes had a work station in the back next to the break table. And they listened to Dr. Laura on the radio. And she drove me nuts.

Then my grandma gave me The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands as a shower gift. She hadn't read it (which is strange for her, she usually reads everything before she gives it away so she can discuss it with you) and I don't know that she would have given it to me if she had. I think maybe Dr. Laura is a misandrist. And she's narrow minded. And she gives bad advice. And she makes me mad. MAD.

So I avoid her. Because I don't like being mad!

Day 28: What book do you wish you had never read?

Lolita. I hated it. I was very uncomfortable the whole time I read it. It bothered me. But I finished it. And I wished I'd never picked it up. We read it for our book club with Reading Lolita in Tehran. I enjoyed that, but not Lolita.

Day 27: What book would you write if you had all the resources?

I don't know. I've never really thought I’d write a book. So I don't have the next great Canadian novel floating around in my head.

Do you have the next great novel (Canadian or otherwise) buried in your imagination? Or is there a non-fiction book you would write?

Day 26: What is a book you wish would be written?

I sort of wish there was more Harry Potter. But maybe not. I feel like the epilogue tied everything up nicely and if there was more Harry Potter, it would be boring. Or boring compared to the first seven books.

I don't really have a lot to say...I figure if there was a book that I really wished would be written, then maybe I should write it myself!

Day 25: What is your favourite autobiographical or biographical book

(Ummm...again with the weird sentence structure...isn't “What is your favourite autobiography or biography?” better???)

Almost French: love and a new life in Paris by Sarah Turnbull. My copy is lost and I'm very sad. I loaned it someone who loaned it to someone else who doesn't remember what happened to it. I don't know if you can get it over here, my friend in Australia read it and thought I'd enjoy it and posted her copy on up.

It's about a woman who met a man in Eastern Europe. She went to France to visit him. And the story goes from there. I'm not going to spoil it. Anyway, besides their relationship, it's about her adventures in adapting to French culture. She describes how she was dressed when she arrives – flowing broomstick skirt and Birkenstocks I think – and how it contrasts to the French women around and how eventually her style evolves.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it a few years after moving back to Canada after spending the better part of three years abroad. I was still adjusting (some days I think I'm still adjusting and I've been back for eight years). I was wrestling with what to do with my own life and her story gave me some perspective and possibly, unknowingly, some advice.

I am off to see if I can locate a copy of this at the library or online. I want to reread it now!

Day 24: What book did you later find out the author lied about?

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. That's the only one I could think of, maybe because it was big news when it came out that he lied. I didn't care that he lied. I figured it was a novel and while it was based on his life since it was a novel, why shouldn't he expand, elaborate and create when the story line needed it? I never saw or read his interviews with Oprah or anyone else, so I don't know exactly how he presented himself, but if he's promoting his book, maybe it was all part of the show? Who knows.

Day 23: What is your favourite romance novel?

Well, this took some thought. And then I settled on two – though one might not be classified as a novel and the other might not want to be classified as a romance...I'm not sure.

The first one, definitely a novel, is Gone With the Wind. I first saw the movie when I was six or seven – well, parts of the movie – I was at my grandma's house and she was watching it for the twenty eighth time or something and she kept turning it off and then turning it back on. So I wouldn't see things like Bonnie (that's her name, right?) falling off her horse. And then I saw parts of the movie many times over the next few years. It's a long movie and I wasn't up to sitting through it. I'm not sure when I first saw the whole thing – maybe when I had a retreat at Chez Piltz in 2002? Possibly when I had my wisdom teeth out, but anything I watched then doesn’t count.

But the book, I have read the book! When I moved to London there was an extensive library where I was living, made up mostly of books that were donated or left behind by travellers or staff who were moving on. I was there for six months and there wasn't a lot of time for reading, but I decided that I'd try to read Gone With the Wind because I should be able to do it in that amount of time! I know it took me a while because I was in one room for the first three months and another rood for the last three and I have memories of reading it in both rooms.

Part of me loves reading epics – they tend to last longer than other books and that makes me happy. Part of me hates reading epics – they tend to last longer than other books and that can be frustrating. With this book, I was happy. I knew the story fairly well and I really enjoyed reading it. Scarlett drove me nuts sometimes because she was so self-centered, but she evolved and while she could still be very self-centered, she became a stronger person. Rhett just drove me nuts. Ashley and Melanie were a bit whiny, but overall, I really did just like reading it.

So, what did you think about Gone With the Wind (I know there's at least one differing opinion out there!)?

The second romance I mentioned is Pioneer Woman's story of how she met her husband, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. I couldn’t stop reading it. It's broken up into blog posts and I had to limit myself to three a day or I would have just wasted all my time with Alex and J and all of my time at work to reading it as quickly as possible. Not a good use of my time...Check it out! And I think I heard she has expanded it and it's coming out in book form.

So – does that count as a novel? What is your favourite romance??
 

Day 22: What is your favourite series?

Harry Potter.
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What? You want more?

I love Harry Potter. Earlier in the challenge I wrote about Harry Potter. I could also have written about Harry Potter as my favourite book. But I didn't. Because which book is my favourite? The Philosopher's Stone? Prisoner of Azkaban? The Half-Blood Prince?

Exactly.

Favourite series.

Because I can reread them over and over and over. And never get bored. And find things I missed the last time. And they help get back into the reading groove when I've fallen out. And, well, I just love them. That's all.