Skip to main content

Things I Love: The Letter B

I heard about the meme from Megan at Medieval Bookworm, and the letter she’s chosen for me is B. Since books, authors and books with names or titles that begin with B, and blogging are too easy, I’ll leave them out for this.

Bagels. With cream cheese and lox? Heavenly.

Bavaria. Went here in 1999 and fell in love with the food (not something I thought I’d ever say about German cuisine!). If you’re ever in Munich, do visit the Hofbrauhaus, where Hitler held his failed “Beer Hall Putsch” in 1923. They also have good wurst.

The BBC. Love, love, love the BBC, especially their adaptations of classic novels (Pride and Prejudice, anyone?). Last April, when I subscribed to Netflix, I began watching Upstairs, Downstairs, which is seriously good! I also love the BBC’s comedies; I own the complete series of Keeping Up Appearances on DVD. Yeah, I’m obsessed.

The Bachelor. I have a confession to make: in addition to books, I love watching TV, especially reality TV. The Bachelor is just one of those shows. So trashy, but oh so good.

Barcelona. One of my favorite European cities. The architecture of Antonio Gaudi is quite amazing.

Black. I wear a lot of this color—today I wore a black sweater, black stockings, black boots, and a skirt that’s black and white.

The Bayeaux Tapestry. Went to France in 1999 and saw this nearly by accident (it wasn’t on our schedule originally, but since it was raining out, we decided to go anyways)); it’s magnificent. It’s displayed in its own, L-shaped, lighting-controlled room.

Brie cheese. I love cheese in general, but brie is the best. Have them with Club crackers, and it’s a perfect afternoon snack.

“Badlands.” One of Bruce Spingsteen’s best songs ever.

Bubonic plague. Don’t laugh; once upon a time I wrote my undergrad thesis on it.

Comments

Sandra said…
That was fun to read about you. I've been in Munich myself, I love Germany. I just got assigned the letter E but from someone else i think. I better go write it up.
Meghan said…
The randomizer liked you and gave you a good one. ;) I love the BBC too. They really have fantastic shows and the best minds working for them. Have you ever seen Fawlty Towers? It's only 12 episodes long but probably the funniest show I have ever seen, especially the first season.

The Black Death is definitely one of the more interesting episodes in history - and there are so many phases of it that it's versatile as well. We still can't manage to figure out just how much of the population it killed on its first go round. I think it's fascinating!

- Meghan @ Medieval Bookworm
I love brie too. Roquefort might be my fave, but it is a very close race.
Serena said…
Bavaria, Barcelona, bagels, BBC...all of these I understand! Bubonic Plague! EW!

Good luck with the thesis.
Veronica said…
Yes! Badlands is a GREAT song. Really, since you're letter was B you could have just put down Bruce Springsteen in general.......ha.
Marg said…
You did get lucky with the letter B!

Barcelona is one of my favourite cities too! And I had a great time in the beer halls of Bavaria!

You were very controlled not using books or blogging! Well done!
Ruth King said…
I watch much, much more British television that I do American TV. My mom and I both love Keeping Up Appearances. (When she calls me on my cell phone, I often answer with, "Bouquet residence!")
I'm with you on most of these. Bagels and the plague especially ;)
Anonymous said…
How I long to go to Spain, especially Barcelona! And who can resist BBC adaptations. They are just as addictive as books.
Anonymous said…
bubonic plague? I would never have expected to see that in a list of favorite things! Bagels with cream cheese..definitely yes!:)

Popular posts from this blog

Another giveaway

This time, the publicist at WW Norton sent me two copies of The Glass of Time , by Michael Cox--so I'm giving away the second copy. Cox is the author of The Meaning of Night, and this book is the follow-up to that. Leave a comment here to enter to win it! The deadline is next Sunday, 10/5/08.

A giveaway winner, and another giveaway

The winner of the Girl in a Blue Dress contest is... Anna, of Diary of An Eccentric ! My new contest is for a copy of The Shape of Mercy , by Susan Meissner. According to Publisher's Weekly : Meissner's newest novel is potentially life-changing, the kind of inspirational fiction that prompts readers to call up old friends, lost loves or fallen-away family members to tell them that all is forgiven and that life is too short for holding grudges. Achingly romantic, the novel features the legacy of Mercy Hayworth—a young woman convicted during the Salem witch trials—whose words reach out from the past to forever transform the lives of two present-day women. These book lovers—Abigail Boyles, elderly, bitter and frail, and Lauren Lars Durough, wealthy, earnest and young—become unlikely friends, drawn together over the untimely death of Mercy, whose precious diary is all that remains of her too short life. And what a diary! Mercy's words not only beguile but help Abigail and Lars...

Review: The Piano Teacher, by Janice Y.K. Lee

The Piano Teacher is a complicated novel. On the surface, it’s about a love affair between two British ex-patriots in Hong Kong in 1952-3. Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong with her husband Martin at a time when the world is still recovering from WWII; Claire takes up work as a piano teacher for the daughter of a wealthy Chinese family, where she meets Will Truesdale, the Chens’ enigmatic chauffeur. The book jumps back in time between the 1950s and the beginning of WWII, when Will is interned in Stanley, a Hong Kong camp for enemies of Japan. On “the outside” is Tudy Liang, Will’s beautiful Eurasian lover. There’s no doubt that Lee’s writing is beautiful. But there’s something lacking in this short, terse novel that I can’t quite put my finger on. First, I think it’s the tenses she uses when taking about each story: that which is set in the 1950s is in the past tense, while the war scenes are talked about in the present tense (confusing, no?) The interpersonal relationships of the m...