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The Sunday Salon: first of 2010


It’s been a long, lazy weekend; I had Friday off work, and I’ve spent the weekend doing pretty much nothing but lay around! I meant to get to the gym this weekend, but never really made it off the couch. New Year’s Eve was spent watching movies (we’ve been on a James Bond kick, watching all the Sean Connery ones), then on New Year’s day went to see The Young Victoria, which is EXCELLENT, going far beyond the old good acting and costumes thing. It’s a really beautiful film, and one you must see if you haven’t already.

As for books, the year has started out slowly. I’ve been reading less than usual lately, mostly because I’ve been re-watching Upstairs, Downstairs—I’m on the first disc of the second season, where Sarah has come back to cause more trouble, Thomas is hired as manservant, and Elizabeth (not one of my favorite characters, as she seemed a bit hypocritical to me at times) is beginning married life. It’s a wonderful series, and I could watch it over and over again (the transfer to DVD, however, isn’t all that great).

For Christmas I received a Persephone subscription, where you receive one book a month for twelve months from them ( on the order page, you get to specify which books you’re like to receive and in which order). On New Year’s Eve, I received my first, Fidelity, by Susan Glaspell, and I’m now about 200 pages into it. It’s the story of a young woman named Ruth, who escapes the conventions of the small Iowa town she lives in to run off with a married man. The novel begs the question, what is more important: personal happiness or the good of “society?” It’s not until the young woman returns, eleven years later, that she realizes what kind of effect her running off had had on the people who love her. It’s an excellent read, and I’m glad to say that reading-wise my year has started off very well indeed.

How was your New Year? Do anything special?

Comments

Athira said…
I spent the New Year vacationing at San Francisco, and had loads of fun. And now I am trying to clear my emails and Reader.

Fidelity sounds good. And congrats on the Persephone subscription!

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