gunnar, grind, and ghosts ~

50bookchallenge notes:

i din't finish Gunnar's Daughter last night as planned. it got rambly and epic toward the end and that makes me tired as a reader because too much happens in too short a time (for me). i've always had problems with books that make huge leaps: ten years later or even a year later. it's a testament to undset's storytelling that i'm still with it. usually a book as ranging as this one would have gone bye-bye (to say nothing of the fact that it's a genre i'm not prone to read much in).

i'll finish it tonight and then i'll read doctorow's The March and then i think i will take a wee break because i'm well ahead of the game and feeling a bit saturated. it's hard to enjoy a book and savor its impact if you're just tearing through to the next one. it's only the second week of february and The March will be my 9th book, so i think i can piddle away a week or so before i go another round. besides, i need to work on my list. when you actively avoid half the books on it, you know it needs revising ~ hahahaha ~ ! that, and i think the next round might need to be inter-library loan stuff since there's a bunch of things i want and can't get my hands on at the moment (like Mr. Ive's Christmas and The Edge of Sadness).

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some of you lovely peeps showed some interest in bopping along with a writing community, but i'm still not fully committed. i think it's a reflection of the disorder on my desk at the moment. although i have been writing in drips and drabs, i've really not settled into anything comfortably ~ nor a method to go about arranging my process.

my lack of discipline will be the death of me.

that, and i'm using my bulletin board as a desk-block to keep Paxton from getting under the desk and accidentally pulling the computer plug. i think this is part of the problem.

there's a second bedroom in this house that i'm not using. it's home to all my packing boxes at the moment, which is a crying shame. but i'm not sure what to do with it yet since the only piece of furniture in there is a small dining room buffet. it's also the "haunted" room. there was something strange about the "vibe" of it when i moved in. not sure i still feel it because i don't spend any time in there, but usually once i get a weird vibe from a place, it doesn't go away. i'm always curious about what causes "paranormal" reactions like this: something in the energy? just the way the sun hits the windows? an odd distribution of the heat? whatever it is, i've been in places where i just feel like someone died there. or bad things happened. not just in old houses either (this one was built in the 20s, i think). anyway. i don't think this house is actually haunted (though i've had some strange dreams since i got here ~ last night's were doozies). but there is something "odd" about my second bedroom.

and my point is: i was thinking of doing something wildly creative with that room ~ like turning it into a romping space, but i haven't screwed up the courage yet.

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okay, just for kicks, the "Picture Meme" from sparowe:

Ask me to take a picture.
It can be of anything you want (within reason).
I'll post it here for you to see.

at the end of the eve ~

finished Gunnar's Daughter ~ hell of a story, exceptionally-told.

if you like historical/medieval fiction (this is medieval Norway), sigrid undset isn't foolin' around. i love the very subtle Christian undertones in this: a pagan people struggling with this "new" faith and you can see how they embrace it on a superficial level and fail to undertake the actual practice. i mean, i guess the book raises the question: if the characters had been able to embrace a Christian reconciliation, would their lives not have been such an incredible misery? this is a wonderfully cinematic book. someone needs to make a movie of it!

this is also a harrowing book on a lot of levels. the depth of the outrage and vengeance is frightening and Vigdis is one skeery woman (hell hath no fury indeed!). some of the images in this book are just incredible ~ and the final exit line of one of the characters ~ holy cow what a line! (no spoilers, man ~ READ THIS BOOK). i'm actually emboldened to maybe try her Nobel prize-winning Kristin Lavransdatter ~ maybe ~ hahahahaha

: D