...Charm City Craft Mafia holiday heap this Saturday - all kinds of temptation (if anyone wants to come with, email me at mdheiser@comcast.net)
...happy mail in the form of gifts, etsy, books, and Christmas music
...baking scones
...wrapping presents - thinking of hosting a gift wrapping party, anyone interested? i'll provide tape, ribbons, hot beverages & scones
...making a gingerbread chalet with the kiddos (kit from Trader Joe's)
...reading something good - I may be onto something with Mister Pip
I finished The Faraday Girls, The Beautiful Miscellaneous, and Casting with a Fragile Thread. All had their moments, but I found them to be average. No wow moments. The Faraday Girls reads like a Maeve Binchy book, but more lengthy and set in Australia. Each character was a one dimensional extreme stereotype and it was hard to relate to any one of them. The Beautiful Miscellaneous started strong, then lost it's steam. A portrait of unrealistic expectations hoisted upon a son by a head in the clouds physicist father. Interesting in parts, but in the final 1/4 I was ready for it to be over. The moments that should have had an impact, were just a whisper. I continue to be swept up by memoirs of growing up in Africa, so add Casting with a Fragile Thread to the list. Again, it was good, but not what I expected. It was an accounting of the author's childhood, but without the reflection and insight that I would have liked. Her family had a tumultuous story but she seemed like an observer rather than a participant. Maybe that was her role, but it doesn't serve the reader very well.
More on Master Pip later, I have Great Expectatations for it. ;)
The End.
