Winner & Link Love

Winner & Link Love

Nightstand August 1, 2013

girlleftbehind.jpgDrum roll, please… The winner of the giveaway for The Girl You Left Behind is Trish. Thanks to Penguin Books for the book and Random for helping me select the winner. And, thank you to everyone who entered the drawing. I love doing giveaways. Trish, I’ll be in touch soon for your details!

So, I’ve been meaning to tell you guys about a few things that I’ve been enjoying and thinking about. Here are the links and I hope you’ll enjoy them too!

Book Riot – Always books, never boring.
LitroMagazine – Stories to transport you. Issue 127 is the Victoriana issue! I know a lot of you will enjoy that.
Book Graffiti – Now this is some cool graffiti. I think my favorite is The Handmaid’s Tale.
Dog Days of Summer Reading Challenge – The Estella Society is hosting a week-long reading challenge which is sure to be fun so check it out.
The Slaves of Golconda – The Slaves are reading Excellent Women by Barbara Pym for the discussion at the end of August. I’ll be traveling around that time so I’m not sure if I can contribute but it’s Barbara Pym! I’m going to try.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Do you have big plans? I get to see one of my best friends this weekend – yay!

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Reading Notes

Reading Notes

Nightstand July 31, 2013

paris13.pngIt’s time to wrap up the Paris In July challenge. I managed to write a couple of posts for the challenge and best of all I did read one book set in the City of Light. As I mentioned in my previous post Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris was sweet and I look forward to continuing with Mrs. Harris’s adventures another time as there are three more novellas featuring the dear Mrs. Harris.

I was hoping to finish another book set in Paris but I’m only about half-way through Le Chatelet Apprentice by Jean-François Parot. This book is about a young detective set in Paris in 1761. Here’s the Paris Nicolas encounters:

“The Paris he was returning to was one he had never seen before. Despite the weather and the lateness of the hour, a wave of madness was engulfing the whole city. He was straight away surrounded, jostled, overwhelmed and taunted by the groups of yelling revellers. Laughing beneath their masks, they cavorted around and got up to all sorts of mischief.”

You can just feel the excitement can’t you? I’ve read some mixed reviews of this book but I’m really enjoying it. I like the descriptions in particular so I look forward to seeing what happens with Nicolas Le Floch.

A big thank you to Tamara from Thyme For Tea and Karen from BookBath for hosting this very fun challenge.

As far as other reads go, I’m still reading Accidents Happen and The Rules of Engagement. I’ve been reading these books for ages! While I love having various books going on sometimes I do feel like I can’t make any progress. I would love to add another book to my mix but I think my reading goal is to finish at least one of these before I add another book.  Wish me luck!

Oh and last but not least, don’t forget to enter the giveaway for The Girl You Left Behind. I’m doing the drawing tomorrow!

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Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Nightstand July 30, 2013

mrsharris.jpg“The small, slender woman with apple-red cheeks, greying hair, and shrewd, almost naughty little eyes sat with her face pressed against the cabin window of the BEA Viscount on the morning flight from London to Paris. As, with a rush and a roar, it lifted itself from the runway, her spritis soared aloft with it. She was nervous, but not at all frightened, for she was convinced that nothing could happen to her now. Hers was the bliss of one who knew that at last she was off upon the adventure at the end of which lay her heart’s desire.”

Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris by Paul Gallico

Mrs. Harris is a cleaning lady who is happy to clean the houses of her London clients but one day while tidying up the house of one Lady, she comes across a Dior dress. It is the most beautiful dress she has ever seen and so starts her quest to posses one. She learns that this will cost her $468 pounds, plus there is also the matter of going to Paris to get her dress but she is determined to have her gala dress.

After all, owning such a creation at such a ridiculous amount of money would mean that there is nothing left upon earth that she could desire. So, Mrs. Harris begins to save her money. She scrimps on little pleasures, like going to the movies with her friend and fellow cleaning lady, Mrs. Butterfield and she even takes to gambling a bit.

After years she has saved enough money and is on her way to Paris. Of course that is where adventure really awaits her as she comes to understand that one just doesn’t walk into Dior and gets a dress off the rack, there is a process and tradition of how things are done.

This was quite a charming little story. I particularly liked that Mrs. Harris was not daunted by any of the obstacles that came her way and I enjoyed her interactions with the people she meets in Paris and how they all learn to help one another. It was a bit like a little fairy tale.

Though quite a light read I do think the book makes you think about what your heart desires. Is there really one thing you would like and would you be happy once you got it? Would all the hardships and obstacles be worth it and/or forgotten once you attained your goal?

Source: Personal copy

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