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text 2018-12-09 23:04
Fancy Food Shopping Splurge; or, the Cats and the Candle

My BFF and I took a trip down to Frankfurt yesterday, to stock up supplies at our favorite tea and spice store; and while we were there, we also took a look at Frankfurt newly-restored (pseudo-)medieval quarter (whose medieval buildings were destroyed in WWII and were now finally restored from scratch, some 70+ years later -- and wow, they sure did an amazing job there) ... and of course, at Frankfurt's main Christmas market, where I found a lovely Rosina Wachtmeister candle holder.

 

Charlie inspects the gift box I secretly had the store put together for my friend while we were there ...

... while Sunny goes straight for the jugular -- or for his human's jugular at least:

"This smells interesting.  So what exactly are pralines, mom?"

 

Seconds later, though:
"Why does this light keep moving and flickering?  That's ... intriguing, but it's also seriously spooky!  Lights aren't supposed to behave like that!!"

(Not to be outdone, Charlie has a look as well -- but to everybody's relief, doesn't dare get any closer, either!)

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text 2016-07-26 22:15
Summer Splurges (AKA: Be Good to Yourself)
The Colour of Poison: A Sebastian Foxley Medieval Mystery (Volume 1) - Toni Mount
Wars of the Roses - Charles Ross
Last White Rose: The Secret Wars of the Tudors - Desmond Seward
Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses - Sarah Gristwood
Mary Tudor: The First Queen - Linda Porter
Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen - Anna Whitelock
The Sugar Planter's Daughter - Sharon Maas
The Princes of Ireland - Edward Rutherfurd
The Rebels of Ireland - Edward Rutherfurd
The Chronicles of Narnia CD Box Set: The Chronicles of Narnia CD Box Set - C.S. Lewis,Kenneth Branagh

Largely inspired by Carpe Librum (Samantha Wilcoxson)'s recommendations following up on my read of her books Plantagenet Princess, Tudor Queen and Faithful Traitor – as well as looking forward to book 3 of her Tudor Women trilogy – I've been on a minor shopping spree lately. Not all of these are Samantha's recommendations, but that's the way book browsing goes ... one thing leads to another!

 

* Toni Mount: The Colour of Poison – actually ordered already before my exchange with Samantha on which books she recommends in connection with her own novels, though another recommendation of hers, too; what a pity I probably won't be receiving it before the end of its "book of the month" status in More Historical Than Fiction.

* Charles Ross: The Wars of the Roses – though I've already got Trevor Royle's book on the same subject, but it can't hurt to get another one just for comparison's sake;

* Desmond Seward: The Last White Rose – since, after all, the Yorks didn't just die out all at once together with Richard III at Bosworth in 1485;

* Sarah Gristwood: Blood Sisters, The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses – since women played an important part during that period and it's time we finally took note of them ... and not just Margaret of Anjou, either (which is why Samantha's books on Elizabeth of York and Margaret Pole are such a welcome read);

* Linda Porter: Mary Tudor, The First Queen – since there's more to Mary I than is hidden behind her epithet "Bloody Mary";

* Anna Whitelock: Mary Tudor, Princess, Bastard, Queen – ditto (and two books are always better than one, see above)

 

... and while I was at it, I also did a bit of wish list cleanup, ordering:

 

* Sharon Maas: The Sugar Planter's Daughter (book 2 of her Winnie Cox trilogy; fresh from the publisher's press);

* Edward Rutherfurd: The Princes of Ireland and The Rebels of Ireland;

* David Suchet: Poirot and Me (since my reviews of some of the Poirot dramatizations starring Suchet are up next for copying over to my Wordpress blog)

... and then I also found a dirt cheap (used, but near new) offer of the Chronicles of Narnia audiobook set read by Derek Jacobi, Kenneth Branagh, Patrick Stewart, Michael York, Alex Jennings, Lynn Redgrave and Jeremy Northam – which I of course had to have as well.

 

And look, the first lovely books already made it to their new home, too:

 

 

But anyway, I obviously also needed to make space on my wish list for all the other books I found when following up on Samantha's recommendations:

 

* Lisa Hilton: Queens Consort, England's Medieval Queens (which I hope is going to live up to Helen Castor's She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth I);

* Dan Jones: The Hollow Crown (since I've already got his earlier book on the Plantagenets ...);

* Charles Ross: Richard III (by all accounts still the standard biography);

* Chris Skidmore: Richard III (the most recent incarnation of Richard III biographies);

* Amy Licence: Richard III, the Road to Leicester (I guess there goes my resolution not to give in to the publicity craze of the recent[ish] discovery of his bones);

* Amy Licence: Elizabeth of York, Forgotten Tudor Queen (and really, I swear it was this book and the RIII bio by Charles Ross that led me to Licence's book on RIII in the first place);

* Alison Weir: Elizabeth of York, the First Tudor Queen (one of Samantha's major "go-to" books for background information on Elizabeth; also, I own and rather like Weir's bio of Eleanor of Aquitaine);

* Hazel Pierce: Margaret Pole, 1473-1541, Loyalty, Lineage and Leadership (on which Samantha says she relied substantially in writing Faithful Traitor) and

* Susan Higginbotham: Margaret Pole (brand new and due out in August 2016).

 

And then ... well, there's this absolutely gorgeous and super-nice tea and spice store in Frankfurt that my best friend and I discovered when I was living in Frankfurt way back in 2003.  Shelves crammed with goodies from all over the world and an amazing staff ... even after I moved to Bonn, we just kept going there; and we still try to make it down there at least once or twice a year.  So last Saturday we decided another splurge was overdue, took to the road – and returned home late in the afternoon laden with delicacies.  This was my share of the bounty:

 

 

* A small bag of Nanhu Da Shan Qinxin Oolong (the prize catch of last Saturday's shopping trip; and yes, they do actually let you try all of their products in their store);

* A foursome of Kusmi tea blends (Kashmir tchai, ginger lemon green, and a double serving of spicy chocolate);

* One of their homemade rice & spice mixes (in this instance, a blend of Indian basmati rice with currants, cashew nuts, coconut flakes, lemon pepper, cinnamon, sea salt, cardamom, ginger, and pieces of dried mango, apricot, papaya, and cranberries, going by the fanciful name Maharani Rice ... one of my absolute favorites);

* A bottle of Stokes Sweet Chilli Sauce (my kitchen just isn't complete without this stuff, it goes on practically everything);

* A bottle of Belberry Spicy Mango Ketchup (new to me, tried it in the store and instantly loved it);

* A duo of Sal de Ibiza (green pepper and lemon, and ginger and lemon grass);

* A lidded Chinese dragon tea mug that will go well with the two (differently-colored) mugs in the same style that I've already got

* ... and a collection of their very own recipes, all of which they also serve up (though obviously not all at the same time) for tasting purposes in their store.; this particular collection being recipes created by a charming lady from Sri Lanka named Rajitha who has been part of their team since practically forever.

 

Alright, so I guess I did splurge.  In my defense, though, I'll mention that I won't be able to travel at all this year, nor actually take a whole lot of vacation time or other time off work, so I'm having to make to with what's available by way of compensation ... and is there any better compensation than books and food?

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text 2016-01-03 22:30
Holiday Splurge
Plantagenet Princess Tudor Queen - Samantha Wilcoxson
The Language of Threads - Gail Tsukiyama
Dark Road - Ian Rankin,Mark Thomson
Das letzte Jahrhundert der Pferde - Ulrich Raulff
Das Hatschepsut-Puzzle - Zahi Hawass,Donald P. Ryan,Michael Höveler-Müller,Helmut Wiedenfeld

The way things have been shaping up in the recent couple of months, the holiday season ending today was most likely my last real reprieve from fairly major (not to say time-consuming and persistent) work-related unpleasantness for the foreseeable future.   This being the case, I naturally decided to make the most of it: I didn't leave home -- I had to work on the three days between Christmas and New Year's, and anyway, ever since having lived abroad, there's something about spending Christmas at home that I've come to appreciate in particular -- but I took a deep plunge into books, movies and music and all the comfort and joy they afford.

 

Of course, I binge-read and binge-watched my traditional holiday tales --

 

Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (my review of the Patrick Stewart versions: A "Christmas Carol" for the 21st Century)

Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas (my review of the TV adaptation: Christmas in Shropshire) and The Christmas Pudding

Arthur Conan Doyle's The Blue Carbuncle

Dorothy L. Sayers's The Nine Tailors

 

A Christmas Carol - Charles DickensThe Adventures of the Blue Carbuncle - Arthur Conan DoyleThe Nine Tailors - Dorothy L. Sayers, Elizabeth GeorgeHercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha ChristieAdventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot) - Agatha Christie

 

-- as well as reading, in the run up to Christmas, Donna Andrews's Duck the Halls (Meg Lanslow, #16),

 

Duck the Halls: A Meg Langslow Mystery - Donna Andrews 

... and watching (again of course) the German New Year's Eve classic, Dinner for One.

 

I made some progress, too (albeit not as much as I had hoped) in my current read, Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke

 

Then again, it also came in handy that my mom and my best friend were nice enough to give me books for Christmas --

 

Ian Rankin's Dark Road

Gail Tsukiyama's The Language of Threads

Ulrich Raulff's Das letzte Jahrhundert der Pferde (The Horses' Last Century -- a nonfiction history of horsemanship and the centuries-old relationship between man and horse)

and Das Hatschepsut-Puzzle (an anthology of historical and scientific essays on Pharaoh Hatshepsut and the conjectures associated with her life and death)

 

-- to which I swiftly proceeded to add our own Samantha Wilcoxson's (Carpe Librum's) Plantagenet Princess, Tudor Queen, which I'm hoping to make my first "full 2016" read once I'm done with Messrs. Strange and Norell.

 

 

In addition, I took advantage of the discounts that the online purveyors of books, DVDs and the like so obligingly tend to offer this time of the year and stocked up on some more comfort watching (mostly) and other favorites:

 

Downton Abbey, Season 6

Midsomer Murders, Seasons 24 and 25 (U.S. version)

Foyle's War, Season 8 (U.S. version = Season 7 in Britain)

DCI Banks, Aftermath (the prologue) and Season 1

Ian McKellen's Mr. Holmes

 

     

                       

 

-- and as soon as the DVD of the BBC's most recent production of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None is available, I'll be adding that to my library as well.

 

 

Thanks to Bonn Opera, there was also no shortage (and indeed a great variety) of musical entertainment: We have season tickets, so three productions --

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Così Fan Tutte,

Astor Piazzolla's María de Buenos Aires and

Hector Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini

 

were happily provided for that way in the space of less than a month (though since I had initially missed the Berlioz, we had to get tickets for it again, which on the other hand however made for a very nice New Year's back-to-back experience with Mr. Piazzolla's "tango operita").

Titelbild Titelbild

To these we added a reprise visit to Antonín Dvorák's Rusalka (the Czech folk tale version of The Little Mermaid set to music), which we'd found perfectly charming already when it first premiered in Bonn in 2011, but which we loved even better this time around.

Titelbild

 

The grand finale of it all was supposed to be the Michael Fassbender movie adaptation of Macbeth, which we (finally) went to see today -- unfortunately that proved rather a disappointment, though luckily the only real disappointment of all my holiday entertainment. 

For those who care: It's yet another case of "Hollywood Does Shakespeare" -- or rather, "attempts to do Shakespeare and fails spectacularly" ...  A director who either thinks he knows better than the Bard how to tell the story in question or doesn't trust his audience with the source material as actually written and, consequently, f*cks with it in rather major ways, with everything from

 

*adding stuff that has no earthly business being there to begin with (e.g., a fourth, girl-sized witch whom at the beginning of the movie we see being buried as, presumably, Macbeth's child, and a boy, presumably Macbeth's son, who gets killed in the battle against the rebels at the beginning of the movie, and who later appears to Macbeth to show him the dagger in the "is this a dagger that I see before me" monologue),

* to leaving out major plot elements (e.g., the Porter scene ... and you certainly wouldn't know from watching this movie, either, that Lady M. goes mad at the end and commits suicide, and that she is actually sleepwalking during her final monologue),

* moving around lines at liberty, not to mention changing their context (e.g., having murdered Duncan -- which we actually see, incidentally, in all its gory detail, with Duncan waking up and looking at Macbeth before the dagger plunges into his breast [can you say "clliché"?] -- Macbeth still stands over the corpse when Malcolm looks in and Macbeth (!!) advises him to flee to England),

* actually messing with the Bard's own choice of words (and rhyme, and meter) -- eg., the three witches at the very beginning resolve to meet not, as Shakespeare himself wrote (in perfect rhyme and meter, and with a very definite intent) "on the heath" and "when the battle's lost and won" but ... wait for it ... "on the battlefield",

* paring down the entire play's lines to a random bare minimum anyway;

* pretty pictures of Scottish highland scenery (mostly Island of Skye, several 100 miles west of where the play is actually set) with battle scenes straight out of Braveheart, war paint and all (I defer to Troy's judgment on the fighting scenes and the claymores; to me, the swords at least didn't look entirely authentic -- and yes, I have seen the real thing),

* architectural anachronisms galore -- to top it off, with Bamburgh Castle (Northumberland (!!) and right on the seashore) standing in for what's presumably supposed to be Glamis, Cawdor and Dunsinane rolled into one (neither of which is on the sea, nor even close to the sea to afford views of it),

* not a single cinematic cliché even remotely associated with Scotland and / or the Middle Ages left out,

* nor, on the other hand, a single original idea on display ... I mean, even having the witches appear as "wise women" who might just have come from a nearby village and who induce Macbeth's visions by hallucinogens may have been new and revolutionary in the 1970s RSC / Trevor Nunn / Ian McKellen / Judi Dench production, but that was 40 years ago, for crying out loud, and it's been done plenty of times on other stages since then ...

 

I guess you get the picture.  But, as I said, the only disappointment in a long list of great holiday season entertainment, so it's all good! :)

 

               Macbeth (2015) Poster  Macbeth

 

Now it's back into the trenches for my own battle against the Dark Side ...

 

I'll try to show my face here every so often nevertheless, but I can't promise it will be with any sort of frequency during the next couple of months.  Well, we'll see.  In any event, I'll be thinking of you all regardless, even when I'm not here!

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