Polish your Poise with Madame Chic

 

I have Jennifer L. Scott's first book Lessons from Madame Chic on my Kindle. I enjoyed it so when I discovered this new one at the library I picked it up only to discover there was one written between these two, At Home with Madame Chic. This one on poise was a refresher course, for me, of the first book with some additional ideas. It is a fast read at 271 pages but takes much more time to implement the principles presented. For me it was a reminder to check my posture; make sure my electronic devices (ie. IPad & IPhone) I own don't appear at the table during breakfast, lunch or dinner; and the need to review the 10 item wardrobe concept. I need to be present in the moment and enjoy the food, drink but most of all the people at my table. After all, if I cared enough to sit down with them to eat I should care enough to give them my full undivided attention. Polish your Poise with Madame Chic is definitely worth your time. So I am off the library to pick up the 2nd book, At Home with Madame Chic.

Summer Reading

I have taken a vacation in June from any serious reading. But have been enjoying some light reading material. I started off with Dorothea Benton Frank's, an author new to me, All the Single Ladies. I liked it enough to get a couple more of her novels but I think I might tire of this style shortly. Then I moved on to Rita Mae Brown's Tail Gate. It was better than her last two which I couldn't really get into and never finished. Then I enjoyed the Janet Evanovich's Tricky Twenty-Two. I always find her cast of characters entertaining.

John Muir Laws recent book

Recently I purchased  The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling on Amazon. I had bought his book for drawing birds last year and found it to be an excellent resource. Therefore when I discovered he had a new book out I bought it sight unseen. I was not disappointed. It collects all the nfo his tube videos provides and more all in one location. This is what got me interested in doing my Walks with Jake sketches.

The Wolves at the Door by Judith L. Pearson

Great Book! Read it on the recommendation of a friend and thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is the true story of an America woman who worked with and helped organize elements of the french resistance in France during WWII. A quick read written for adults but I think most teenage girls would find Virginia Hall an exciting and interesting role model. Also shows how a person with what most of us would see as a handicap can excel beyond the expectations of an average "normal" person. Hero is often defined as an ordinary person doing extraordinary things. But sometimes a heroine is an extraordinary person who does extraordinary things.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Somehow I never read this one in high school. It wasn't a long read and I enjoyed the allegory. The theme was obvious even if you did have the background knowledge of the farm compared to the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. Lord Acton's quote "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely" popped into my head as I finished this book.

This was for my dystopian classic read.

The Monogram Murders

I picked this up quickly when I was leaving the library. Therefore I didn't realize until I got home that an impostor was trying to make money off of a famous writer.  I gave it a try anyway. And I was not only disappointed but angry. If you are a writer then write something that comes from inside you not using someone else notoriety to fill your pockets. This book was hyped as being a Hercule Poirot mystery. I did not recognize the character name Poirot in the book to even come close to Agatha Christie creation. Sophie Hannah should apologies to all the Christie fans.

To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

I listened to the Audiobook version of Harper Lee’s, Pulitzer Prize winning book, To Kill a Mockingbird read by Sissy Spacek.

To Kill a Mockingbird is primarily a novel about growing in the 1930s in a small Southern United States. We  see justice through the eyes of a 8 year old girl, Scout Finch, over a 3 year period. But the book is more likely remembered for the trial where her father, Atticus an widower, represents a negro for the rape of a young woman. Certain ideas (often cliches) stick out as I look back on this book:

•    You never know a man until you put on a man’s shoes and walk around in them
•     Justice in this world is and always will be imperfect
•     Seeing a world from a child’s view  (Scout and Jem)
•        How to disarm anger (Atticus)
•       Most people are kind when you finally meet them individually;
•     Heroes are ordinary people who do extraordinary things (Bo and Atticus).

Good read but you must realize that it depicts a period and location in time.

This fulfills my banned or censor classic category.