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Wednesday Droppings

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As I drove home from work last night, window down and heater on (a habit I love to indulge in when the cool fall weather settles in), I admired the fog blanketing the moonlit fields and contemplated just how happy I was at that moment.

I had picked up my copy of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield earlier in the day and had read the first couple of chapters and was immediately drawn in. Setterfield’s writing at first feels like an obvious homage to classic gothic fiction but soon after I began it the obviousness wore off and I was immersed in the story. I’m very excited that I picked this up and look forward to more reading. It is a R.I.P. bonus book for sure!

I also read the first story in The Haunted Looking Glass and am very pleased. That first tale, The Empty House by Algernon Blackwood, is the epitome of an old-timey ghost story. I’m trying to limit myself to only reading these short stories at night to heighten the experience. I am so glad I chose this one for the challenge. The accompanying Edward Gorey illustrations in the book induce the perfect mood in which to savor each tale.

And now for something completely different,
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Wednesday Wanderings:

Colleen Gleason discusses The Phantom of the Opera musical vs. the novel by Gaston Leroux.

Dorothy has an interesting post about whether or not one keeps lists of books read and why.

Amelia talks about a dangerous disease that I suspect many of us have.

And JenClair and I are trying to give away our books…any takers?

And Abused has a completely different take on the NFL season than I have!

And winding down our Wednesday,

Have you seen the latest GAP commercial? It combines footage of the incomparable Audrey Hepburn from the movie Funny Face with one of the greatest rock songs of all time (in my opinion), AC/DC’s Back in Black. It is goofy and fun. I love the GAP commercials, they are generally very creative and they have excellent taste in music. You can see the Audrey commercial and some other GAP ads here.

I saw it for the first time during last night’s episode of House.

House Spoilers below!!!

I am so glad that they finally dropped that storyline of lying to him about the success of his last case. The smugness of it all was really driving me nuts, so much so that I almost didn’t want to watch the show. I am also not thrilled with the whole drug abuse storyline as it seems so played out. Hopefully they will do something interesting with it. That is all.

Happy Wednesday everyone!!!

31 thoughts on “Wednesday Droppings”

  1. I guess I’m going to have to give in and purchase The Thirteenth Tale, in spite of all the other books stacked on the floor and any other available surface. Ant the list, let’s not forget the evergrowing TBR list…

  4. If one more person mentions The Thirteenth Tale then I know it’s fate telling me I must get it quick. I swear I keep hearing about it 🙂

  5. I loved House last night. Last week was just weird, with everyone not acting like themselves and lying to House. I hated that. Glad it all came out. Was bittersweet to see the cane again, but ultimately I was kinda glad to see it!

    I looooved The Thirteenth Tale. It will be a great RIP read.

  7. I love the cover on the Thirteenth Tale. Yet another book to add to my list.:)

    I loved last night’s House much better than this season’s opener. I prefer the cranky self tortured House to the happy one. I’m terrible aren’t I? I’m with you Carl on the drug dependency issue. I was hoping they would go away from that this season but I have a feeling now it will hang over the whole season now that they have brought it back again. Oh well. The writing is just so good on the show I can forgive them that plot line.

  8. I used to like “Back in Black” until I bought this house which is just three blocks away from the local high school football stadium. The team colors are orange and black so they have played that song to death. Aaaaaiiiiiiiiiieeeee!!!

  9. I read the first chapter of The Thirteenth Tale last night as I was drifty off to sleep. I’m hooked! Vida’s letter is engaging as it hints of her eccentricities. Love the cover, too. But the author’s picture was a bit weird, I thought. Sounds like there will be lots to comment about with this book.

  10. The House on Borderland sounds interesting. If you don’t find anyone to give your book too, I wouldn’t mind borrowing it. I will give it back though as I have too many books in boxes right now that are collecting dust.

    I just got done reading a murder mystery book that was pretty good. It’s funny how if I get really interested in a book, I can read it in a day, which is what I did with this one. Actually, all-in-all, it probably took me only a little over 3 hours.

    I have started reading another mob-murder mystery book but this one is taking me longer since I have so much going on this week.

    With the fall season shortly upon us, I am probably going to read Coraline. I must confess that I have only read about 1/2 of this book since you bought it for me over 3 yrs ago. It was really good and I don’t really know why I stopped reading it. Maybe I will start it again after my company leaves Sunday afternoon since it shouldn’t take me too long to devour!

  12. I’m going to have to keep up with my Thirteenth Tale reading or you will all be done way ahead of me! 😉

  13. Back in Black was my first heavy metal album. To this day, I love it.

    I also think Audrey Hepburn is one of the most gorgeous actresses ever. We named one our daughters after her. And my sister, when she was younger, looked just like her in that pic–same hair and everything.

    And no, I haven’t seen the commercial. But now I think I’ll have to head over to YouTube to see if I can find it.

  14. What a great commercial! I love that song.

    I’m trying to decide if I should buy The Thirteenth Tale before my coupon runs out, or if I should wait for my library request. I have yet to hear anything bad about it, so I’m leaning toward the purchase option.

  16. It is hard to whole heartedly recommend a book that one hasn’t finished reading. All that I can say is that I am enjoying it thus far and the description of the book made it just too tempting to pick up.

  17. I made the mistake of thinking “The Lovely Bones” was a good book until about two-thirds of the way through when it completely fell apart…hope your book fares better.

  18. I picked up the Thirteenth Tale last night as well. Carl was even so kind as to print me out a coupon on the way home. I plan to crack into it today! It has a great cover and searated pages which are cool plus under the cover it has an old fashion classics writings style on the spine which is neat too.

  20. I’m with you Jeff, it is a wonderfully packaged book. I am impressed when first time authors get this kind of treatment from their publishers. The art directors for those books should win awards or get raises or something!

  21. Dang it…see what you’ve done? You’ve made me instruct Amazon to send me a copy. I was minding my own business, happy with my non-fiction and my RIP selections but noooooo, now I’m adding another (gasp) fiction work to my list. Okay, okay, for all my whining about it, the book sounds great and I’m looking forward to reading it!

  27. I am not really a Gap person, but I love those commercials. At first I wasn’t sure if they just had someone that looked like her, but nope, that had to be Audrey—definitely someone who could wear (successfully) those little black pants!!

  28. The scene is taken from the movie Funny Face that she stars in with Fred Astaire.

  29. Hi Carl V. – thanks for linking my post! Loved your comment, too! BTW – after seeing several of your postings on your love for Neil Gainman’s writing, I broke down and purchased my first book by him, Stardust. I hope I enjoy it as much as you did!

  30. Me too Amelia, Stardust is a wonderful fantasy novel. Make sure you let me know what you think, good or bad.

  31. Can I assume that you’ve signed up for the opportunity to win a leatherbound edition of the book?

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