All posts by Ti

Bookish Talk, Life

Sunday Matters: Reading Again, and It Feels Good

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Sunday Matters

I’ve been catching up on my blog reading and it seems like many of you were reading at a snail’s pace like me. I don’t know what it is about the summer/fall transition that does that to me but it certainly does. Anyway, I’ve picked myself up and dove right into King’s latest. He is always good medicine.

Right Now:

Taking it easy today. I am volunteering later but my plan is to remain on the couch until the last possible second. I just want to watch old episodes of Roseanne, or Seinfeld or possible some animal or travel shows. Mindless stuff.

This Week:

My daughter has a theatre showcase on Tuesday night and the big competition of the same scenes will be on Saturday. It’s an all day event. Very fun. I hope they do well. My daughter is in the musical category. The scene is hush hush so I can’t tell you much about it other than it’s good. It’s at a high school not too far away this year but I am working it so will spend the day there along with The Hub and some of my fave parents. I just love these kids.

Reading:

King, King, King. The Institute, specifically.

Watching:

American Horror Story has been so good this season. The 80s and the plot twists have me dancing a jig.

The Walking Dead started up again with a very interesting opener. Seems promising.

New Things I’ve Tried:

I don’t know if I mentioned it in my last post but I joined Weight Watchers again. It’s not new to me at all. I hit goal twice on it but as some of you know the program seems to change every couple of years which always infuriated me in the past but this year’s program with all these zero point foods has me rethinking it. I’ve already lost ten pounds and it’s been three weeks. ZERO cravings, too.

The part that IS new besides the program, is the fact that I am actually investing in my health. I am a walking nightmare although you probably would not think that if you saw me in real life. At least I hope not.

Grateful for:

Great books. Always grateful for great reads but now that I’m choosing to be part of the blogging community again (hehe), the books are staring me in the face and once again I am excited about reading them.

Do you dress up for Halloween? If so, what will you be? I don’t dress but I like to wear festive things like hats or crowns or special shirts. Sometimes face makeup.

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Book Review

Review: City of Girls

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City of Girls

City of Girls
By Elizabeth Gilbert
Riverhead Books, 9781594634734, June 2019, 480pp.

The Short of It:

It has all the glitter of Broadway but was a tad too long for my distracted brain.

The Rest of It:

I must start with this. I really liked this book. The subject matter, a struggling New York theater, really appealed to me.

The story opens with Vivian Morris explaining to a young woman named Angela, what exactly went down in New York City, circa 1940, and how she came to know her father, Frank. In telling her story, Vivian goes back to when she was a 19-year-old college dropout. Well-to-do, but without goals. She goes to live with her Aunt Peg, who happens to own a failing theatre company and there she discovers who she really is.

I loved the setting so much. Gilbert does an excellent job of setting the stage. A dusty old theatre, limited talent, little to no money to put on anything other than the formulaic shows that only the locals care to see. Vivian has a knack for costuming and finds herself in the thick of it when a famous actress decides to take up residence at the theatre. Edna, is aging but still as glamorous as can be. Vivian is completely smitten with her so when Pam decides to build an entire show around Edna, Vivian creates the most beautiful costumes for her, but a bad decision down the line changes everything and forces Vivian to reflect on her recent actions.

Vivian’s youth and her affinity for hanging out with one particular showgirl gets her into some trouble. There’s a lot of drinking and philandering and although the book is titled City of Girls, it could easily be titled City of WILD Girls. Their antics are amusing, until they’re not.

A good 100 pages could have been cut from this book but if you were a theatre kid or spend a lot of time in theatre now, as I do, you will appreciate this story and enjoy it. The characters leap off the page and are quite memorable. Overall I enjoyed I enjoyed it very much.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.