what I've read seen and heard this week

My goal in May is to post every day on this blog. It will be quite a challenge but I think I can make it work. It'll just take more planning- not my best trait.

I kind of missed spring in my garden. I was traveling for work for a bit, so I didn't get seeds started. My garden is already full of weeds. And even though I put down the dandelion/crab grass killer (bad for the environment, I know, but good for my neighborhood street-cred), I still have dandelions growing like, well, weeds.

But I did fit in some time to read some books while I was in Florida, and watch a few movies too.  This is based on one of my favorite blogs, PopCandy, in which she lists what she watched on TV or listened to in the past week.

Read:
I read three books in Florida:

Up In the Air by Walter Kirn. I'm sure we've all seen the movie. The book was good, but different. Very different. I read it on the plane down- how meta!
(I'm using Amazon Affiliates with Blogger for these pics/links. Not that anyone will ever buy through here but b/c I'm lazy and it seemed like a good way to do what I was planning on doing anyway. How fortuitous!)



O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. I read My Antonia the last time I was in Florida, last February, and loved the prairie stories. My favorite books growing up were all about life on the hard scrabble prairie. I began reading the Little House books when I was in kindergarten. I had the same first and middle names as Laura Ingalls Wilder, which of course to me meant we were kindred spirits (an Anne Shirley reference. Dropping knowledge all over this blog post!). I really enjoyed both of Cather's books, and I look forward to reading more.


The Last Boleyn: A Novel by Karen Harper. Okay, so I read The Other Boleyn Girl like everyone else a few years ago, and I read all of the other books in the "series" about Henry VIII's wives. This book seemed like a retread of those books and the TV series The Tudors, although if I read the introduction right, this book was written in the early eighties. It just came into my life at a been there- read that time. It was interesting, as it portrays the Mary Boleyn story, but let's be honest: the Other Boleyn book was way trashier, and thus, I believe, better.

Watched:
Besides getting caught up on Community, The Office and 30 Rock, I watched Fantastic Mr. Fox and just finished An Education on DVD.

Fantastic Mr. Fox was pretty good, although it dragged a bit in the middle and I'm glad I didn't watch it in the theater (even if it was only an hour and a half). An Education was also pretty good, also dragged a bit as I wondered what the conflict would be. But the clothes! And the music! I know I heard some Duffy in there. Oh thank goodness, Amazon informs me there is a soundtrack available. Must. Have. Now!