His majesty the cat ...

This is is the cutest, most playful cat I've seen in a long while. He climbs everything, plays with everything, he's a real joy:)

I left him to chase the strap of my camera and as you can see on the left, he rose to the task beautifully:)

The Love Letters of Dylan Thomas

I go for novels whenever I can; that is, when I read fiction.

Novels are the best place for developing characters and putting them in plausible circumstances ... and submerging oneself in them ...

Anyway, along with buying the Twilight series (naturally), I grabbed a copy of The Love Letters of Dylan Thomas, something I would probably not have done were it not for the cover.

Yes, I know you can't judge a book by its cover, but my film fan self could not resist. The Letters has Sienna Miller and Keira Knightley on the cover. I love Keira's films (not that I've seen them all, but Pride & Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean are among my favourites) and I vaguely remember reading about a film based on Dylan Thomas' letters.

So I got it and I read it.

To be honest, I found it a bit difficult at first, because I was not familiar with his style and it's rather strange to read a real person's letters ...

For one thing, you don't get the addressee's responses, you don't get previous correspondence ...

Thomas writes to various women, so it's not a continuous narrative and it's hard to piece things together. And there's something to be said about reading personal correspondence--there's definitely a very different feel to it when you know that these letters were really written to one person and supposed to be read only by them ...

Dylan Thomas writes mostly to his wife and you can tell that he loved her immensely, but judging by the other letters as well, it seems to me that he had a great capacity to love, but he also hinted he had a bit of temper. In any case, alothough you can draw a lot from these letters, you can't get to know him fully. That's what he says a letter is:

What's a good letter anyway? To put down a bit of oneself to send to someone who
misses it? To be funny and sefconscious or selfconsciously formal, or so very
natural that even the words blush and stammer?

His letters are often rambling, almost stream-of-conscousness, but he has an ironic sense of humour, which is very endearing because he often directs it at himself. It seems a bit ironic that his letters have been turned into a film when in one of them he says:

I hate film studios. I hate film workers. I hate films. There is nothing but glibly naive insecurity in this huge tinroofed box of tricks.

Of course, I cannot agree with that, but I do hope that The Edge of Love film does him justice.

P.S. His comments on America are quite insightful.

Some Sweet Food For Thought

That'a a good place for chocolate greetings:

http://www.virtualchocolate.com/

There're some weird ones, but most are pretty cute:)

My personal favourite:

Happy Birthday!

A very happy birthday to me (a bit late, but this is what happens when you celebrate it too many times:)))

Rereads

It occurred to me that it may seem a bit odd to finish Bridget Jones and not follow it up with the sequel immediately. The reason is that I read both books some time ago and this was a reread. And since I have a lot of unread books clamouring for my attention at home, I prefer to leave the sequel for later:)
Perhaps I should also explain that I like to go back to books I've enjoyed; not just because I've enjoyed it them, but because each time I find something I haven't noticed before; or I have changed in the period between the two readings and the book seems different each time. I simply see it from new angle.

P.S. Dylan Thomas's Letters would definitely need a reread. They deserve their own post, though. Once I get round to it. Better finish the Letters first.

The Green Island

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been on holiday recently. I spent most of it on the greenest of green islands, Ireland. No wonder it's dubbed the Green Island. The grass riveted my eyes (more so when it's sunny), but that's not the only reason I found Ireland charming.

For such a comparatively small country with small population it offers quite a variety of things to do and see. Dublin has a simmering cultural life (Festival of World Cultures going on while I was there, more info on http://www.festivalofworldcultures.com/), inviting flowery parks and unique sights such as the Guiness Brewery and Old Jameson Distillery (some of the Dublin sights are listed here: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Ireland/County_Dublin/Dublin-296021/Things_To_Do-Dublin-TG-C-1.html). The city also offers fantastic jewelery with Celtic symbols and motifs (such a temptation!). These people have a fantastic sense of humour, which can be seen on any T shirts or beer mats sold in the gift shops. A central topic on all of these is drinking -- a subject which could not escape the sharp observations of Oscar Wilde (born in Dublin and incidentally one of my favourite quotation sources) who remarked: "I drink to keep body and soul apart."

Ireland also seemed to me to be a country of signs: everywhere there are road signs -- some giving directions, others - prohibitions, still others I foud quite fun, at least at first glance.

Here's a taster:

Can't have put it any clearer.

If the entrance is hidden, why put up a sign? Well, that's not the point, apparently:)

Glendalough area; more info on http://www.glendalough.ie/

P.S. While I am still under the spell of the Green Island, I think I'll be posting some of my Irish photos here and there.

Bridget's here at last

It's been a couple of weeks now, I mean, since I finished Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary.
I've been on holiday and that delayed this post. Anyway, let's get down to it now.
Bridget Jones's Diary has a lot to do with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and in many ways for me it reads like a Pride and Prejudice from the 20th century. Both books even share a character with the same name, Mark Darcy. Both take up the point of view of a spontaneous woman, who, despite her own claims for being open minded and unconventional, turns out to be prejudiced and has to go through a number of obstacles to finally end up with Darcy. Elizabeth and Bridget both have dysfunctional families and impossible mothers who never tire of trying to marry them for the richest man in sight.
Fielding's chosen diary form achieves a very honest tone and despite the absurdities of Bridget's life a lot of it actually rings true: think of the busy city life she lives, her work and relationship problems, for example. By means of a hilariously funny and fresh style, Fielding pokes fun at all modern city obessions like the stressful Christmas shopping, the mania for self-help books, the feminist theories, the eternal pursuit of the perfect figure, which results in the almost inborn memory for calory amounts; it's like knowing the times table, Bridget says at one point. Bridget lives alone and is much closer to her friends Sharon, Jude and Tom than to her own family; she is a modern city girl through and through, complete with her inability to cook anything or to keep her flat in order. Her attempts to convince herself that singletons rule is put under merciless pressure from the smug marrieds. Her frank indignation at the commercial and manipulative nature of occassions such as St. Valentine's Day and Christmas is quite endearing: "The whole thing is ridiculous and meaningless. Complete commercial exploitation." Yet she admits being quite excited about 14 February and such polarizing atttitudes go through the entire novel giving lending a lot of length and breadth to Bridget's character.
Despite the fact that she doesn't get on well with her family, it is her mother's involvement with a conman that brings Bridget together with Mark in the same way that Lydia's elopement brings together Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.
After all her worries and troubles, Bridget deservedly gets her happy ending just as Elizabeth does, but not without admitting a truth universally known (even though uttered by an "adulteress, criminal's accomplice and G-list celebrity, ie her mother): "Don't say 'what', say 'pardon', darling, and do as your mother tells you."
All in all, a book worth reading and rereading both for its fun and refreshingly honest look on modern working women.