First, the supermarket and now Netflix. What is with Christmas being up all around already? I am not complaining though. Netflix is already flooded with all its Hallmark-ey Christmas movies and I cannot stop myself from watching them already.
I watched one or two Christmas movies already.
And unsurprisingly I am not feeling it. Why are these movies so badly made and have the worst actors in them? Is it just me or is everyone think about this and chastise themselves?
Anyway, the week has been super slow for me in terms of reading or getting things done around the house. But at least my blogging quota is going on well. And I don’t think this week is going to be any better as there are some guests coming around here and it might turn hectic in a bit.
What I read this week:
I have not read anything this week and I might be falling behind on my yearly challenge. Sigh. I hope I will catch up soon.
What I watched this week:
As I already said I have been watching those Christmas movies and I didn’t love them. If you still wanna know them, so that you can avoid them here you go.
48 Christmas wishes
A Christmas Prince
Oh I at least enjoyed watching Princess Diaries on Netflix, maybe that counts for something, right?
Set in 1944, after the war the British occupy Naples and things are not any better. Food is scarce and the economy isn’t moving forward with people struggling to meet ends. Soon there is an increasing number of Bristish soldiers applying to marry local Italian women.
Captain James Gould is appointed to discourage this. He is dubbed as ‘the wedding officer’ by the locals. Ironically he falls for a young widow who is a fabulous cook.
What you can expect:
The Wedding Officer is a perfect blend of history, romance and a lot Italian cooking. Italy and food – your weekend can’t get any better.
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
The Birth of Venus begins with the death of a nun and as her habit is stripped off, a particularly provocative tattoo is found. Thus we are taken on a journey when this mysterious nun was a fifteen year Alessandra Cecchi.
Set in the Renaissance Florence that is being suppressed by the religious and political forces, Alessandra is married off to an older man but her attraction to art and a particular artist survives the tumultuous time.
What you can expect:
What is more Italian than painting and painters? Add a bit of renaissance to the mix and you will love the suspense filled romance.
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
If you are into best sellers this one is for you. Set in 1950s, the book follows the friendship of Elena and Lila right from the childhood to their adult life. Lila is the more beautiful, smarter, Elena is understandably jealous but she is the one who escapes their life through education.
What you can expect:
Read about the dirt poor Naples and the lovely friendship and rivalry between two girls.
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
The story revolves around four major characters a nurse, a maimed thief, a bomb disposal expert and the nameless English patient just after the World War II. This non linear story takes us through war, love, culture and mostly memories.
What you can expect:
This Booker Prize winning book is all you need to read this week. Or better catch the movie, which is surprisingly does justice to the book.
Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want—a husband, a house, a successful career.
But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be.
In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world—all alone. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year.
Breathing Room by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
A fallen self help author who is trying to restore her reputation while hiding away under the Tuscan sun until she meets a silver screen star is vacationing in Italy.
With the townspeople trying to driver her away and the guy who wouldn’t leave her alone, she definitely doesn’t have a breathing room.
What you can expect:
A perfect romantic comedy for a lazy afternoon set in Tuscany.
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
When Oliver spends his summer in Italy with his Professor Perlman, the professor’s son Elio begins to fall for him.The two young men have so much in common yet they cannot fathom the reason for their attractions. The six weeks’ of powerful romance is dreamy, seductive and the prose is beautiful and lyrical.
What you can expect:
This bittersweet coming of age romance is perfect if you are looking for YA read set in Riveria.
The Lost Art of Second Chances by Courtney Hunt
When Lucy Parker’s eccentric grandmother dies, Lucy must return a beloved painting to a mysterious man in Italy, leading her on a journey to discover family secrets, secrets buried in the chaotic aftermath of World War II.
Lucy’s childhood best friend, estate lawyer Jack Hamilton, agrees to accompany her, opening up a opportunity for them to find their second chance at love. Will they find it? From a tiny town in Massachusetts to the rolling hills of Tuscany, never-told family secrets unfurl in The Lost Art of Second Chances.
What you can expect:
This heartbreaking love story set in WW II is perfect if you are a sucker for happily ever afters.
Classics set in Italy
Where Angels Fear To Tread, by E.M. Forster
When a young English widow takes off on the grand tour and along the way marries a penniless Italian, her in-laws are not amused. That the marriage should fail and poor Lilia die tragically are only to be expected.
But that Lilia should have had a baby — and that the baby should be raised as an Italian! — are matters requiring immediate correction by Philip Herriton, his dour sister Harriet, and their well-meaning friend Miss Abbott.
A recipe for happiness: four women, one medieval Italian castle, plenty of wisteria, and solitude as needed.
The Enchanted April, by Elizabeth von Arnim
The women at the center of The Enchanted April are alike only in their dissatisfaction with their everyday lives. They find each other—and the castle of their dreams—through a classified ad in a London newspaper one rainy February afternoon.
The ladies expect a pleasant holiday, but they don’t anticipate that the month they spend in Portofino will reintroduce them to their true natures and reacquaint them with joy. Now, if the same transformation can be worked on their husbands and lovers, the enchantment will be complete.
A Room With A View, by E.M. Forster
Lucy has her rigid, middle-class life mapped out for her until she visits Florence with her uptight cousin Charlotte, and finds her neatly ordered existence thrown off balance.
Her eyes are opened by the unconventional characters she meets at the Pension Bertolini: flamboyant romantic novelist Eleanor Lavish, the Cockney Signora, curious Mr Emerson and, most of all, his passionate son George.
Lucy finds herself torn between the intensity of life in Italy and the repressed morals of Edwardian England, personified in her terminally dull fiancé Cecil Vyse. Will she ever learn to follow her own heart?
Young Adults books set in Italy
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Two orphaned children are on the run, hiding among the crumbling canals and misty alleyways of the city of Venice.
Befriended by a gang of street children and their mysterious leader, the Thief Lord, they shelter in an old, disused cinema. On their trail is a bungling detective, obsessed with disguises and the health of his pet tortoises.
But a greater threat to the boys’ new-found freedom is something from a forgotten past – a beautiful magical treasure with the power to spin time itself.
The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark
It is 1498, the dawn of the Renaissance, and Venice teems with rumors about an ancient book that holds the secret to unimaginable power. It is an alchemist’s dream, with recipes for gold, immortality, and undying love. But while those who seek the book will stop at nothing to get it, those who know will die to protect it.
As a storm of intrigue and desire circles the republic that grew from the sea, Luciano, a penniless orphan with a quick wit and an even faster hand, is plucked up by an illustrious chef and hired, for reasons he cannot yet begin to understand, as an apprentice in the palace kitchen.
There, in the lavish home of the most powerful man in Venice, he is initiated into the chef’s rich and aromatic world, with all its seductive ingredients and secrets. It is not long before Luciano is caught up in the madness.
What he discovers will swing open the shutters of his mind, inflame his deepest desires, and leave an indelible mark on his soul.
What you can expect:
A luminous and seductive novel, it is, at its heart, a high-spirited tribute to the fruits of knowledge and the extraordinary power of those who hold its key.
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years?
All Lina wants to do is get back home.
But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries.
A world that inspires Lina, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.
What you can expect:
People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more
The Eternal City by Paula Morris
Laura Martin is visiting Rome on a class trip, and she’s entranced by the majestic Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon. . . . Everything in this city seems magical.
That is, until the magic seems to turn very dark.
Suddenly, statues of Cupid and ancient works of art come to life before her eyes. Earthquakes rumble and a cloud of ash forms in the sky. A dark-eyed boy with wings on his heels appears and gives her a message. Laura soon realizes she is at the center of a brewing battle — a battle between the gods and goddesses, one that will shake modern-day Rome to its core.
Only she and her group of friends can truly unravel the mystery behind what is happening. As tensions mount and secret identities are revealed, Laura must rely on her own inner strength to face up to what may be a fight for her life.
What you can expect:
Acclaimed author Paula Morris brings the ancient world to vivid life in this unstoppable tale of friendship, love, and the power of the past.
Have you read any of these books? Did these books take you all over Italy virtually? Share with me your favorite books set in Italy. Let us talk more.
Almost everyone I know and follow on the blog world is either taking part in the #NaNoWriMo or cheering for someone who does. I definitely am in the latter category and all am hoping is to not get stuck in a blogging rut once again. *knocks wood*.
But as a writer, be a blogger or a novelist or a poet, getting into a rut seems too scary, yet it is very possible that any day you might. There are days when I just stare at the blank page waiting for the words to pour out for hours and they wouldn’t.
Well, if this scenario sounds a little true for you then this article is for you. If not, please let us know what kinda crazy potion do you drink each night.
I am gonna try and tell you the secrets of managing the slump or rut so that your writing doesn’t have to stop.
10. Write like you talk
Do not worry about your writing voice.
Why try to change a voice that you use daily to talk to people in your real life? Talk to your readers as you would talk to your friends and family. Don’t try to be the pompous ass that you are not in real life. If you are one real life, DO NOT FOLLOW THIS ADVICE.
9. Talk to a person
More often than not, I get stuck when I try to generalize my readers and talk to them, as a faceless crowd. It is easier to think of that one person who would enjoy your story or post and just write for them. It is definitely less intimidating.
8. Don’t self sabotage
Negative thoughts send us down a spiral. It happens to the best of us and it is easier to say to be positive. But to truly overcome that try and understand its pattern and then solve the cause.
Worried that you are you not organized? Get a spreadsheet or a planner. Worried that you are you not creative enough? Start writing. You are not a real writer? Write MORE.You can do it.
7. Best laid plans
One can never stress enough on the importance on planning. Instead of waiting for an inspiration to strike every time you need to post on your blog, working with a plan makes sense doesn’t it?
Every week I start with a blog plan and schedule for the week which avoids the time I spend on frantically searching for topic when I actually write.
6. That elusive perfect ritual
Every post or article we write is different and the process we end up might be different as well. What I am trying to say is, do not fixate on your perfecting a writing ritual.
There is no one perfect writing process. If you do have one, please share it below in the comment section.
5. Write a spinoff
When you are stuck without knowing what to write read some of your old works. Write a sequel or part two of your most favorite. If you are a blogger, I believe every post can off shoot more posts.
Another thing that never fails to gets started is making a list. Make a list of 10 items. or 20. It could be on anything. Do not try to hard or to make sense. Dump everything on the blank page.
You can even write list of ideas for your posts that you can expand later. I do that often. It never hurts to have an idea bank.
Despite all these I do suffer from ‘staring at the white sheet’ more often than I would like to admit, and there is only one thing that gets me going. I set a timer for a short time, say 20 minutes and start freewheeling. I am sure you will start making sense in one or two bouts.
2. Use your creative muscles
When everything fails, shut your work down and go do something else. Read. Draw. Sing. Dance. Just do not obsess about what you are supposed to be writing. A creative break usually gets us back in the mood to write something. If doesn’t, well you did something else creative didn’t you?
1. Enjoy what you do
Lastly but the most important thing is: write for yourself and enjoy what you do. When you push and push you might end up frustrated, which ultimately is not achieving anything. Write for writing sake and enjoy the writing craft, I am sure your readers will thank you for it.
These are some of the things I do when I have to get over the writing rut, be it for a blog post or copy writing. Let me know if it works for you.
How often do you struggle to write an article or post? What are the things that you do to manage the rut? Do you follow any of these ideas? Let us talk more.
Once in a while we read a book that will make you excited and some might even make you cry. While The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society made me feel me both, the one feeling that I can associate with it more than the above is warm fuzzy.
I can remember the times that I just stopped reading the book just to hold those warm feeling to myself a little longer. Can we get on with the review shall we?
About The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Book Name: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Plot Summary of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Set in the post World War II London, we meet Juliet Ashton, an aspiring author who receives a letter from Dawsey Adams. Dawsey a resident of Guernsey chances upon her address on a book by Charles Lamb, that she had previously owned and requests her help in securing more of Lamb’s books from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
As any bookworm should do for a fellow bookworm, Juliet helps him with those books and in return asks more about their book club’s odd name. Thus begins a series of correspondence between them and slowly she begins talking to and about the other residents of the little island. We also hear about Juliet’s past and her loyal friends Sidney and Sophie.
Juliet is looking for a story for her second book and fancies the idea of writing about the residents of Guernsey, a town that was German occupied during the war. But how would the residents react to her digging into their pasts that they are trying to move on from? Would all this heart ache for a book be worthy?
You will have to read on The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society to find out more.
Book review of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society written in the form of a letters deals with several heavy subjects like German occupation and their control over the residents, slavery and concentration camps, poverty and hunger. Despite these strong and depressive backdrops, the residents’ love for reading and for each other kept me hooked.
As I have repeatedly talked about in this blog, I love reading books with strong sub plots and interesting side characters and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society turned out to be a jackpot in this regard. I loved the quirky characters, even those who were not physically in Guernsey (hint: I adored her).
Bonus fact: The author Mary Ann Shaffer wrote about 80% of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society until she was too ill with cancer to continue. She then enlisted her niece Annie Barrows to complete the project.
Things that worked for me
I liked the well written sub plots and characters.
The writing was easy and filled with many humorous situations.
While romance is a part of the story, it did not end being the sole theme, which was positive for me.
Aside from all these reasons I felt I had a kinship with the characters who were readers, accidental or not, like us and I think there should be lot more books about bookworms. Don’t you agree?
Things that didn’t work for me
The letter format worked mostly but it kinda didn’t do justice when it comes to romance.
I wanted to read more about the relationship between Elizabeth and Christian.
I felt the book was a tad bit long winded and it could have been reduced by at least 50 pages.
Bottom – line
Did I say I loved the movie version as well? If you are interested in a drama or historical fiction with the world war II as the main backdrop then The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society might be the one for you.
This week flew amidst festivities, lights and lots of cooking. We had a festival called Diwali or Deepavali which literally translates to festival of lights.
We Indians generally make a huge deal of it with loads of fireworks, lights, feasts and of course new clothes.
And it is a little hard to be away from my family this time of the year but I tried to make the best of it. Look at those pretty lights that I snagged in my room for the occasion.
I also kept myself pretty distracted with a bit of DIY projects during the week. I guess the productive bee struck me again. *knocks wood*
What I read this week:
I didn’t read anything at all except for the books that I am beta reading. So technically I am reading, but they are not going on my count, right?
What I watched this week:
I watched not too much of TV this week and when I did watch I made sure I was doing something useful as well. So I guess I was good after all.
How did I not know about the Disney movie Kuzco? And I am surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. Maybe the only thing I enjoyed on Netflix this week.
On the blog:
A quick recap of the past week for those who might have missed.
Have you ever tried to remember that word and recall every word associated with it, except the one you need? I have and you should try Visuwords (visual words, you see!).
With the success of Blogoween Clo from Bookdragon and Sam are back with another event schedule. Catch up Bookend event post for more info.
