Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Shameless

So, I'm writing to tell all four of my lovely followers about two giveaways:

http://www.blondebargainbabe.com/2010/12/bbbs-first-giveaway-groupon.html

and

http://couturecarrie.blogspot.com/2010/12/runway-rundown-bracelet-giveaway.html

Because apparently if I blog about them, I get extra entries into the contests.  It's cool stuff, too, so I'm okay telling other people about them.

In other news, I read The House of the Spirits and I've been wanting to write about it but I don't really know what to say.  I mean...it's just one of those books.

picture courtesy of .roma's Flickr feed

It was incredible...and I feel like I need to read it at least one more time, if not two more times, to really appreciate its beauty.  It was her first book!  I can't believe that.  It's similar to Of Love and Shadows but broadens the story to include the whole family (two families, but mostly one) as opposed to just the two main lovers and one mother, as I seem to remember Of Love and Shadows doing.  Similar backdrop though, of civil unrest and political struggles, and main characters getting involved in revolutionary activities.  I don't know much about Isabel Allende except that she was the niece of Salvador Allende, so that makes me think that some of her content comes from her own family history.

Anyway, I loved it and it makes me want to know them and stay in the big house on the corner for a while and meet Clara and Nicolas and Amanda and Miguel and Alba.  Characters in two of my favorite books now are named Alba, isn't that funny?  I don't like that name.  Can anyone guess what the other book is?  :)

I will definitely be reading more Isabel Allende.  This is my third.  My first was Daughter of Fortune.  That's my least favorite so far, but not unenjoyable.  I liked it while I was reading it.  She creates very passionate female characters, and many of her characters, male or female, are completely possessed by world-changing love that takes over their whole lives.  I think that's one of my favorite things about her writing so far.  :)

2 comments:

  1. Darling, I adore Isable Allende!

    Thanks so much for mentioning my contest :)

    xoxox,
    CC

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  2. Weird story: I found a paperback copy of House of Spirits in a cupboard when I was like 10. My mom found me reading it and FLIPPED OUT. So I always thought it must be really juicy or sinister or something, but when I read it for a lit class I was kind of let down. Hey, that's a really good evidence of the reader response theory of literary analysis! Literature is totally dependent on the reader's interpretation and background knowledge. Huh. Thanks cous, you made me think AND draw on some of my lengthy schooling :-)

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