I'm home from Florence, Italy, still sorting through my experiences there, and not quite all back home yet. Just taking it easy, reading, figuring out how to catch up on a myriad of must-dos and want-to-dos. Slept on my new Italian sheets last night and slept like a baby, if I do say so. Nothing like beautiful new sheets. When I can, I'll take a picture of them and continue my Florence best linens and best Gelato recommendations. Here's my self portrait in front of the Ponte Vecchio, taken shortly before my camera died.
The Pen/O.Henry Prize Stories The Best Short Stories of the Year 2009 - I've always loved short stories. So compact, so wrapped up, so different page to page, and yet they flow. I imagine compiling a collection of short stories must be like lining up the music on an album. This collection is wonderful. There are lots of stories set in different countries, and lots of stories about characters from different countries. That might be the theme. One of the stories is entitled Twenty-Two Stories; and it is composed of 22 different shorter stories in a group. I flew through these stories from place to place as I flew through the air from Europe to Chicago the other day. Enjoy.
The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan - I enjoy this author and the way she entices me into the world of Chinese immigrants. They have their own ways and customs - an ingrained culture that she generously shares. In some ways these customs are similar to the ones I grew up with as a child with immigrant grandparents. In others they are so different and more about the human condition - beliefs and craziness. This is a story about sisters, ghosts, personal histories and love. Sometimes it was too long as the narrator selfishly concentrated on her feelings and reactions. Not as good as some of Amy Tan's other works, but a decent read nevertheless.
Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie - This is a chick lit beach read that I took for the sleepy 8 hour night plane ride to Munich, stopping point on the way to Florence. It's about a larged boned chick named Minerva who tries not to fall for a hunk named Cal. You know the rest. But I liked it, and read it into the jet lagged night until finished. Thanks to my friend Susan for the fun read. It was perfect for the occasion.
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