Archive for » August 4th, 2009«

Oliver

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Oliver doing yoga

We adopted a second cat Sunday. Cat #1 (BlueTooth) has not said he wanted a friend, but we keep thinking it would be nice if he had a another cat to play with. 

BlueTooth is still wondering what he did to deserve this. And hisses when Oliver proceeds to sniff his rear (I can’t blame BlueTooth, I’d hiss too). But it’s only been two days so we have hope. 

BlueTooth is about 4, and Oliver is about 1. What a difference. Oliver is very curious as he learns the new smells and sights (and harasses BlueTooth). He is also persistent and fast. Putting him down just means he gets to jump right back up. 

He’s also a paper chewer. BlueTooth chews through tiny wires, but that’s not a worry with Oliver. He’d rather chew up a book or papers sitting on the table. He’s also attracted to push pins. 

I’ve been alternating between having fun playing with him and watching him do fun things and then pulling him away from stuff and removing things from his mouth. Then he just chews on me (maybe we should file his teeth ;-)

So, it was with great trepidation that I rode the bike on the trainer and then did yoga. I kept him away from the bike successfully. Then he turned out to be an even better yoga partner than BlueTooth. BT thinks he should watch my yoga session from the center of my mat (which hampers my form just a tad). Oliver was content to lie down at the head of the mat and didn’t get in my way at all. In fact, he closed his eyes and stayed quite still. I may have found a way to tame the inner wildcat.

Sunday night Anthony slept in the guest bedroom with Oliver and I stayed in our room with BlueTooth. But I didn’t shut BlueTooth up in our room so he kept going to the guest bedroom door and meowing pitifully. No one but Oliver slept well.

Last night I slept in the guest room with Oliver and Anthony and BlueTooth were shut up in our bedroom. Oliver decided to play around 3am and I had to hide my digits because he kept chewing on my fingers. Then he would lick and chew on my ear. I finally got him to stop that, but he just laid down with his belly right up beside my ear and purred nice and loud!

I really hope BlueTooth accepts Oliver soon so they can go play with each other at 3am and leave me to sleep.

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Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

classics-bookclub

I have heard of this book forever (it was published in 1938) but never got around to reading it. I could never really tell what the book was about so when 5 Minutes for Books put it on the Classics Bookclub list I knew it was time to read it. Then I read the teaser questions and got even more intrigued. I didn’t realize Rebecca wasn’t the main character of the book.

Why do you think the heroine remains nameless? (did you notice she was never referred to by name?) Don’t you find it interesting that the novel is titled “Rebecca” yet our narrator is nameless? Why the contrast, do you think? Do you see her anonymity as indicative of some deeper meaning?

She’s a shy, insecure, girl with no personality of her own yet. Contrasted with Rebecca who was very sure of herself and very vivid in her personality.

Did you like Maxim at first? Did you trust him? Why do you think the narrator was so unsure of his affection? Did you share her doubt? What gave her confidence in his love–or did she remain insecure? Did you alter your opinion of either Maxim or the narrator in the course of the novel? What made you change your mind?

I liked him but I did wonder why he was marrying her so quickly and then abandoned her once they got to Manderley. Reminded me of The Scarlet Pimpernel where he loved her so very much and then because they both had secrets that they wouldn’t trust the other one with, or ask about, the distance grew.

The narrator annoyed me after awhile and I wanted to give her a kick in the rear. I can relate very much to the overactive imagination and the habit of assuming others are thinking negative things about you. But it was so unrelenting that I started to wonder how she could be the happy and sincere person Maxim loved.

I was happy when Maxim finally trusted her with the truth, even though it did mar some of her innocence.

Rebecca has one of the more famous opening lines in literature. How do the opening lines set the tone of the novel?

Presents the imagination of the narrator and the centrality of the place.

How would you classify Rebecca? Love story? Ghost story? Tragedy? Mystery? It’s been called one of the greatest gothic romances; would you agree?

I found it on the YA shelf at the library, and I would agree with that categorization. I was losing patience with the narrator. I see it as a love story – since the two main characters (not Rebecca) do find true love and realize it comes when you are honest with each other and face things together.

Without giving too much away (hate spoilers), were you satisfied with the ending? Why or why not?

I was satisfied with the ending to the story of Rebecca, I thought it suited her character. I found the ending of Manderley a bit unexpected.

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Category: Reading  6 Comments