Ginny Tata-Phillips's Blog, page 2
November 9, 2016
Worldess Wednesday
Filed under: Blog Paws, grief, The Basset Plantation, Wordless Wednesday Tagged: BlogPaws, grief, Wordless Wednesday
November 7, 2016
Juxt Weird
Hens and Basset Hounds
My life is filled with a strange
juxtaposition
In DoG We Trust
Filed under: Basset Hounds, chickens, haiku, Pets, poetry, The Basset Plantation Tagged: basset hounds, chickens, haiku, pets, poetry
November 3, 2016
Did the Earth Move For You Too?
Ha! Throwback to 2011!!!
Did I miss something? T-shirt in the diningroom. One sock on the stairs. One sock in the livingroom. Underwear on the stairs.
Wild debauchery? Naked shenanigans through the house last night?
Nope – just one bad buppy into the laundry.
Sigh.
In DoG We Trust.
Filed under: Basset Hounds, Dogs, Parenting Dogs, Pets, The Basset Plantation, Throwback Thursday Tagged: basset hound, dog, pets, Throw back Thursday
November 2, 2016
Wordless Wednesday
November 1, 2016
Dia de Day
October 31, 2016
BOO!
Happy Halloween
from my little pumpkin and
her scary Yaya!!!
In DoG We Trust
Filed under: Basset Hounds, Dogs, granddaughter, grandparenting, haiku, Halloween, Holidays!, Pets, poetry, The Basset Plantation Tagged: basset hound, dog, granddaughter, grandparenting, haiku, Halloween, holidays, pets, poetry
October 25, 2016
Wordless Wednesday
Filed under: Basset Hounds, Blog Paws, Dogs, Halloween, Pets, The Basset Plantation, Wordless Wednesday Tagged: basset hound, BlogPaws, dog, Halloween, pets, Wordless Wednesday
October 24, 2016
October 20, 2016
Book Review MERCURY
THE BOOK
Oh yes, I did read much of this out with the chickens while drinking a glass of wine!
• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harper (September 27, 2016)
Donald believes he knows all there is to know about seeing. An optometrist in suburban Boston, he is sure that he and his wife, Viv, who runs the local stables, are both devoted to their two children and to each other. Then Mercury—a gorgeous young thoroughbred with a murky past—arrives at Windy Hill and everything changes.
Mercury’s owner, Hilary, is a newcomer to town who has enrolled her daughter in riding lessons. When she brings Mercury to board at Windy Hill, everyone is struck by his beauty and prowess, particularly Viv. As she rides him, Viv begins to dream of competing again, embracing the ambitions that she had harbored, and relinquished, as a young woman. Her daydreams soon morph into consuming desire, and her infatuation with the thoroughbred escalates to obsession.
Donald may have 20/20 vision but he is slow to notice how profoundly Viv has changed and how these changes threaten their quiet, secure world. By the time he does, it is too late to stop the catastrophic collision of Viv’s ambitions and his own myopia.
At once a tense psychological drama and a taut emotional thriller exploring love, obsession, and the deceits that pull a family apart, Mercury is a riveting tour de force that showcases this “searingly intelligent writer at the height of her powers” (Jennifer Egan).
Purchase Links
HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
THE AUTHOR
Margot Livesey is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Flight of Gemma Hardy, The House on Fortune Street, Banishing Verona, Eva Moves the Furniture,The Missing World, Criminals, and Homework. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Vogue, and the Atlantic, and she is the recipient of grants from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.The House on Fortune Street won the 2009 L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award. Born in Scotland, Livesey currently lives in the Boston area and is a professor of fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Find out more about Margot at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
MY REVIEW
This book is (well) written in several sections. I opened it for the first time and had to close it with a SCREAM as the first section is entitled ‘DONALD’. Lucky for this book reviewer, TLC Book Tours was not asking me to review a book about THAT Donald! Whew!
I guess a book that starts out making me scream and ends up making me sob is a good one. Not to commit the spoiler crime – but there is a death scene that had me sobbing for a very personal reason – my mother is ill with Parkinson’s and her demise is very likely to be from the same cause and in the same manner as written so thoughtfully in Mercury. For that scene alone, I am very glad I read this book.
There are a lot of subplots, as previous reviewers have complained, but I find they were all woven together to create the intricate tapestry of the story. There are a number of characters but they are all developed just well enough to pique the interest and not to confuse the reader. My favorite character is the family African Grey parrot, who speaks in Donald’s father’s voice!
Love lost and found, family relationships, crime and punishment, trials and tribulations, poetry and HORSES! 336 riveting pages – not one too many or one too few – I rarely say this about a book! Ms. Livesey is a very talented author. I look forward to exploring her other books, of which there are fortunately a good number.
I read, read, read, but do not watch tv and very rarely spend precious reading time watching a movie, but I am moved to say that this story might make a good film – gasp – that is also something I rarely, if ever say!
ENJOY THE REST OF THE TOUR!
Tuesday, September 27th: Bibliophiliac
Wednesday, September 28th: The Reading Date
Thursday, September 29th: Real Life Reading
Friday, September 30th: Booksie’s Blog
Monday, October 3rd: Tina Says…
Wednesday, October 5th: Back Porchervations
Thursday, October 6th: Jathan & Heather
Monday, October 10th: I Brought a Book
Tuesday, October 11th: Bibliotica
Wednesday, October 12th: The Book Diva’s Reads
Thursday, October 13th: Art Books Coffee
Monday, October 17th: BookNAround
Monday, October 17th: The Ludic Reader
Tuesday, October 18th: Rebecca Radish
Wednesday, October 19th: Staircase Wit
Thursday, October 20th: Sweet Southern Home
Friday, October 21st: Gspotsylvania: Ramblings from a Reading Writer Who Rescues Birds and Beasts
Filed under: book review, Books, fiction, horses, reading, The Basset Plantation, TLC Book Tours Tagged: book reviews, Books, fiction, horses, reading, TLC Book Tours
Throwback Thursday
Damn. Throw back – My daughter’s first visit here right after we had moved.
My father’s only visit here – 2011 – with Rudy, ATB now
My friend at House of Puddles – 2012
A dear friend visiting right after Hannah Lee had her back surgery – also 2012
My godmother and my mother in Florida – 2014
My California daughter visiting here – 2015
All on this October 20th, years ago!
In DoG We Trust
Filed under: Basset Hounds, dachshunds, daughters, Dogs, Family, Love, Pets, The Basset Plantation, Throwback Thursday Tagged: basset hound, dachshunds, daughters, dog, family, love, pets, Throw back Thursday
