Book of the Week

My new favorite book of the week is: The Big Book of Fantasy Quests. It is 128 pages, and under $15! I got this one for my boys, but I adore it. The art is fantastic, and the quests are clever and fun.

I'm like a kid in a candy shop everytime a shipment of books comes. The kids love it too. We had two big boxes arrive Tuesday and I didn't open them right away. I went upstairs to tidy up, thank heavens I came back down quickly, my two boys 4 and 2 and their two cousins 5 and 2 each had their own steak knife and were sawing through the boxes. "We just really wanted to see the new books, Mom." Like mother like son.

No children or books were harmed in the story above.

Miss Austen Regrets

I was a bitter sweet movie for me. In "Regrets" I really enjoyed how witty and fun loving Jane seemed. I loved catching glimpses of the places I visited last year when I was in England on my Jane Austen trip.

It was so sad that she could never find any man to truly love, and also heartbreaking for her to die so young. At the end of the movie when Cassandra is burning letters she quotes an actual letter she, Cassandra, wrote to Fanny describing her despair at the loss of her beloved sister. The letter is on display at Chawton Cottage in Alton. I have the great joy of being able to say that I visited there and read the letter myself. As I read that letter tears poured down my face thinking about how much I loved my own sisters and how much I would miss them. I stood in the hallway and copied on a receipt that was in my purse, "I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow; I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is as if I had lost a part of myself." Could there be a more touching tribute?

The best part of the movie for me, was remembering my feelings from my visit to Jane's Home, truly a highlight of my life.