A Town Like Alice

About a month ago, I came across a list of the top 100 books put out by the BBC (you can find the list here). One of the books on the list was A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, which I had never heard of before. A few days later, I was visiting my local library and discovered the book on the librarians' choice bookshelf. Once I discovered that it took place in Australia, I was really excited to read it and checked it out (I loved reading The Thorn Birds last year).

The book can be divided into two parts. The first half takes place during World War II as the main character Jean Paget is forced to participate in a Japanese death march with other English female prisoners of war across the Malay peninsula. The second half takes place in Australia and follows the romance between Jean and Joe Harman, an Australian soldier she met during the war. The title of the book comes from Paget's desire to create a "town like Alice" (Alice Springs).

Some of the things I loved about the book:

• Learning about such an interesting (and sad) part of history — the Japanese death march. Shute writes in a note at the end of the book that a death march similar to the one in the book did take place but in Sumatra, not Malaya.
• The Australian setting. It was amazing to catch a glimpse of what life was like in rural Australia in the 1950s.
• Jean Paget. She was such a strong female character who seemed to be able to do anything she set her mind to doing.
• The beautiful love story between Jean and Joe. It was wonderful to read a story with an old-fashioned love story.

Sonic and Salem

This past Sunday I drove up to Peabody to try out the first Sonic in Massachusetts. People up here are CRAZY for Sonic . . . I don't think anyone back home in Henderson would believe that people would wait in line for over an hour (yes, an hour!) for the chance to try Sonic food. It just goes to show you the power of good advertising. Of course, I was one of those people waiting in line; the pull of a real cherry Dr Pepper was just too much. Since I waited that long, I also bought popcorn chicken and fries. The food was okay, but the drink was great. Now if Chicken Express would only open a branch in MA, I would be willing to wait 2 hours . . .

After I left Sonic, I drove on to Salem. Visiting Salem has become something of a Labor Day tradition. I went there last year to visit the Peabody Essex Museum. This year I ventured out a little farther and walked along the waterfront. I even got to see the small lighthouse there (Derby Wharf Lighthouse). It was quite breezy along the water, and I ended up wishing that I had worn jeans and brought a light jacket. I also decided to tour The House of the Seven Gables again. My family and I had toured it nine years ago on our PEI trip. The house was as neat as I remembered it; I just love the secret passageway. It was also amusing to be on a tour with other people.

Here are a few more pictures of my trip.

Lunch with a Seagull

During the summer, I love to go outside and eat lunch near the Fort Point Channel or Boston Harbor. Sometimes it's the one thing that gets me through the day — I know that I'll have at least one hour of "me time" to eat my lunch and read my book.

Today I had even better entertainment than any book could ever provide. This one seagull was determined to get whatever food he could from the trash can along the boardwalk. He kept pulling out lunch bags from the trash and then shaking the bag to get the contents out. I just happened to have my camera with me so I took a video of some of his antics.

What I've been reading . . .

After a long (hard) day at work, I thought I would write about some of the books I’ve been reading the last month and a half.

The latest book I finished was The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. The book takes place in Marblehead, Salem, and Cambridge (among other Massachusetts towns), which made it easier to relate to. The book focuses on Connie Goodwin, a Ph.D. candidate, who makes an interesting discovery at her grandmother’s house one summer: a key inside a Bible with a tag that reads “Deliverance Dane.” This discovery leads her to search for Deliverance’s physick book, or book of spells and recipes. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, especially because I love books where the narrator has to do research in archives and libraries to solve the mystery. I would recommend the book for anyone interested in early American history.

In July I read The Girl with No Shadow by Joanne Harris. The book is a “sequel” to Chocolat but is definitely much darker and more mystical. Vianne Rocher (now Yanne Charbonneau) and her two daughters are now living in Montmartre in Paris and own a small chocolate shop. One day a woman calling herself Zozie de l'Alba enters the shop and shakes up their quiet life in Paris. While Zozie brings a lot of the light back into the chocolate shop, there is also a sinister side to her presence. I enjoyed this book even more than I thought I would and spent several days entranced by the world that Harris creates.

I also read The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón earlier this month. I really enjoyed Zafón’s previous book The Shadow of the Wind, but The Angel’s Game never grabbed me the same way. The ending also left me cold and a little confused. Zafon’s language is beautiful, however, and he always leaves you with the desire to book a trip to Barcelona.

Twilight was also on my summer reading list, but I can’t say I was too impressed. I think the story is supposed to be the best part, but since I had already seen the movie, the story didn’t pull me in. At least I can say I’ve read it, but I don’t think I’ll waste my time on the other three.

The best part about reading the last month or so is that I’ve checked all but one of these books out from the library (my mom bought me The Girl with No Shadow when she was up here). I love that I can make an online request and then usually pick up the book a few days later. I’m still waiting on Lisa See’s new book Shanghai Girls, but hopefully it will come in soon.

Postscript to the Last Entry

I thought of something else that I wanted to add to my entry about my Shakespeare adventure a few weekends ago.

After the play let out, I went to my car and grabbed my camera to take a few pictures around the theater. I was taking a picture of a flower when I heard three well-dressed people discussing the play. They didn't like the production and thought it took a lot of liberties with Shakespeare's work. It wasn't humor the way Shakespeare intended, the man said. One woman then asked if a certain line was from Shakespeare: "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." No, the man said, that was definitely not Shakespeare. Since I had never read Twelfth Night, I figured the man was right.

Well, a few days ago, I decided to look up the quote and see who had originally written the line since it wasn't from Shakespeare. A quick Google search proved that Shakespeare did in fact write the line in Twelfth Night. After I realized that, it made me question the group's assertion that the play wasn't the way Shakespeare would have intended it. After all Shakespeare wrote more for the lower class than the rich and powerful, and his comedies usually were very bawdy. I guess it just goes to show you that you can't trust someone even if they say something with authority.