Felicia's Journey - William Trevor (1994) A title that was picked rather randomly off the TBR shelf, this was a great surprise read for me. William Trevor, described by Wiki as âÂÂone of the elder statesmen of the Irish literary world,â is famous for his short stories, but his back list is HUGE and so there are loads of different books to choose from. HeâÂÂs won loads of prestigious literary prizes (including the Whitbread Prize and five nominations for the Booker Prize.) Irreverent sidenote: He sounds a bit like the Snoop Dogg/Lion of the Booker World.* So - to the plot of this fast-moving and short book: Felicia is an unmarried and naïve Irish girl who ends up getting pregnant by a visiting no-good lad from her village and who has moved away to England. In FeliciaâÂÂs impoverished family, there are few options for her to follow, so she leaves Ireland to go to the Midlands to chase down this boy who, she is certain, would like to know she is pregnant and would do the right thing. Her family is against this lad from the get-go as her father believes that the guy has run off to join the British Army, and as they are extremely wound up in Irish Independence activity and history, and so to them, this act means he has joined the enemy. Along with this is the fact that the family is Roman Catholic and his father works at a convent in the garden, so options for her pregnancy are not available either. Poor thing - itâÂÂs no win for her all around, it seems, and so she visits England for the first time - a foreign country for her as she has not traveled much before. Aside from the facts that Felicia has little money, no friends, no housing, and a fake address for this boy of hers, it doesnâÂÂt look very hopeful. Then she meets Mr. Hilditch (always used with that title) who is a quiet non-descript middle-aged catering manager for a local factory near where Felicia is staying. He presents himself as a kind and rescuing father figure for her, but in his thoughts, the reader can see that there is a history of something weird. He has âÂÂrescuedâ girls before, but what has come of them? And will he do the same with Felicia? This is a taut psychological novel about the hunter and the hunted: Mr. Hildich is the predator and naïve girls âÂÂwho wonâÂÂt be missedâ are the prey. At the same time as this is happening, you also follow FeliciaâÂÂs thoughts as she is scared and confused. She lives on the street for a few days, gets in with a rather strange religious group who can give her a place to sleep, and she keeps being circled by Mr. Hildich, as a shark does bleeding seals. You just know that something is going to happenâ¦. But what? The ending comes quite quickly and itâÂÂs not what I had thought it would do. (I love this unpredictability in a plot.) There are a few major twists and in the end, things are left hanging unsolved really....

Just today, with the rain coming down in buckets, the kids in school, and me with the day off, I sat down and watched 84 Charing Cross Road. I've read it many a time but never knew it was made into a movie. It was quite old for a movie, and starred Anthony Hopkins, Dame Judi Dench and Anne Bankcroft as Helene Hanff. I thought it was very well done. And a perfect movie for the weather and my mood. I confess, however, that after watching the movie, I am very much annoyed at my computer. Yes, the internet allows me to sit in my living room and make friends, through RP, with all of you all around the globe. But the magic of a letter! The warmth of the words, the bits of smeared ink, seeing my name on an envelope written by the hand of a friend... what computer can compare with that? Sorry... went completely off topic. But I was excited to share this movie with all of you. PAM

He says his mystery thrillers are set in suburbia because that's where he lives. Lol, what's going on around his neighborhood? I guess I have to buy a book for my kindle and find out. The biggest mystery around here is guessing where I put my glasses.

William Blake Quotes English - Poet November 28, 1757 - August 12, 1827 The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest. William Blake Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night. William Blake I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine love. William Blake The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction. William Blake In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. William Blake No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings. William Blake To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour. William Blake Great things are done when men and mountains meet. William Blake Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death. William Blake The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship. William Blake The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. William Blake The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself. William Blake If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake Do what you will, this world's a fiction and is made up of contradiction. William Blake Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed. William Blake It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. William Blake You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. William Blake The true method of knowledge is experiment. William Blake The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness. William Blake A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. William Blake Active Evil is better than Passive Good. William Blake Opposition is true friendship. William Blake When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it. William Blake Both read the Bible day and night, but thou read black where I read white. William Blake Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow. William Blake If a thing loves, it is infinite. William Blake When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend. William Blake If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they'd immediately go out. William Blake Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too. William Blake It is not because angels are holier than men or devils that makes them angels, but because they do not expect holiness from one another, but from God only. William Blake He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence. William Blake Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth. William Blake Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence. William Blake The hours of folly are measured by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure. William Blake The weak in courage is strong in cunning. William Blake The man who never alters his opinions is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind. William Blake Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief? William Blake Want of money and the distress of a thief can never be alleged as the cause of his thieving, for many honest people endure greater hardships with fortitude. We must therefore seek the cause elsewhere than in want of money, for that is the miser's passion, not the thief s. William Blake Lives in eternity's sun rise. William Blake What is a wife and what is a harlot? What is a church and what is a theatre? are they two and not one? Can they exist separate? Are not religion and politics the same thing? Brotherhood is religion. O demonstrations of reason dividing families in cruelty and pride! William Blake When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do. William Blake What is now proved was once only imagined. William Blake Every harlot was a virgin once. William Blake Love to faults is always blind, always is to joy inclined. Lawless, winged, and unconfined, and breaks all chains from every mind. William Blake One thought fills immensity. William Blake The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does. William Blake Eternity is in love with the productions of time. William Blake You cannot have Liberty in this world without what you call Moral Virtue, and you cannot have Moral Virtue without the slavery of that half of the human race who hate what you call Moral Virtue. William Blake Exuberance is beauty. William Blake He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise. William Blake Love seeketh not itself to please, nor for itself hath any care, but for another gives its ease, and builds a Heaven in Hell's despair. William Blake To generalize is to be an idiot. William Blake A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent. William Blake He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars: general Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars. William Blake Prisons are built with stones of Law. Brothels with the bricks of religion. William Blake I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow. William Blake Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps. William Blake To the eyes of a miser a guinea is more beautiful than the sun, and a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful proportions than a vine filled with grapes. William Blake The eye altering, alters all. William Blake The man who never in his mind and thoughts travel'd to heaven is no artist. William Blake He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star. William Blake The foundation of empire is art and science. Remove them or degrade them, and the empire is no more. Empire follows art and not vice versa as Englishmen suppose. William Blake If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise. William Blake Travelers repose and dream among my leaves. William Blake The fool who persists in his folly will become wise. William Blake I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create. William Blake For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life. William Blake What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care. William Blake Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you. William Blake The soul of sweet delight, can never be defiled. William Blake What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all the man hath, his house, his wife, his children. William Blake Those who restrain their desires, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained. William Blake Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish. William Blake I have no name: I am but two days old. What shall I call thee? I happy am, Joy is my name. Sweet joy befall thee! William Blake Prudence is a rich, ugly, old maid courted by incapacity. William Blake Man has no Body distinct from his Soul; for that called Body is a portion of Soul discerned by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age. William Blake Energy is an eternal delight, and he who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence. William Blake That the Jews assumed a right exclusively to the benefits of God will be a lasting witness against them and the same will it be against Christians. William Blake Christ's crucifix shall be made an excuse for executing criminals. William Blake As a man is, so he sees. As the eye is formed, such are its powers. William Blake Brooks Atkinson Quotes American - Critic November 28, 1894 - January 14, 1984 In every age 'the good old days' were a myth. No one ever thought they were good at the time. For every age has consisted of crises that seemed intolerable to the people who lived through them. Brooks Atkinson The most fatal illusion is the narrow point of view. Since life is growth and motion, a fixed point of view kills anybody who has one. Brooks Atkinson Don't be condescending to unskilled labor. Try it for a half a day first. Brooks Atkinson It takes most men five years to recover from a college education, and to learn that poetry is as vital to thinking as knowledge. Brooks Atkinson There is no joy so great as that of reporting that a good play has come to town. Brooks Atkinson Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go. Brooks Atkinson People everywhere enjoy believing things that they know are not true. It spares them the ordeal of thinking for themselves and taking responsibility for what they know. Brooks Atkinson It seems not to have been written. It is the quintessence of life. It is the basic truth. Brooks Atkinson Good plays drive bad playgoers crazy. Brooks Atkinson After each war there is a little less democracy to save. Brooks Atkinson Dawn Powell Quotes American - Writer November 28, 1896 - November 14, 1965 Satire is people as they are; romanticism, people as they would like to be; realism, people as they seem with their insides left out. Dawn Powell A capacity for going overboard is a requisite for a full-grown mind. Dawn Powell The basis of tragedy is man's helplessness against disease, war and death; the basis of comedy is man's helplessness against vanity (the vanity of love, greed, lust, power). Dawn Powell I think we will have a boy baby and he will be born on the 20th of August. Everyone else has a girl baby and at times I don't believe I should mind having a little Phyllis Dawn but Dearest wants a boy and I do. Dawn Powell The human comedy is always tragic, but since its ingredients are always the same - dupe, fox, straight, like burlesque skits - the repetition through the ages is comedy. Dawn Powell I want so much for my lover. At night when our beds are drawn close together I waken and see his dear yellow head on the pillow - sometimes his arm thrown over on my bed - and I kiss his hand, very softly so that it will not waken him. Dawn Powell Yet better for one of my nature to have it that way than to have life a peaceful, placid flow of quiet contentment. I must have days of rushing excitement. Dawn Powell A novel is like a gland pill - it nips off the cream of my hysterics and gets them running on track in a book where they belong instead of rioting all over my person. Dawn Powell Joe and Jojo and I had lovely day together. I love Joe so much - more and more. Dawn Powell Claude Levi-Strauss Quotes French - Scientist Born: November 28, 1908 The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right questions. Claude Levi-Strauss I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Claude Levi-Strauss The world began without man, and it will complete itself without him. Claude Levi-Strauss The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he is one who asks the right questions. Claude Levi-Strauss I have never known so much naive conviction allied to greater intellectual poverty. Claude Levi-Strauss The scientific mind does not so much provide the right answers as ask the right questions. Claude Levi-Strauss Our system is the height of absurdity, since we treat the culprit both as a child, so as to have the right to punish him, and as an adult, in order to deny him consolation. Claude Levi-Strauss Language is a form of human reason, which has its internal logic of which man knows nothing. Claude Levi-Strauss Just as the individual is not alone in the group, nor any one in society alone among the others, so man is not alone in the universe. Claude Levi-Strauss