Flash back Friday #55-More Girl Power

Yup, I'm going to admit this here. I like girl bands. Cheesy ones. I flew to Las Vegas to see The Spice Girls perform on their reunion tour a few years ago. And if the ladies below tour in the USA where they are relatively unknown, I will go see them too. I will dance at the concert in my sparkly high heels, just like I do at home, singing to my dog.

Girls Aloud are reuniting for their 10th anniversary with an album and tour.
Enjoy one of my favorite songs, The Loving Kind.

Living with Winnie-the-Pooh

The former home of Winnie-the-Pooh author A. A. Milne is for sale in England. A stunning 16th century home with modern updates and almost 10 acres of property and gardens including statues of the famous characters.

The home is where the author lived with his family, including son Christoper Robin and where he wrote his famous stories. The real stuffed animals of Christoper Robin that inspired the characters are on display at the New York Public Library.  If you are interested in wandering through the 500 acre woods, Pooh Corner or Poohsticks Bridge, they are all local locations to the home in Sussex England. To see the real estate listing as well as pictures of the home and grounds click here.

Ahhh if I had a few million dollars I would love to live with Pooh, Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga and Roo.

(Image is from Walt Disney Productions)

The "Ladies" are Back

In 1994 I began watching a British TV series, Absolutely Fabulous. At the time I was living in a little flat near Chicago, my son was a year old and a friend from college and I would watch every episode we could find on TV (in the days before internet, DVR, HULU and streaming series it was hard to find). Ab Fab as it was nicknamed by its fans, was brilliant in its comedy, its complete disregard for taste and the flamboyant fashions. Years before the girls on Sex and the City, Absolutely Fabulous broke all the rules on TV with sex, designer clothes, drinking and outrageous behavior.

The series revolves around middle aged best friends Edina and Patsy who as a result of disposable incomes from their jobs in PR and fashion as well as alimony from Edina's 2 ex husbands indulge in drugs, drinking, sex, shopping and bizarre schemes to stay young and party in London. Edina's long suffering daughter Saffron, her mother, ex husbands and assistant Bubble are regularly involved in their crazy antics.

Jennifer Saunders as Edina and Joanna Lumley as Patsy are hysterical in their physical comedy, regularly falling out of cars, submitting themselves to insane hair and makeup and wearing outrageous fashions. Every other word is "Sweetie" or "Darling", they swill champagne and red wine all day and smoke incessantly. And no matter what they do, it's fall down funny.

2012 will be the 20th anniversary of the series and Edina and Patsy are back for 3 episodes. Whether you are a fan of the series from the 90's or a new watcher, it's not to be missed.

Below is a minute of a favorite episode of mine, "Poor". Tricked by daughter Saffy into thinking she is poor in order to reduce her spending, Edina and Patsy attempt to drive to the supermarket (they usually only have hired cars), try to figure out how to grocery shop, shoplift champagne, have the car booted after parking on the sidewalk in front of Harvey Nichols and get arrested for drunk driving. This episode has me in tears every time I watch it I laugh so hard, hysterical!

Treasures of the Bodleian

In 2009 as part of a post graduate seminar on Librarianship at the University of Oxford, I had access to one of the World's greatest libraries, The Bodleian. During my weeks at Oxford I explored many of the College's libraries and had access to collections that many students or scholars did not. Have you ever held a book written on vellum? Or turned the pages of a book so fragile it was translucent? Truly amazing.

The exhibit Treasures of the Bodleian is free to visitors until it closes on December 23. For those of us not lucky enough to be in the UK, there is virtual access through the website as well as videos on the Bodleian's YouTube channel.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Aesop's Fables
• J. R. R. Tolkien's illustrated Conversation with Smaug
• The stunning Japanese picture scroll, The Tale of Urashima
• The instructional children's game, Choriorama
• Souvenirs from the Suffragette movement

And a few videos not to miss:

• A draft of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
• Shakespeare's First Folio
• A map from The Book of Curiosities

To read more about my visit to Oxford and view pictures select tag Oxford at the bottom of my blog.

A Fairy Wedding in the English Countryside

Beautiful slideshow, photographs are by Mario Testino in the September issue of American Vogue.

Model Kate Moss marries her rocker boyfriend. Stunning, romantic and classy. Well done Kate.

You can see the photos here. My favorite, the photo of them under the tree...gorgeous and the red coat she has on over her wedding dress...love it.

Flash Back Friday #48-Jamie Cullum

In July 2010 I flew to Denver to see Jamie Cullum perform at the Denver Botanic Gardens with my Mom and sister. For those of you not familiar with Jamie, he is an amazing jazz musician from the UK. His song Gran Torino for the movie soundtrack of the same name was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

I highly recommend his albums, In the Mind of Jamie Cullum, The Pursuit and Catching Tales.

(For book lovers, he is married to Sophie Dahl, herself an author and the granddaughter of Roald Dahl author of such wonderful stories as James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

It was a fantastic concert especially since I was standing a few feet away from him while he played. Here is a short video I took of him singing "If I Ruled the World".

Enjoy readers and have a nice weekend!

Our Other Place

I've started a new book, a teen book, Ruby Red, by Kerstin Gier. Teenage girl from London, time traveler, mysterious society, good-looking-but-conceited-possible-boyfriend-even-though-they-hate-each-other-at-first-sight, crazy family, quirky best friend...so far it's a terrific read. I am also saying to myself, "Another book set in London Shannon? Really how predictable". Alas yes another book set in my favorite place. Actually it was the time travel that interested me, but modern day and historical London as a backdrop is a bonus.

So I wonder, why London? As far back as I can remember I've been an anglophile. When my high school/college boyfriend studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London in 1991 his Christmas gift to me was an airline ticket for my first trip to London. He knew how much I longed to experience the country I was continually reading about. We broke up before I made it there but I still have the love letters we wrote to each other during his first semester about the places we planned to visit together when I arrived. I finally made it to London in 1997 and as soon as I arrived, I felt like I was home. For me, it's my missing piece.

I have friends who have the same longing for cities such as Paris, New York, Rome, and countries such as India and Japan. The locations that call to them. I reckon it to the coins in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, "We will find you Poppet. You've got something of ours and it calls to us. The gold calls to us". Certain places call you back.

As I read Ruby Red and the heroine Gwyneth time travels, I wonder, is deja vu real? Can you have a connection to a time or place and not have any rational idea why? For example, my friend, "M" LOVES and I mean LOVES everything to do with the Southwest United States but she is a born and raised Chicagoan. Another friend, a small town girl from the Midwest loves everything about the Japanese culture. Another friend travels again and again to cowboy country, loves country music and pickup trucks but she's an Illinois gal. Hmmmm...curious and curiouser.

Do you have a place that calls to you. Or maybe a culture or time in history? If you do, then you know the magic of Woody Allen's latest film, Midnight in Paris. A good movie, not a great one, but for those of us who are called somewhere, you will understand the appeal.

Here is my very fitting summer song, One Republic's Good Life...
Woke up in London...Gotta be the good life...

Monday List #14

Regular readers of my blog know that I am a serious Anglophile, the UK is my favorite travel destination. During my most recent trip in 2009 I spent weeks at the University of Oxford and also a couple of weekends in London and Windsor. I'm thinking of spending a quick weekend in London this fall either before or after I spend 2 weeks volunteering in Spain and in planning my trip, here is my list of 5 of my favorite things to do in London.

1. St. Martin in the Fields. This iconic church across from Trafalgar Square is one of my favorite places in London. While my Mom and I were in London during my time at Oxford we often found our way to St. Martin in the Fields for a meal and concert. The Cafe in the Crypt serves delicious food at excellent prices, the perfect place to linger before or after a concert or a service.
2. Walking. I've had some of my favorite afternoons in London by just walking, wonderful restaurants, coffee shops, cemeteries, parks, people...
3. Eat. Remember years ago when England had a bad rap for food. Ya right, it's not just fish and chips or an English breakfast anymore. The island that has produced some of the biggest chefs in the world (Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver) has produced even better local chefs with family run restaurants and food stands. Oh and don't get me talking about Indian food in London, my mouth is watering. One of my favorite dining experiences, I wandered into a "restaurant" in a tiny room above a shop off Portobello Road about 10 years ago and had the best grilled cheese sandwich of my life. Lots of farm fresh English cheese, crusty bread and fresh herbs...simply fantastic, I've never forgotten it.
4. Visit the dead. They are everywhere. Monuments at the parks, overgrown spooky cemeteries, plaques on the walls where the famous lived and died, portraits hanging in the museums and galleries. With the exception of New Orleans, I have yet to visit a City that has more relationships with their dead than London (Paris is close).
5. Drink. Tea or beer. Both are practically an art form. I've spent many a day wandering from hotel to restaurant to shops...drinking tea along the way. Oh and don't pass up the scones with clotted cream and jam. I still think about the scones my Mom and I had at a riverfront cafe in Windsor. Join the English tradition, you can't avoid it and you won't get a better "cuppa" anywhere.
   

Books by Katie Fforde

A few years ago I began reading books by the British romance writer Katie Fforde and got hooked. Her stories usually follow the same loose formula: spunky English young professional female leaves her job in London and or her latest relationship and moves to a small charming English village where she buys or inherits a cottage or business, meets quirky locals and eventually finds her perfect partner.
I am currently reading Katie's latest book (US release), Love Letters and really enjoying it. I enjoy the quirky female characters, I admire how they change their lives either by choice or circumstance and things turn out the better for it. Katie creates dreamy and cozy English villages where everyone knows you by name, cottages are surrounded by lovely gardens, the pub owner pulls a perfect pint and new neighbors and colleagues become life long friends.
If you are interested in a little Anglophilia like me, here are a few of my favorite books by Katie Fforde.

• Practically Perfect Anna buys a cottage and fixes it up, new best friend neighbor and a cute guy. Oh and there is a dog. Fun read.
• Stately Pursuits Hetty "house sits" her elderly uncle's huge manor house, quirky town folk and yes a sexy guy.
• Bidding for Love Flora leaves her London life to work in the antique business, weird family members and yes, a charming cottage. I liked this book, she finds love REALLY close to home. LOL.
  
• Second Thyme Around Perdita and her organic gardening business, a gorgeous ex husband and the fun begins.
• Wild Designs Althea has a house in the Cotswolds and a passion for gardening. I have wanted to attend the Chelsea Flower Show in London ever since I read this book.
  

Movie version of Robin Hood

On Monday evening I saw Ridley Scott's adaption of Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe. When the film was announced a few years ago, I was delighted one of my favorite directors was taking on one of my favorite legends. After all this is the man who brought us Blade Runner, Legend, Thelma and Louise, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven and A Good Year. As production news leaked into the press the story and the cast changed. For awhile the film was going to have the Sheriff of Nottingham as the hero. Then for the blink of an eye Sienna Miller was cast as Maid Marion. From the beginning, one casting decision never changed, Russell Crowe was going to star.

A few years ago I introduced my Kid to the cult classic British television series Robin of Sherwood. I was obsessed with the show when it aired in the US from 1984-1986 and thrilled when it was finally released on DVD decades later. My son and I have watched every episode and he loves them as much as I do. We often have Robin of Sherwood TV marathons. The show remains beloved to this day and it's easy to find Yahoo groups and fan sites on the web.

Because of our fondness for Robin Hood including some of the other films (who can forget the hilarity that was Kevin Costner's campy 1991 version) we were both excited to see the latest big screen adaption. Bottom line: the hype was better than the film. Ridley Scott's Robin Hood is terrible. How such an esteemed director could create such complete crap is a mystery. Maybe it's the story...we are after all talking about a legend. Scott shows us his version of Robin Hood before he became Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest. Here Crowe is a soldier fighting the French and then through a deliberate impersonation of Robert Loxley he ends up fighting for the British poor and romancing the dead Robert's widow (Marion played by the frozen face of Cate Blanchett). Toss in a few Merry Men such as Friar Tuck, Will Scarlett and Little John and Scott must have thought he had the makings of a new version of the legend. Ummm no. I'm not even sure where to start. Crowe and Blanchett are WAY too old to portray these characters, the movie is one battle after another and usually not on English soil, the real characters of Richard the Lionheart and his brother King John are tossed in with such inaccurate histories as to make it laugh out loud funny. As long as Scott was trying to throw in some English history maybe he could have tried to get something right like Richard the Lionheart's death or the real age of King John's wife who in reality was a 12 year old little girl but in the film was substituted with a lusty adult french actress. Maybe even remaining true to a large part of the legend would have been a start, that Robin was an archer, but as my friend Diana pointed out he only picked up his bow maybe 2 times in the film (and once was probably to get the promotional shot in the movie poster above). Sigh...

So if you are a fan of Robin Hood, skip this movie, it's really bad, not even Ridley Scott's lush settings, war scenes and imagery can save it. Watch Robin of Sherwood on DVD and enjoy the fun, the legend, the 80's bad but charming special effects and the amazing music by Clannad.

Jane Eyre Film Adaption

When I was a little girl I watched the 1944 movie version of Charlotte Bronte's book Jane Eyre. The movie starred Joan Fontaine as Jane, Orson Welles as Rochester and a young Elizabeth Taylor as Jane's best friend Helen Burns. As a young girl the movie frightened me, especially the death of young Helen as she slept next to Jane. Truly one of the most heartbreaking scenes I've ever seen in film. Elizabeth Taylor was radiant and unforgettable even as a 12 year old girl. The movie also fascinated me...the British class system, the love story between a Governess and the Master of the Manor, Jane's triumphs against a terrible childhood and betrayal. I loved it all. Jane Eyre is perhaps the basis for my love of Regency historical romances.

When I was older I read the book by Charlotte as well as books by her sisters: Agnes Grey by Anne and Wuthering Heights by Emily. A good Gothic story is my favorite tale to read again and again and a good book to film adaption is my favorite to watch over and over.

So a few nights ago after reading about the Masterpiece Theatre adaption of Jane Eyre that was made for television in 2006, I rented the film and sat down with a cup of espresso to lose myself in Thornfield Manor. I wasn't disappointed. The book to film adaption was wonderful and has joined my top ten list which includes (in no particular order):

1. The 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth
2. The 1995 film version of Sense and Sensibility starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet
3. The 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen
4. The 2001 version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone starring Daniel Radcliffe
5. The 2006 Masterpiece Theatre version of Jane Eyre starring Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens
6. The 1939 film version of Gone With The Wind starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable
7. The 1939 film version of Wuthering Heights starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier
8. The 1962 film version of To Kill a Mockingbird starring Gregory Peck
9. The 2001 film version of The Lord of the Rings
10. The 2001 film version of Bridget Jones's Diary starring Renee Zellweger

Funny thing happened while I was watching the DVD. Just at the part where Jane finds out about Rochester's crazy wife in the attic, just at THAT EXACT MOMENT, the DVD froze. I mean seriously, Jane was stepping into the attic and then the screen went black. The DVD had a scratch and wouldn't play. I was crazy, stomping around my house, trying to clean the dang DVD. Finally I calmed down (too much espresso at night=nutty Shannon) and watched the last 40 minutes or so of the film thanks to Youtube. Didn't miss a thing. So thank you Youtube! Whether you rent the film or watch it in 9 minute clips on Youtube (last choice only), it's a not to be missed book to film adaption.

"Dahling just throw on your Burberry and we'll go for a pint."

During my travels I usually buy something special on each trip. I enjoy not only the shopping experience but the benefit of VAT refunds at the airport. I've bought beautiful leather goods, Louis Vuitton, pearls and other items that have cost me less by purchasing them in Europe (even with the exchange rate). While I was studying at Oxford last year I bought a classic item that to me defines English fashion. During a weekend in London I purchased a Burberry trench coat and joined the devotees of this timeless piece.

For London Fashion Week this year I was only interested in a few collections like Pam Hogg and Pringle but especially the classics of Burberry. While reading a fashion blog about the collections I found a link to a great website for lovers of Burberry trench coats. Burberry-Art of the Trench is a fun site with all the information you would ever need to know about the trench. You can submit a picture of yourself in your Burberry trench coat to be featured on the site and I submitted the picture above of myself wearing mine in London.

Sure it's just fashion and clothes are a basic and simple need. But really, there is something to be said about wearing something special when it fits you perfectly and makes you feel good enough to meet the Queen.

Iconic British Red Phone Box as Library

I love this story. When a small village in England no longer had a mobile library they adapted a red phone box into a drop off and pick up library kiosk. Immensely popular with the residents it's now catching on throughout England. Genius!
Read the article with picture here.

Wondering if this is a must read book?

So a few days ago I finished the latest novel by the author of The Time Traveler's Wife. I blogged about the story recently as a book I wanted to live in, you can read that post here. Her Fearful Symmetry is an unusual read and I've been trying to pigeon hole it as a book I either liked or disliked and I can't even seem to decide on that. I loved the locations in the book, London, Highgate Cemetery and the North Shore of Chicago but I'm not really satisfied with the book's ending. Regardless I will try and give a review but in a slightly odd way.

Two creepy identical twin sisters


move to London


after their aunt whom they've never met, the identical twin sister of their mother, dies of cancer and


leaves them her flat


overlooking Highgate Cemetery.


From there it gets even odder. The residents of the building where the twins move include a man with extreme obsessive compulsive disorder, his fed up wife and a man who was the lover of the twin's dead aunt. Oh and then there are the characters in Highgate Cemetery, mostly volunteers who keep the cemetery running and give tourists tours. But it's the strange relationship between the twins that fuels this book. They are mirror image identical twins, so where one has a mole the other twin will have it on the opposite side of the face. They are also rather opposite in personality, Julia is more outgoing and bossy but with no desire to do anything with her life other than order her twin Valentina around. Valentina is the more reserved twin who dreams of leaving the grip of her sister to go to college, become a fashion designer, marry and have children.

This strange tale includes the usual dark family secrets and the unusual such as odd requests from the recently departed. As I got farther into the book I really wanted to find someone to talk about the book with as the story started to veer off into Gothic Mary Shelley style monster stories. The author does a good job of leading up to the main twist in the story, towards the end I just couldn't put the book down. But she really has too many stories going on in the book. The OCD neighbor became one of my favorite characters but he appears tossed into the life of the twins to give one of them something to do. It's also rather a slow read until things start getting paranormal and then it ends. Hmmmm.

Here is what I like. I appreciate an author who doesn't handle death in the usual fashion. The book revolves around death and the twins inability to live. They have no lives and it's not until death literally lives with them that they start to live. Odd huh. And strangely compelling. And definitely thought provoking. And OK, a must read. See I knew I just needed to talk it over. Thanks for listening. Below is an image I think explains the book quite nicely.

The Book I Want to Live In

Right now I am reading Her Fearful Symmetry by the Chicago based writer of The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger. If you've read either book you know that Audrey places her characters in the City of Chicago, the Chicago suburbs and other Midwest areas like the shores of Southwest Michigan. I love this about her books. It's so personal to me to read of her fictional characters in real life places I've been before. Henry in The Time Traveler's Wife is a librarian at Chicago's Newberry Library and visits clubs and locations I've frequented myself. His wife Clare's family home on the shores of Michigan is near the Scanlan beach house where I spend many summer weekends and holidays. In Audrey's newest books, Her Fearful Symmetry she takes 2 of her characters out of the suburbs of Chicago and moves them to London. I've only started this book and already I'm in heaven with the locations.

Back in 2001 I visited London with my Mom and sister for a girls week in our favorite city. On one of our last days in London, Mom and Stacy wanted to see Shakespeare's Globe Theater and I was more interested in finding the famous Highgate Cemetery. I set off with a map of the Tube, a small picnic, an umbrella and a camera. Highgate Cemetery is a heavily wooded, Victorian-in-style cemetery in Highgate London and is divided into east and west sections. Many cemetery junkies and/or history bugs know Highgate Cemetery as the final resting place of a few famous people such as the philosopher Karl Marx, the parents of writer Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Siddal, the wife and muse of painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This thickly overgrown and darkly lush cemetery is also famous for the so called "Highgate Vampire". (If you are interested in more information about Highgate Cemetery, there is a page on Facebook and numerous websites).

In Her Fearful Symmetry the author moves her characters (creepy identical twins) from Chicago to an apartment next to the cemetery in London. As she was researching her book, the author acted as a tour guide amongst the tombs (tours are organized by The Friends of Highgate Cemetery). Supposedly the cemetery was also the inspiration for Neil Gaiman's wonderful story The Graveyard Book. The more I read Her Fearful Symmetry the more I want to live inside the book. I want to live in a spacious apartment steps away from Highgate Cemetery where I could spend my free time making grave rubbings, spotting foxes and waiting for the ghosts and vampires to rustle in the trees.

Flash Book Friday #26

Geez, I haven't posted a Friday Flashback since before I went to Oxford so here you go. A true classic in honor of a true legend.
This week the hysterical, boozy, funny, unique and truly English television chef Keith Floyd died. In typical Keith fashion he died quickly and unexpectedly after an excellent meal and lots of wine shared with friends.
Here is a classic clip, enjoy and next time you raise a glass of good wine think of the truly original and eccentric chef Keith Floyd. I'm having a Guinness and oysters in his honor!

Britian's Most Prolific Reader

Here is a cool story about a British woman who has borrowed 25,000 books from her library since 1946. Averaging more than 12 books a week!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5932159/Britains-most-avid-reader-91-has-borrowed-25000-library-books.html

Must Read Book-Oxford Revisited

Just read a review of a book about a man's return to Oxford after being a student at the school in the 1960's. Oxford Revisited by Justin Cartwright will be published in August, I can't wait to get my hands on a copy and re-walk the streets of Oxford.
Here is a great review http://stuck-in-a-book.blogspot.com/2008/06/oxford-revisited.html

UNC Oxford Seminar May 17-May 30

Mom and I on our last night in Oxford

So the seminar is over and I'm home from England. Hard to believe that the 3 weeks went so quickly. It was hard to leave a place that had became so familiar and saying goodbye to the new friends I made.
When I first heard about the UNC Oxford Seminar I was thrilled there was a program that would allow me to study at such a prestigious international school without leaving my family, friends and job for a semester or more. If you read my blog regularly than you know I'm an anglophile and Oxford represented the best of British education while allowing me to live in the English countryside like a local.
My overall impressions of the seminar are positive and I would not hesitate to recommend the experience to other librarians. My only disappointment was in the low number of participants (economy related I'm sure) and the inability to network with a diverse selection of US librarians as the majority of the participants were graduate students at UNC (and really some of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure to spend time with).
The organization once we arrived at Oxford was perfect from our check in to our accommodations to the meals, absolutely no complaints. The seminar included our room which was huge with an attached bath (equally huge) that had a lovely view over the rooftops to the Oxfordshire countryside. Meals were served 3 times a day in a dining room/atrium and the food was excellent. This was not cafeteria style eating but gourmet meals with options for dietary restrictions and a wonderful lunch buffet option. Desserts were decadent and after each meal tea was served in a common room with a small bar all centered around a private courtyard. Eating such fine food was a luxury but easily forgiven with the amount of walking we did every day.
Each of the sessions was excellently presented by a diverse selection of librarians not only from Oxford libraries but from other British Universities. Highlights included tours of the British Library and the Bodleian (as described in previous posts) and sessions on conservation and rare books. Everyone involved with the Seminar was professional, friendly and went out of their way to make the experience a wonderful one. I truly feel like I made friends for life.
For more information on the Seminar check out the website at:
http://sils.unc.edu/programs/international/oxford.html
I'm already planning on studying in Prague next year.

Oxford Final Day

Our last full day in Oxford started with a session and ended with a party.
In between we watched more rowing races, drank lots of cider, champagne and Guinness and said goodbye to new friends.
I will write more soon, I'm back in London and trying to see everything I love before I go home.
Cheers.