Chapter Three

I have not abandoned my new year’s resolution to update more frequently. But, ten days back home and weeks of looong days at school has left little time for breathing let alone blogging...never the less. If anyone finds breathing room, maybe I can suggest a good read or two.

1) The Seamstress by Frances De Pontes Peebles.
A long but well written novel about two very different sisters, Luzia and Emilia. Set in the 20's and 30's in Brazil, this coming of age story follows the very different paths each girl takes as they weave through the rural and urban centres of their country. A good book to take up if you have the time to tackle 700 plus pages, cause once you start, you wont be putting it down.

2) Sweetness In The Belly by Camilla Gibb
One of the best book's I've read recently. Gibb's story of a white-Muslim from England, growing up in Morocco, and becoming a young woman in Ethiopia, is equally enthralling and heartbreaking. Lilly Abdal struggles with looking like a foreigner in a place that feels more then anything like home. While not nearly as long a read, it's another novel you won't put down once you pick up.

3) The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
A great book if you don’t really feel like thinking. Definitely a lighter option, Friday Night Knitting Club follows the story of a group of women who, well, get together on Friday and knit. There’s friendship, romance, babies and tales of empowering women too. What’s not to like? Perhaps the end, which I took issue with, if only because it’s not what you expect. And that could be the best reason of all to pick it up.

Go get reading, or breathing, or both!

So This Is The New Year

Good-bye presidential elections. Good-bye Mr. President! Good-bye pregnant man*, Paul Newman, Playgirl and pit-bull Palin. So long high gas prices and disheartening headlines. So long harrowing temperatures and hipsters. So long Heath Ledger.

While 2008 soared high for probably one month too many, the falls felt internationally permeated through the fourth quarter and I’m looking forward to the change. It’s a new year, a clean slate and a reinvention for many. I’m a bit weary of resolutions. There tendency to disappoint or more appropriately disappear has always been my most reliable promise.

But this year looks different. The list is much shorter, though not necessarily sweeter. Filled with valuable realities as opposed too un-achievable fantasies. And if maintained could make for the most rewarding, if not productive, year yet.**

Happy 2009!

*He's at it again, stay tuned for the second baby later this year.
** Yes, I’m acutely aware of my breif twenty years here on earth...thanks.

Blog Blah

The semester is over and this blog has seen a good five posts at most. I could blame the lack of posting on homework, intense course loads or our newly acquired TV...but when it comes down to it I spend way more time viewing other peoples blogs then working on my own. In fact, I spend a considerable amount of time, so much so that it's become a full blown addiction. There are of worse things I could be addicted to... like reality TV, cheese bagels or crack. But instead I choose blogs, linking from one to the next and adding to my ever expanding favourite’s folder. The verdict is still out on whether or not this is acceptable or just plain creepy. But I’ve made a promise to myself, no, a challenge, to channel all my blogging inspiration and continue to work on my own. My first new years resolution (yes I’m already going there) is to resurrect west meets east. This may be an affirmation for my own satisfaction, but I do know that some people read this bad boy and Miss VanDenBoomen is getting annoyed! So, if I don’t post from now until the new year, know that I have not forgotten or moved on, only preparing to start again.