mosaic road

Book Lovers

Seeing this book market in Marrakech is quite a wonderful thing given that ....and I may be wrong here...but I think across the country that the literacy rate is 41 percent. Great strides have been made and school attendance is compulsory.

A Dinner Setting Saga

I first saw this...now dated ...dinner setting when I lived in Scotland. It was in Frasers and with our NHS salary I could not afford it. Finally after some good Scottish style scrimping I bought ten settings and all the extra bits . Eventually it got packed up and sent back to Australia with all our other belongings. It arrived intact and survived the 80s and 90s dinner party era. Not long after unpacking it, I was in the Reject Shop....remember that ....and saw it on a shelf at a rock bottom price. My heart sank...but I pulled myself together and went on to use it lovingly for at least a decade. And now .... this week, January 2018, I found it in a thrift shop at $1.00 a piece !! I so hope it finds a loving home as it clearly is a durable type of porcelain even if we have all moved on from flowers and buds entwined with ribbon !

Book Launch

I was lucky enough to have a night of literature this week. The fact/fiction crime/culture novel Assembly of the Dead by Saeida Rouass was launched and Saeida herself spoke and signed copies. She was quite fascinating and honest about the writing process and story content. Her most recent book is set in 1906 and is based on the tale of a serial killer in the Medina of Marrakech.

 

An Afternoon Stroll

Marrakech has a lot of big hotels like most cities but we are lucky here as many are set in big, sprawling  beautiful gardens. A simple and inexpensive afternoon activity is to go for coffee at one of these hotels and then wander the gardens. Recently I did just this at  Palais Es Saadi. Water features, oranges and  pressed metal lanterns set the Morocco meets botanica tone. It was a lovely blue sky winter's day enhancing these glorious lush gardens.

Book Review " Olive Kitteridge"

I have mixed feelings about this novel.  Has anyone else read it ?  It won a Pulitzer Prize and I certainly liked the writing style of Elizabeth Strout. The descriptive prose certainly sets the scene and the characters are realistic but the flow seemed a touch erratic to me. The blurb says Olive and her story is the axis but to my mind some of the other chapters had no real connection. I might have missed it though. Reading at night when you are tired sometimes does not do a book any favours. Now having read the book I am keen to see the HBO TV mini series as I think it would really bring the whole book to life and be easy and very enjoyable watching.

Bedside Reading

I do not read enough, not nearly enough. I have always been a reader and loved books, book shops and libraries. The internet, blogging and having an online business all detract  from reading time. They get in the way of and also almost replace picking up a good book. Any spare moments when in the past I may have sat with a novel are now non existent. I am on my laptop constantly. My Easter resolution was to read a novel so I gathered a little collection to sit beside my bed and I started a novel. I thoroughly enjoyed holding the book  and casting aside the computer for the short time before I fell asleep. Reading before dropping off to sleep is meant to be way better for you, more relaxing than staring at a flickering screen. This novel that I commenced is part of a series and I have read others by this author . It is light reading and written in a sort of innocent style, just perfect to heave beside the bed.

My Favourite Magazine

I subscribe to Donna Hay magazine and it never disappoints. It always has the most winning cover making me long to open it. The recipes are on the whole easy and the food photos always look delicious. Donna Hay has branched into lots of culinary merchandise and has just beautiful cooking utensils and mixing bowls plus, now,  a range of cake mixes . The cake mixes are very upmarket in their packaging, very expensive to buy and only available at a handful of gourmet stores. I have had one personal experience with her chocolate brownies and they really were in the 'best ever' category.

Bedside Reading

I have always loved to read, maybe it has something to do with my mother being a librarian. Over the past few years I have not read enough, regretfully. Too much time on the laptop, I fear, is the cause. I want to improve on this in 2011. I am thoroughly enjoying 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett currently. It is a US bestseller, set in the 60's and written mainly in the vernacular of Mammy in Gone With the Wind. My children are big readers too and I know S is loving 'Brisinger' by Christopher Paolini as I have seen it lying round the house a lot keeping her company on the couch. I am enjoying mine so much I even took it to work today to read at lunchtime which is a far cry from the Who Weekly type of thing found in our tea room that I often peruse mindlessly.