yes, i'm still here

Okay...time for me to get back into a blogging groove. I haven't been doing much, but I have been doing some. So - here goes....Still reading a lot. Of course it didn't help that I strained my back the other day making me flat on my back for the past couple days. So I've gotten well into my new reading: On Beauty by Zadie Smith.

I can't believe Zadie Smith is younger than me and already has three great books published and adored. Wow.

My last post sparked some interest in book sharing (both here and on my livejournal blog). I love the idea of suggestions. Here are some of my all time favorites:

First, since Author Jane Jacobs recently passed away, I thought I'd mention The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Read this in Architecture school, but I think anyone who loves cities would find this very interesting and spot on.

Second, probably my favorite read of all time - Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy. I think the greatest tragedy is that Dreiser only published two books. After I read this, I wanted more more more! Since I'm terrible at recounting, here you go:

An American Tragedy tells the story of a bellboy, Clyde Griffiths, indecisive like Hamlet, who sets out to gain success and fame. After an automobile accident, Clyde is employed by a distant relative, owner of a collar factory. He seduces Roberta Alden, an employee at the factory, but falls in love with Sondra Finchley, a girl of the local aristocracy. Roberta, now pregnant, demands that Clyde marry her. He takes Roberta rowing on an isolated lake and in this dreamlike sequence 'accidentally' murders her. Clyde's trial, conviction, and execution occupy the remainder of the book. Dreiser points out that materialistic society is as much to blame as the murderer himself. (Petri Liukkonen)

You just end up falling for this poor mixed up kid, hoping that he makes it...even though he's done something terribly wrong. The movie, A Place in the Sun, is based on the book.

Third, a book I turned to for the story of another kind of American struggle, USA by John Dos Passos. I just love reading about times past, about struggle and survival. Always makes me appreciate what I have and opt for the simpler of things over our modern day conveniences.

Time for me to check on my roast chicken. Yes, have been quite the domestic lately - even sewing my own clothes (that's another post altogether). Followed a Jamie Oliver recipe. Let's see if mine turns out anything like his Roasted Chicken Stuffed with Fragrant Couscous and Cooked on a Sweet Potato Stovie:

(Stay tuned to see if mine works out)