Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Celebrating reading!


I've always loved a good book. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series gives many people (not just kids) a first chance to get lost in an amazing narrative, reading it again and again. For that, she should be really celebrated! The newest HP book and movie are coming out in July. Lucky for us!



These photos look like magic, just like the talking portraits in Harry Potter, but weren't manipulated in any way. The professor shot these images as I stood and chatted in front of a mirror at Janel's and Una's booth at Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon. It wasn't staged. (Isn't this neat!?)



The professor was home for a couple of days, and he's off to another conference with his research students. I'm again talking to my poochies, and my whining communications have gotten expert, but I'll leave that for you to imagine on your own!


For folks who aren't fiction fanatics, I have a foodie reading recommendation. Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell, tracks her year of cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Oddly, it isn't so much about recipes, but about how a big project, especially one imbued with cooking and eating metaphors, can shape and give meaning to one's life. I understand that, and I value those big ideas. I have to keep dreaming up new big projects, changing the goal posts, learning and finding something special in order to keep stimulated, hopeful and positive...and to avoid despairing about life's frustrations. For this reason alone, Julie Powell's book, with its celebrations and all the concerns in it that I recognize, is definitely worth reading.

7 Comments:

Blogger Romi said...

Hee. Those are cool! They really do look like the moving photos of Harry Potter fame. :)

July 10, 2007 at 7:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice composition of the photos on the professor's part!

I also enjoyed Julie and Julia. I read a Julia Child's My Life in France (with Alex Prud'Homme) directly after Julie and Julia, going on the momentum from the first book.

Other vegetarians might need the warning that there's a bunch of meat-cooking in Julie and Julia. . . and some of the descriptions may re-confirm their life choices. . . .

Mostly J&J is a story of a young woman finding her place in the world through a somewhat odd pursuit. It works. Deb R.

July 10, 2007 at 9:25 PM  
Blogger Peggy said...

Really cool photos. I'm heading out the door in a few to be one of the first to see the new HP movie. Nerd, or geek, not sure which.

July 10, 2007 at 10:39 PM  
Blogger Denise said...

What a neat picture trick! The professor did a great job on his photography assignment.

I have Julie and Julia on my list of books to read. I may get to it sooner than planned if this hot weather keeps up here in WA. AFter it hits 90 I'm not good for much in the evenings! (no air conditioning, a SouthWest exposure and brick facade combine to give our house all of the charm of the inside of a wood-fired brick oven in the evenings).

July 11, 2007 at 12:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, neat pictures! The professor has a sharp eye!
I listen to Kelley Petkun's podcast and she recently said that 'julie and julia' inspired her to want to knit her way through EZ's 'Knitter's Almanac' over the course of a year.

July 11, 2007 at 7:24 AM  
Blogger Laura A said...

The pictures are very fun! Good job, professor!

July 12, 2007 at 11:02 AM  
Blogger SueJ said...

Great talking portraits. Had you any idea what he was up to? HP should be here in time to be packed up as 'holiday reading' (as have a number of the HP books). Its too tempting to just read a few pages otherwise!Do I start reading in the car? On the ferry? Or shall I wait until we get to the cottage? hmm..... Must take the 'book deckchair' so I can read and knit!

July 13, 2007 at 6:41 AM  

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