A typical historical romance novel of a glowing love between a handsome viscount and an ugly duckling.

What I like in this book:
the witty conversations between Miranda and Turner.
Miranda's subtle admiration for Turner.
Turner's gentle love making to Miranda.

What I don't like in this book:
the shallow character of Turner and his family.
the naivity of Turner and his family.
lack of description about the landscape and background.

What can be improved:
more ink on the mind and personality of the characters.
more ink on key events like the wedding of Turner and Leticia.
more ink on the environment...

I still hesitate about the next romance novel. I hope I will find a better one.

this book is well written, close to my mind and heart.

it talks about a man, just like Elie himself, who suffered from the days in the concentration camps and suffered from what came into his brain during the war. he was hit by a cab when he and his lover Kathleen were crossing the street to see a movie. he was sent to a hospital where his life was saved by a young doctor. the doctor felt that this seriously injured guy didn't want to live and he was curious to know the reasons behind. when being asked and challenged, this man went back to his childhood and his days in the concentration camp and discovered his old wounds and roots of suffering. he challenged how he could live when people kept on dying, how he could eat happily when people were starving, how he could love when he was confused...

i enjoy reading this book cuz at certain points our thinking about life and death are alike though i didn't experience the concentration camp torment. but death is so close that i agree living and dying co-exist so living is to die and dying is to live.

My favorite sentences:

• "The problem is not: to be or not to be. But rather: to be and not to be."
• "Hatred puts accents on things and being, and on what separates them. Love erases accents."

we're dressing like those ppl in the renaissance.

we're in the theater.

i saw your wife standing outside and her face was red.

you took my hand and got us away from the crowd. i felt exceptionally excited. but i was not sure if i wanted to go on like this.

i saw a saber in your wife's hand. i closed my eyes and put my hands on your chins to feel your beard. and that made me more excited.

i believed i loved you at that moment. but i was not sure if i wanted to go on like this.

when i woke up, i talked to myself, 'Oh my God...'

pete, your cooking is a lot better than mine. good job, chef! i'm not picky. my parents are great cooks and i'm a spoiled child. see?

ad, i love talking with you. i always learn a lot from you. i hope i find my dream my direction soon and take action to follow it.

tina, can't wait for your next worm....oops work! good luck to your stay/ study in paris.

I can't believe that I finished reading this book in just a week!

I was first motivated by the title. I used to like unicorn and the story of virgin's seduction to the unicorn. Once I started flipping the first few pages of the novel, I just couldn't help enjoying myself in the interesting stories between the 'son-of-a-bitch' painter and the female characters - rigid lady in court, lady's young daughter in court, plump maid in court, proud weaver's wife, sharp weaver's blind daughter. In each lady, Nicholas (the painter) saw not just a different face but a different soul and a different desire that he hardly understood at the beginning.

The author, Tracy Chevalier, is smart that I totally got this disgusting painter out of my head when I was reading the book. My focus was always put on the ladies and their complicated yet delicate thoughts, interwoven relationships and their happy yet tragic endings.  The author used a special style to tell the story that each chapter is told in the voice of one character. Things look different in different people's eyes/ hearts, and that makes their personalities stand out from each other.

Of all characters, I like Alienor, the blind girl. I think she's got the happiest ending from all of the others. She got 'what' she desired for. She did everything to please everyone but at the end her parents planned to marry her to a 'stinky' wool dyer, whom had a smell of sheep's piss.  She broke the chain by bringing Nicholas to her sweet bed of lilies. She later got married with the cartoonist with Nicholas' son.

I have sorrows for Genevieve, the lady in court. Just like what Nicholas described, she was bound to the world of wealth and regulations. She had been sorry for almost her life that she didn't have the chance to be 'purified' in a convent. When Nicholas showed the tapestry of a Mon Seul Desir, Genevieve was just like the lady in it - hesitating whether to enter or leave the worldy place she had been living.

The more Nichloas knew about these ladies; the closer he was to their desires, their souls. He tried the best to put their characters into the tapestries. The Sight one was made for Alienor. In this tapestry, the lady was holding a mirror reflecting the image of a beloved unicorn, which lay happily in her lap. The image showed a happy face of the unicorn but the lady was looking a bit sad as her smile was crooked and her eyes were looking heavy and puffy.

Overall speaking, it's a good novel, which is written in the language of women's sensuality and sensibility.

Tracy Chevalier's website: http://www.tchevalier.com
The Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_and_the_Unicorn

Recently, I am crazily reading material about this lady, Katherine of Aragon aka Princess of Wales and Queen of England (b.1485~d.1536).

She was wife to Henry VII's first son, Arthur, and supposed to be Queen of England to be. After her 6 months with Arthur, the English heir died of a fatal disease.

Katherine came from an interesting political background. Katherine was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. Her parents made a clever plan to marry Katherine to England for an alliance against France while Henry VII thought Spain was a good ally to keep the French away. So they draw up a treaty to marry their children. When Arthur died, it ruined the Spain's plan. There's a turning point when Henry VII died. Henry VIII became King of England and had the right to choose his wife. To secure the relationship, although there were many political issues and religious constraints, he finally decided to marry Katherine 7 years after Arthur's death. Please note that  Henry VIII was 6 years younger than Katherine. Her old age was being criticized by the public and blamed for the failure of producing healthy heir to her husband.

Katherine did give births to several children but only one daughter survived her infancy and that was Mary (aka Bloody Mary). Since she failed to give her husband a male heir (at that time, female was illegitimate to be heir), Henry VIII looked around for mistresses and Katherine was always left alone in the Tower. Katherine felt unhappy about his behaviours but she did not give up her role of a good wife and good Queen of England. She loved Henry as much as their daughter, Mary. She was considerate and she even showed her understanding about the King's decision to divorce her.

Katherine, to me, is a tough woman. It was her destiny to be Queen of England. She had to undergo several times of financial hardships and cruel public humiluating criticisms from outside and inside in Ludlow Castle and then Windsor Castle. She had to conquer the fears in the difficult seas to commit the marraige with an English man she was destined to marry. Her courage was again proven in the way she conquered the 7 years of fears of losing her status and public attackes on making her the wife to Henry VIII. Those chill sweats made her thousand sleepless nights. She had to supress her true feelings when her first husband died, her mother died and her divorce.  Even though she had been dumped by her husband, she never failed his country and his people. She was such a beautiful woman and unfailing Queen of England.

Books

This book is written by a historian with details about the 6 wives of Henry VIII. Each chapter is full of passion, love, adventure, courage and tears but not much happiness of these 6 women. Note. Weir had spent 20 years of writing a book about British Royal History. Amazing. She must enjoy very much studying the old times.
Another history book about these 6 queens. Fraser's use of words and language is obviously more sophisticated than Weir. I prefer her story-like presentation of the history. Fraser has also written a lot of history books about England and other European figures including Marie Antoinette, and  lately a movie starring Kirsten Dunst was produced from her book. My next project should be Marie cuz her life is also very fascinating.

This is a 35% fiction + 65% historical elements. Catalina is depicted as a romantic, witty and caring person in her multiple roles - daughter, wife, mother, princess, queen, widow, divorcee... I particularly like the way Gregory presents the heroine's mind between different events.

Websites
(in English)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Aragon
http://tudorhistory.org/aragon/
http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/aragon.html
http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/aboutCatalinadeAragon.htm
(in Spanish)
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalina_de_Arag%C3%B3n 
http://www.aragonesasi.com/historia/catalina.php

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The movie is about alienation and dealienation. We can't expect everyone think or do the same; but we could feel the same.  When language fails to connect people, only love and the basics will bring us together.

Tom's performance is just so-so (perhaps I have too high expectations on him now!) but he is very good at making small gestures to show the character's feelings and emotions. I don't like Catherine's performance at all. I was a bit surprised by the minor characters, of those, I really like Gupta, the floor cleaner.

I know that Tom will play Charlie Wilson in Charlie Wilson's War, which is about Afghan. I don't think I'm gonna go see the movie cuz I don't quite get the background. I'm a typical Hong Konger who knows nth about what happen in the Middle East. I just know there have been a lot of fights over there for a long while.

Still, I like Tom most in Saving Private Ryan and Cast Away.... :-) 

我喜歡這部電影，在於它切切實實地告訴我人命的低賤及人性的高貴。肉體只是工具，它不恆久亦不可靠，反之，心靈是主腦，它永恆而可靠，即使失去了作為工具的肉體，只要心靈尚在，任務還是可以完成。

最深刻一幕
搶灘那一幕，隊長看見同伴受傷，聽到他們呼叫，灘上煙火連連，飄浮著無數屍骸，那一刻的疾苦，悲痛，蒼茫，無奈及無助，在隊長雙眼上反射出來。

最痛苦一幕
軍醫Wade在雷達站一戰中被擊中，他傷勢嚴重，眾人心裡知道他是救不了，但仍然努力不懈地搶救他，臨別的那一刻，他狂呼Mama, mama, mama....直至換來一片寂靜，圍住他的同僚臉上一片空白，隊長走向另一邊，從石上滑下來，用石頭擋著同僚視線，然後抑壓著聲音飲泣。究竟是為了什麼？要冒著這個險？是否值得為了救一個人而犧牲眾人的性命？

最感人一幕
當眾同僚屢屢對救人任務的目的不滿，甚至質疑，隊長雖然偶爾存疑都試圖以不同的角度及道理來說服同僚，所有愛國愛民維護自由等等理由對眾同僚甚至乎隊長自己也覺得牽強，最後隊長向同僚表白，說自己參戰前是一名知道自己在幹什麼的高校教師，他發現來到這裡，此時此刻，他已經不明白自己在幹什麼，他認為如果可以找到Ryan，將任務完成之後可以回家，那便是他認為這次荒謬任務的目標。

最悲憤一幕
在Ramelle橋上，隊長挺而走險拾起地上的手鎗，他被子彈擊中，射殺他的竟是當天釋放了的那個POW（Prisoner of War），隊長倒在地上，目光呆滯，一味向著迎面而來德軍的坦克開火，試問一隻斷臂螳螂怎可能擋住一輛鐵皮車？但他仍不放棄，他希望盡全力將任務克完成。

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A famous film director returns home to a Sicilian village for the first time after almost 30 years. He reminisces about his childhood at the Cinema Paradiso where Alfredo, the projectionist, first brought about his love of films. He is also reminded of his lost teenage love, Elena, who he had to leave before he left for Rome.

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記得早於初中時對法國音樂已經有了初步印象，當時交了一名住在法國南部的筆友，她曾經向我推介過一位叫Daho的實力派男歌手（即是殿堂級巨星），之後有幸在HMV買了一張live的CD（只是３５＄，超值！）唱功果然了得，我覺得他似是法國版的張學友。

其實流行於當地法國的音樂並不像一般西方音樂，Patricia和Elsa的歌曲其實已經比較接近英美，她們都是十分國際化的歌手，但至於法國本土相當流行的歌手如夫妻檔Serge Gainsbourg和Jane Birkin（紅到連Hermes其中一款手袋都以她的姓氏命名；而女兒Charlotte Gainsbourg更是一位家喻戶曉的童星）的音樂可以用一個字來形容：怪！彷如說話的歌唱技巧未必每個人都可以接受，年輕一輩如Olivia Ruiz和Camille亦屬同一類， 有美貌卻斷著氣唱歌的代表有兄妹Benjamin Biolay和Coralie Clement，及Benjamin的好朋友Keren Ann。

去年因為便宜買了比利時老牌歌手Jacques Brel的精選"Infiniment"，聽了一兩次便掉入床底，因為實在受不了他那些誇張的卷舌音，每首歌也是一樣，很難入耳的，又不是唱歌劇？！如果要聽歌劇，那不如聽擁有天使般歌聲的Emma Shapplin，她的作品近似Gothic，同時有classical及electronic的味道。

好了，是時候介紹我最喜歡的Yann Tiersen,　他就是替電影天使愛美麗及Goodbye Lenin配樂的那一位大師，而當然我認識他並非透過這兩部電影，而是某年某月某日在Amazon.com搜查出來的，２００３年出版的"C'Etait Ici"內的每一首作品我都喜歡，愛上了他利用toy piano及手風琴製作的音樂，像處身於法國小鎮觀看街頭表演，像似牽著我的手帶領著我的心返回童年的世界。

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i gotta admit that i had an incorrect perception about you before. and i bet you took me for other people having the same misunderstanding about you. i am very sorry about that.

now i think and hope we could have everything to start over again, and enjoy this good relationship between us. and what's most important is from now onwards you wiill have my blessings and regards.  

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