In the High Peaks
















Sunday, February 2, 2020

New Audiobook, New Book--The Groundhogs Stay Deep Underground!

Our beloved woodchucks (in the Northeast we don't call them groundhogs) would not even consider coming out of hibernation on February 2nd, Groundhog's Day.  We don't see them at all until grass appears from under the snow, which can rarely be late March at the absolute earliest, or mid-April. When the woodchucks finally appear, they head immediately for the only green grass, which is, of course, over the septic tank.
My father's birthday was February 1st, and when I was little, I confused his birthday with Groundhog's Day. On February 2nd, my mother always served cake-style doughnuts (plain), with honey, which in my mother's family, were always eaten on that day to ensure prosperity in the New Year. So my father had a birthday cake on the First, then the next day we had doughnuts, and it was one big long connected holiday, as far as I was concerned.

I've just started listening to The Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen (2019).  It's fascinating--and I've ordered a hard copy from the library because at the beginning of the book, her family's Belgian names, nobility all, are hard to grasp and distinguish on audio. So yes, Audrey's mother was Belgian and her father (her mother's second husband) was English, and both of them were pro-Nazi.  (The Mitford Sisters also figure prominently.) I'm only 13 percent of the way into the bio, but that much is clear. She spent the war years living with her mother in the Netherlands. She desperately struggled to fit in, as a Dutch girl, which she wasn't, not at all. She couldn't even speak the language, naturally. I recommend it highly.
I'll give more details as I listen,  while desperately trying to finish an updated cardigan style sweater, in sapphire heather Cascade 220 yarn. That's my favorite brand of knitting worsted wool. At least 80 shades, I believe. Webs (yarn.com) is my primary knitting store. Although they do a huge mail-order business, they also have an enormous  warehouse outlet in Northhampton, Massachusetts. Very occasionally on my way to Boston I drive the 18 miles out of my way to drop in.

Before bed at night I'm reading a thriller--the beginning of the year always seems to find me grasping for thrillers. The only other time of year I condescend to them is when we experience blistering heat. In any case, this one is Mr. Nobody by Catherine Steadman, an  English author, who is also an actress who appeared in Downton Abbey. Psychological suspense in spades here! But I'm only 75 pages in and the book is more than 350 pages, so I can't deliver a verdict yet.





10 comments:

  1. I bet The Dutch Girl is fascinating Judith. I have Mr. Nobody on my Kindle as I loved the authors first book. WEBS is an amazing store, I've been there several times and my daughter has done some design projects for them as well.

    Have a great week.

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    1. Hi Diane,
      So far I've only been reading Mr. Nobody before bed, and I scared myself last night, which so rarely happens to me! I actually had to stop reading. It has deep Gothic elements, and as much as I love that, I wasn't expecting it! Which makes if fun.
      I'm so interested that your daughter has down design projects for Webs--that's fascinating. I wish I could drop over there tomorrow.

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  2. Wow, I had no idea Audrey Hepburn was half Belgian and spent the war in the Netherlands. Not that there's any reason I should've known, it's just 'surprising'. I'll await your verdict, anything with the Mitford sisters in tends to attract me.

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    1. Hi Cath,
      You will see I was in error about the Belgian part--please see my most recent post. And the Mitfords! The youngest Mitford sister literally stalked Hitler in the 1930s, evidently.

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    2. Yes, Unity (she wasn't the youngest, that was Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire) did stalk Hitler. Mary S. Lovell's book, The Mitford Sisters, is very thorough on that subject, well worth reading. Several of the family were quite pro-Nazi, including the parents and son who died in the war. But Unity and Diana were the real fascists, Diana being the wife of Oswald Mosley, the leader of the fascists in Britain during the war. Fascinating family.

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    3. Hi Cath,
      Thanks so much for mentioning The Mitford Sisters book. I trust your judgment about who was the youngest sister. I'll go back and read that passage in print. Did I get things wrong again, I wonder? I suppose. Yes, the author of Dutch Girl does specify that Unity and Diana were fascists. How interesting. Yet how weird, really.

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  3. The Audrey Hepburn book sounds really good and interesting. I think if Mr. Nobody is scaring you I better stay away from it. I have had a couple of books lately that I did not want to read near to bedtime, and that is when I usually read.

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    1. Gosh, sorry Tracy. I thought I responded to your post yesterday.
      I didn't mind being scared by the Gothic elements that cropped up out of the blue. I just put the book down for the night and continued in daylight, because I love great GOTHIC! So actually, I'm enjoying this one, though I've been so occupied during the day that I only seem to have time before bed. It's a chiller, for sure.

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  4. Dutch Girl sounds interesting, I like to learn about history through biographies. I enjoyed reading a book about the Mitford sisters, titled Sisters, what a diverse group of siblings. Right now I am reading Clementine, a new biography of Clementine Churchill.

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    1. Ah! Clementine, a new biography--that grabs my attention for sure. I'm also making a note of the Mitford Sisters book. I, too, love to learn about history through biography, and also via historical novels, written by authors who do their research!

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