jmc_bks: (meninas)
jmc_bks ([personal profile] jmc_bks) wrote2006-10-21 07:36 pm

Nervous and excited

I spent $500 at The Home Despot today...on tiles, grout, adhesive, paint, primer, etc. In preparation for the small kitchen reno that will happen next week. Tomorrow I'll clear everything out of the kitchen. [Where'd all that junk come from?]

After spending all that money, I went to the library, which always soothes me. The copy of Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad that I requested arrived, along with a couple of other books. And of course I had to visit the sale room downstairs. The romance section is pretty unimpressive generally, but I did find a couple of books in hardback or trade paperback that I read and liked but didn't want to pay full fare for (say that three times fast): Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner, and Dixieland Sushi by Cara Lockwood.

I also found a couple of old Victoria Holts on the sale shelf. Victoria Holt (aka Jean Plaidy and Phillippa Carr) was my intro to serious romance reading. I read Mommom's bodice rippers surreptitously, but the Holt books were hardbacks that I could check out of the library without any objection from Mom or the librarian. [It makes me wonder if either of them had ever read any of the books, because some of the VH books were a little inappropriate for a 13 year old, I think, in retrospect. There's one where a young woman is more or less raped by the father of a friend, IIRC. And yet these books were "more appropriate" reading than mmp bodice rippers by Shirlee Busbee? I dunno.] Anyway, I think maybe The Biochemist found VP/JP first, reading Plaidy's Plantagenet series. My favorite -- The Revolt of the Eaglets...and any with Eleanore of Aquitaine, who was a woman before her time. But then I found her books under the Holt pseudonym, which fascinated me. Books set in England, France, Australia, India, with the period ranging from the 1600s up to mostly modern day (1960). After I read her books, I moved on to Phyllis Whitney and Barbara Michael and . . .

I had forgotten how much I liked Holt's books until I saw a couple of paperbacks for sale. At a quarter each, they were a bargain. I only hope that when I read them, they live up to my memory of them.

[identity profile] jperceval.livejournal.com 2006-10-22 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Holt was my intro to romance too -- I think The Landower Legacy or Secret for a Nightingale was my first. If it was the latter, talk about inappropriate material for a 12-year-old...drug abuse, satanic cults, and spousal abuse, oh my!

[identity profile] jmc-bks.livejournal.com 2006-10-23 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
The Landower Legacy is one of the books I bought! The one that I remember best is set in Australia, and it's all about the opal mining industry and black opals. Must find it and re-read.

[identity profile] jperceval.livejournal.com 2006-10-24 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
I'm pretty sure that's The Pride of the Peacock. I can actually picture the cover in my head -- woman on a horse, looking down at a man who is holding the reins. I really liked that one too, and now I'm wondering what I did with the bulk of my Holts.

(Anonymous) 2006-10-22 09:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I didn't know Victoria Holt and Jean Plaidy was the same person! And wiki says she wrote over 200 books. Crikey! I don't think I've ever read anything by her. I should try one.

Good luck on the kitchen renovations! Home Depot scares me.

And what does IIRC mean? I feel like an idiot, but I can't figure it out. :p

-jennie

[identity profile] jmc-bks.livejournal.com 2006-10-23 02:03 pm (UTC)(link)
If I Recall Correctly :)

Home Depot used to scare me, too, but I'm getting over that. I have no choice as a homeowner. On Saturday, I asked for help, gave the cute HD guy my list of stuff to buy and followed him around loading the cart up.

(Anonymous) 2006-10-23 10:13 am (UTC)(link)
Woohoo!! Someone else doing house renos! Can you do pictures? Before and after? I do so love to re decorate and I'm glad to see others jump into the pit of hell .. uh, fun, yeah, fun, with me ;)

CindyS

Kitchen

[identity profile] jmc-bks.livejournal.com 2006-10-23 01:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Cindy,
I took photos this morning, after I moved all of the little movables out, and will take more when it is finished. It's not an entire reno (don't have the $$$ or expertise for that) but the floor and backsplash were awful, as was the paint job, so I figured it was time. The flooring dates back to the 60s, as do the metal cabinets...which are apparently hip again. My plan is to sand them and repaint them myself next weekend. That may be a little ambitious, though :)

[identity profile] rosario001.livejournal.com 2006-10-23 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)
It makes me wonder if either of them had ever read any of the books, because some of the VH books were a little inappropriate for a 13 year old, I think, in retrospect.

LOL, I'll say! I, too, cut my romance teeth on Victoria Holt, though I started with her Philipa Carr books. The Lion Rampant shocked me almost to death, but I kept on reading. I don't know if I'd reread her now, though. I seem to remember some of her heroes as being pretty awful (the guy from The Lion Rampant would be a good example... cheating, raping bastard!). Maybe I'd reread only the Jean Plaidy ones.