A Book Review, A Movie Review and a Tool Review---Kind Of

  

The book is House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, obviously not a new book.  I take my time reading classic novels having had far too many of them shoved down me when I was  way too young to appreciate them.  Having read her  Age of Innocence and really liking it  I decided to read House of Mirth, it was free for Kindle so nothing to lose.  Well  I'm so glad I got it, I liked it even better than the previous book.   She writes so well, drawing dazzling pictures of the gilded age and the persona inhabiting it, old New York and the rich families who ruled society.
It's the story of Lily Bart whose only "coin" is her beauty.  She must trade it for a life of wealth and security, yet each time she has an opportunity to wed she finds she can't do it, that it would destroy the core of what she really is.
Society is most unforgiving of young women of limited means and they must take pains to protect their reputation.  Through a series of misunderstandings and bad luck Lily learns who her true friends are.
Not a house of mirth at all, but rather a very sad one. I liked it so much I ordered another of her books. I won't be deleting this one  from my Kindle, I foresee me returning to it and reading it many times.

 The movie is My Afternoons With Margariette starring Gerard Depardieu (Germain) and Gisele

Casadejesus (Margeurrite).  A wonderful  little French movie about the unlikely friendship between a not so bright handy man and a lovely old lady (in her 90's).  They meet at a park where they both count the pigeons and he tells her the names he has for them including one named Margueritte and she tells him that's her name too.   From there grows their friendship and she begins to read him books  (Camus no less) .  Along the way we see flashbacks of his life, meet his Mother and his friends all of which goes a long way towards explaining him as a person.  It's not a spectacular film, but rather a sweet one.  Neither of us are particular fans of Depardieu, but found him quite good in this film and the actress playing Marguerrite was wonderful

Ravioli Maker

My "tool" review is of my ravioli maker.  For years I've been trying to make raviolis without much success.  I was given a pasta maker, it was hard to use, almost took 2 people to operate it and never made the dough like I wanted.  Someone suggested just using a rolling pin so I decided to try that.  I also had a ravioli maker that I'd been given, so I found a recipe on Pinterest, followed it, let my dough rest, read the directions on the ravioli maker and attempted to make raviolis.  What I made was a most spectacular mess.  I give up.  The dough stuck to everything. My ravioli making days are over and my  tools are now listed on ebay,  I'll buy my ravioli.

Pasta Maker