As I sat groggily on the couch this morning staring out the window, I watched with fascination as my neighbor dragged her old mattresses outside across the grass, then let them drop over the wall to the sidewalk below.
I don't think I've ever seen such lovely mattresses. I was dying to grab the camera and head across the street, but decided to wait. Finally she left on an errand and off I went to take these photos. Are these not the most seriously fabulous mattresses you've ever seen?
The golden yellow wallpapery mattress covers leaned against the wall suggestively. Perfectly happy to rest there in front of the pink crepe myrtle. Oh pink and yellow confection of my Sunday morning eyes!
On my way back up the hill I was beckoned by more pink. Sigh.
Then I thought of these yellow tiles from Lisbon. A perfect compliment to yellow damask wrapped mattresses the world over.
I'm 150 pages into Bright Shiny Morning. And I must agree with the LA TIMES review which calls the book, "an execrable novel, a literary train wreck without even the good grace to be entertaining."
I'll keep reading though. Quickly. I gotta get through this thing. If you've got an unputdownable book recommendation for me I'd be obliged if you'd leave it. I wish I had written down all the good ones you left last time dear readers. One of you got me started on Ivan Doig. Love.
I promise I'll write everything down this time. Notebook out. Pen at the ready.
Ditto on PLAINSONG, but THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett is one of the best novels I’ve read this year. I had to devour it and then make everyone in my office read it!
The Hour I First Believed – Wally Lamb
excellent!
I’ve not read anything for awhile, mostly because I’ve been so busy with STENCILS (my lack of literacy is all your fault MA).
This looks like an excellent list of suggestions. I’ve written them all down………yippee…..thanks everyone.
I dont know if I could have been happy with just a photo of those mattresses. I think I would have grabbed the scissors and cut myself some of that fabric they are covered in (maybe those side strips)….just beautiful!!! What beautiful bindings for journals etc.
Just a new visitor to blog, its wonderful !!!
I look forward to seeing how your make up your next visual journal. I love the old Minutes Book and those red marbled inner pages are scrummy.l
And the Lost Language of Cranes!! Oh! Such exquisite torture!!
I agree wholeheartedly about Margaret Atwood and Willa Cather. I LOVED Out Stealing Horses, by Per Pettersen.
Thank god no one mentioned Ian McEwan. And I don’t get Ishiguro, and I’ve tried and tried. I finish him, and think: that’s it? But then, one of my favorite writers is Tom Robbins, and I can’t think of someone more different from Ishiguro.
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland is worth a thorough bi-annual going-over.
No book selections, but love those mattresses!! Deluxe, devine and delightful. What a hoot. I can see why you had to capture them on film.
Well, I do have one favorite series of books in the whole world: The Bobbsey Twins. Now, before anyone casts aspersions at my choice, mine was an entirely too dysfunctional childhood. Between the Bobbsey Twins, Leave it to Beaver and Andy Griffith, I managed to realize that there was nice-ness in the world and some people were rational…those people just did not live at my house. When I’m really stressed, I watch Leave it to Beaver and Andy Griffith and they take me to a happy place…again, and again, and again. And yes, I have read the Bobbsey Twins as an adult and they too take me to my happy place.
Those mattresses also take me to a happy place. Thank you. 😀
“The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. On the NY Times’ bestseller list for 3 years. It’ll have you from the first page. http://www.amazon.com/Glass-Castle-Memoir-Jeannette-Walls/dp/074324754X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253154495&sr=8-1
One very last one that I can’t not mention – Plainsong. Gosh I loved loved loved that book and really could NOT put it down. The follow-up, Eventide, is quite good too.
I haven’t read anything new in awhile (or at least none that were worthy of Could-Not-Put-It-Down status) so my list is oldies but goodies:) I just re-read The Corrections and it was as good the 2nd time around. A couple of classics I’d get to if you haven’t yet – Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson, My Antonia by Willa Cather (just finished this – so lovely), Ethan Fromme. A really good book with tons of references to LA is White Oleander by Janet Fitch; I read it about 10 years ago but it’s still a part of me. A Prayer for Owen Meany is some good writing. Eat, Pray, Love – I think this book was only so-so but I couldn’t put it down so who knows. Two audio books that I really loved – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and The Secret Life of Bees. One more – Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. Happy reading Mary Ann! Let us know when YOU come by a Can’t put down one.
What beautiful photos. I love that they are so unpredictable. Magic is truly everywhere, and how wonderful that you saw it. Bravo! My book reccomendation would Into The Forest (sorry I don’t know the author) what a great read, and so thought provoking. I’m definately going to check out some of the books that the other people suggested. Isn’t life too short to spend time reading a dull book? Just a thought.
I agree 100% with maz — Qiu Xiaolong’s Inspector Chen novels are amazing! Also, if you have not already read them, Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Remains of the Day”, “An Artist of the Floating World” and “A Pale View of Hills”. If you want a sad, twisted love affair that never was, Ha Jin’s “Waiting” won the National Book Award and is one of my favorites. My favorite book ever is “The Lost Language of Cranes” by David Leavitt.
I will take note of everyone else’s book recommendations, as I have none to offer, I haven’t read a novel in a long time. Except Margaret Atwood, I enjoy her. But I love love love those mattresses, and the way you photographed them. At first glance I thought you had made or found some new covered storage boxes. That wallpapery fabric is lovely…I love the crown on the pattern also. But I have to wonder… did anyone come by and pick them up or are they still just sitting there.
Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund. I LOVED it! I loved the world she created and spent an entire year with it, so I must have loved it! Also, anything by Lee Smith, but especially Family Linen and Fair and Tender Ladies.
Oh, I second “On Beauty” by Zadie Smith – very funny, and beautifully written. Do you like graphic novels? I just finished Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzucchelli, and thought it was wonderful — both the graphic part and the novel part.
“The History of Love” by Nicole Kraus, and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer, her husband. I also LOVED “On Beauty” by Zadie smith, and “The Golden Gate” and “Two Lives” by Vikram Seth, “The Corrections” by Jonathan Franzen. I’d love to know what you think if you read any of these.:)
Try “Fall on Your Knees” By Ann-Marie MacDonald. Or “The Blind Assassin” Margaret Atwood. They both left me stunned.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Slow start but then it sucked me in. Disturbing and intriguing. I had to go right on to the sequel The Girl Who Played With Fire. I love a disturbed intelligent strong female character.
If you liked Ivan Doig, you might like James Galvin’s “The Meadow” – beautiful, stark prose – the editorial reviews on Amazon don’t do it justice; try reading the first several pages on Amazon and see what you think … my fav book of all time, I believe. And “Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry” by Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser (not a novel of course, but a slim volume of poems, by novelist Harrison {“Legends of the Fall” etc.} and Kooser, Pulitzer Prize winner and former National Poet Laureate…raw, beautiful, funny. Diana
I could not put down One Hundred Years of Solitude, and the first book of the Gormenghast trilogy. Not so crazy about 2 and 3. Also loved The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann.
Love your photos, but don’t know about the beauty of those mattresses. I think it’s just your artistic eye. I hate seeing mattresses on the sidewalk – bugs me worse than sofas or TVs.
Am I the only one wondering if the mattress got left there or what? Besides…at the end of the day I can only remember stuff in the 1st grade anthology like Frog and Toad Together and rhyming words and so on…
Mary Ann, have you ever read Rita Golden Gelman’s Tales Of A Female Nomad?
I LOVED The Living so much!!!!!! I will never forget it. I read it one icy snowy winter in Harrison Arkansas over Christmas while trapped inside with Mama Moss. I’ll never forget that either. ha ha ha
Great mattress shots…my recommendation is the first of a series of books by the Chinese author, Qiu Xiaolong, DEATH OF A RED HEROINE. Inspector Chen is both a detective and a poet, an unbeatable combination..really good stuff!!
I’d have wanted to photo those matresses too!
Book rec- the last unputdownable book I read- The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews; very visual and gritty but very funny. They should make a movie of it….
Rebecca! By Daphne Du Maurie
A sneak peak for youl
http://www.amazon.com/Rebecca-Daphne-Du-Maurier/dp/0380730405/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252943803&sr=8-2
It’s one that needs to get read to the middle as well, but OH so worth You’ll be glad you did.
I’m reading “Jamaica Inn” by her now. Can’t put it down from the get go!
Marvelous photos MA; you help us see the world around us with eyes opened.
I just finished reading The Living by Annie Dillard. It was rich with wisdom – will send you off on another Pacific Northwest ramble in your oilskin hat (ha! a method to my madness). xo
OK sister – now listen up here… when you moved out to LA did you leave after one month? No you did not. Thank goodness for that. Flash forward to now.
Do you quit reading after 150 pages? NO. You skim on because you gotta find out about 2 important characters. I normally put down a book if it’s not good. The saga of Esperanza and Doug though… they are worth it.
P.S. the bougianvilla is spectacular against the backdrop of the fairy tale peak of moss cottage.
Gorgeous photos. I have finally gotten to a place in my life where I do not feel I have to finish a book that bores me to tears. I put it down and move on… Time Travelers Wife is great; anything by Margaret Atwood.
Have your read the Shack……its very thought provoking….
The Hearts of Horses, have forgotten the author. Write it down. Great book (recommended it the last time…)
Broken for You Stephanie Kallos.
The Help
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
The Little Book – Selden Edwards, and/or The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society,
You know, most ordinary eyes would have only seen a mattress. Notice the word ‘ordinary” here.
How about The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski? I got it as an audiobook and made the mistake of listening at work (iPods are great!) and had to stop and get the paperback b/c I was listening more than working! While I am a cat person, this story of a boy and his dog was great.
Have you read ‘The Time Traveller’s Wife’? It would have to be one of my all time favourites. ‘Shantaram’ is an epic travel adventure that you might like.
Olive Kitteridge!! You will fall in love with this character!! I am not alone in my admiration, however, because it won the Pulitzer, but I just found it incredibly moving….