Book Review :: The Unfortunates by Laurie Graham

The Unfortunates by Laurie Graham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Laurie Graham as an author - have read many of her books and found them very funny and this was no exception. This is a light-hearted review of the last century but the references to 1920s - -1930s I particularly liked. What I particularly liked was the way the book was written in what I assume is authentic language of the day.

I've got a bit of a thing for the 1920s - 1930s at the moment so this book was perfect for me. It told the story of a woman and her family who were Jewish, living in NYC. She was born pre-war, bit of a rebel, parents sort of practicised Judaism but were a bit lax (but later some members were much more dedicated). They are a wealthy family and so she enjoys the trappings of this wealth, travelling to Paris, the UK, becoming an aviatrix. References are made to various historical events including the sinking of the Titanic and WW1 / WW2 and effect it had on home front in NYC. The story then continued into the 1950s / 1960s / 1970s documenting the ups and downs in the life of the main character.



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Slutty housewife

organised :: as a good study should be

I've been on a manic cleaning spree these last three days. I am what might be described as bit of a slutty housewife. I let the chores and cleaning mount up then have to do some mammoth session when it finally begins to bug me. And how much better do I feel when I do it :-)

I don't think my study has been as clean as this since I moved in three years ago. I have filed all my notes, have thrown away a small Amazonian rainforest worth of paper which is surplus to requirements, I have polished and hoovered, and my study is organised as it should be.

I have two desks - the one I am currently sat at is my computer workstation. Wired up to the net, printer, scanner, hard drive I'm all techy. The other side I have a more creative desk - it used to be an overspill for work before I reviewed and recycled a lot of stuff - I made our Wedding invites (we got a wooden stamp made and used embossing powders and an embossing gun to create invites to our specific tastes) so I can be creative and do enjoy it but I haven't had space to really dabble.

I thought I should clean because I suspect I won't have waste amounts of time over the next few months as alongside trying to complete my Doctorate we are renovating my husband's house and then trying to sell his, rent mine and move somewhere proper together (crazy marriage arrangements, but seemingly typical of many modern marriages...)...oh as well as me getting a job...and adding to the family if that is in the stars...